Campground Reservations

Kids are in school (Oregon coast) after Labor Day --- I have STILL not found places there by just driving over. Get reserv. for the coast.......

we always made reservations for Friday and Saturday nights and holidays or popular tourist areas when we couldn't be flexible with dates. Worked for us.
As long as we arrived early we didn't have a problem getting spots.

In California, the State Beach campgrounds fill up about 5-6 months in advance.

Depends on where and when. If kids are in school then campgrounds are less full, weekdays are easier than weekends, Calif has more people than Oregon and campgrounds are fuller .. etc.

If kids are in school you don't need reservations.

On our trip to MT we used the good sam's sight to check the number of CGs in route. Popular areas did require reservations but most did not.

We did have a few CGs with limited spaces for big rigs, our 25 footer was not a problem.

We usually only make rsv for big wkends,Mem Day, 4th of July etc, otherwise we try to figure out at noontime where we're going to stop and then call.I can't remember the last time we had a problem. Oh I just remembered one we were looking to camp in Panguich Ut, called 3 cgs all full we finally asked last place we called and they said they having Balloon Festival that wkend.So we wound up staying on a lake about 17 miles out of town and enjoying the festival,you never know what your going to trip into

We have made six trips west since 2005 and have never made a reservation more than 10 days in advance, and that one was for Trailer Village at the Grand Canyon. We never reserve for enroute stops, just call ahead in the early afternoon each day to get a site for the night. We are retired with an empty nest and our travel plans are fluid, to say the least.

Except for one trip in September, we always head west during the months of May and June to avoid the Summer crowds when families with school age kids are traveling. It also helps that we don't need hookups every night.

If you visit the Oregon Coast, you should get a reservation in the summer. Other seasons, you should be able to find a spot.

That's pretty much true. We made reservations when we went west simply because if you don't where we live, you don't have a place to camp. So we weren't used to the idea of just stopping where-ever. Not one place we went to was so full up that drive-ins couldn't get a site.