2022 campgrounds

[buc1980]

Do you think that the campgrounds are less full than the other summers?

[PButler96]

agesilaus wrote:
and weekends are when the locals come out to camp.

How dare they? Totally unacceptable!

[WinMinnie02]

Campgrounds at state parks normally are not crowded during the weekdays. Stay home or boondocks during big 3, Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day. Have not use private campgrounds last 15 years, even my backyard is nicer than most private campgrounds. IMHO we RV to stay away from crowds.

[Thom02099]

Thunder Mountain wrote:
We had a 3K mile trip planned for our summer get out of Arizona trip. Cut it about in half due to diesel prices and decided to not go outside Colorado. When we called to cancel our reservations in MT, ID and WY, were told those campgrounds were facing many cancellations. We were able to snag 10 days in Gunnison where you have to almost wait for someone to die to get in. We made reservations in Estes Park at the last minute and got a several week stay. Normally, they are booked months in advance. Manager said they've had lots of cancellations. Numerous vacant sites every night. Very unusual for Estes Park in July. With several decades of summer experience in Estes Park, I can say the crowds here are definitely thinner.

Just got back from a weekend at Glacier Basin CG inside RMNP and there were sites available throughout the weekend there. Site right next to us was vacant the entire weekend as were several others. Entering the park on Friday afternooon didn't take much time, line was short for the Beaver Meadows entrance. Sunday was a different matter -- entry traffic backed up for over a mile.

Driving past Elk Meadow Resort, although on first glance it appeared full, looking closer there were a goodly number of sites available on Friday going up as well as Sunday coming home. The KOA on the east side of town also didn't seem to be as full as usual.

[agesilaus]

State Parks are mostly hard to get into, and weekends are when the locals come out to camp.

[Thermoguy]

I just checked the WA State parks website and another more local parks website for availabilities, nothing that meets the requirement of 30-35' with power. All reserved for the weekends, checked July 14-17. I did see a few openings on mid week, like Tuesday - Thursday but only some sites.

We're going to boondock starting Sunday to avoid the crowds. Already have a place picked out.

[agesilaus]

Since leaving North Florida we've stayed in one National Forest cg, five COE cg, one fairgrounds, and two private cg. No problems finding a site and we are now in Missouri heading into Iowa and over the river to a State Park in Illinois for 3 days then up to Wisconsin for another COE park for 7 days.
Once again I think the cg shortage is limited to states with policies that suppress campgrounds.

[valhalla360]

I suspect it's similar to the RV sales backlog that suddenly disappeared...the industry benefits from the impression it's tough to get a site, so people jump at locking in a reservation.

Yeah, prime locations at prime times will still be busy but all thru covid, we haven't had any issues getting a site.

Heading out in a little over 2 weeks...up thru the Michigan UP then out west to Yellowstone over a couple months.

[Thunder_Mountai]

We had a 3K mile trip planned for our summer get out of Arizona trip. Cut it about in half due to diesel prices and decided to not go outside Colorado. When we called to cancel our reservations in MT, ID and WY, were told those campgrounds were facing many cancellations. We were able to snag 10 days in Gunnison where you have to almost wait for someone to die to get in. We made reservations in Estes Park at the last minute and got a several week stay. Normally, they are booked months in advance. Manager said they've had lots of cancellations. Numerous vacant sites every night. Very unusual for Estes Park in July. With several decades of summer experience in Estes Park, I can say the crowds here are definitely thinner.

[JoeH]

We've been traveling for the last month or so from Central Florida to Maine, so far, will be heading west in a few weeks. In NC ,VA & NY , during the week there were plenty of empty spots, on the weekends, parks were full. In Maine, the 3 parks we've been at have had many empty spots, both during the week and on weekends.

[4runnerguy]

We were in Moab late April/early May. One weekend was the annual car show, always a big draw. This year it was noticeably less busy in town, even on weekends. It's been 10+ years since the crowds were this size. So yes, in the case of Moab, it is less busy.

But one thing we noted is that while there was an increase in the number of RV's in BLM and NPS CG's compared to the past, we noticed a decrease in the number of tent campers. I can imagine that younger people who visit Moab for mountain biking, climbing, kayaking, etc. are also the ones for whom higher gas prices are most daunting. If you're a college student looking for a long weekend getaway in Moab, doubling the price of the gasoline for the trip makes a big impact on a small budget.

Just got back from 5 weeks in Oregon. Stayed at a lot of state parks. Many would say no vacancy but 20% of the sites might be open on any given night. So someone made reservations but failed to use them. Fuel prices? Don't know. But I do wish people would cancel their reservations rather than being no-shows. Does make for a quieter CG but there are others who would have appreciated having that campsite.

[steveh27]

hhornig wrote:
Looking for camp sites near Ludington, MI. We will be near Ludington next few weeks. Is it going to be crowded?

YES!!! The state park is probably all booked.

[Thom02099]

Here in northern Colorado so far everything has been full, there's been no changes that are noticeable. Went up the Poudre Canyon recently, all of the first come/first served CG were full. And the State Forest State Park Ranger Lakes CG was completely full.

Checked to see if some of the other State Park CGs nearby had any openings and there's absolutely nothing. However, with diesel now at $5.50+ here, will be interesting to see if that changes.

[hhornig]

Looking for camp sites near Ludington, MI. We will be near Ludington next few weeks. Is it going to be crowded?

[agesilaus]

Well here is our real world experience. Starting in N. Florida we've camped in 7 spots (one future cg with reservations), had zero problems with our first choice.
Left FL, camped in one NF spot in N FL, two COE cg in AL, one private cg in AL, a county Fairground in TN (Escapade) and now in KY COE and moving to another KY COE for the 4th weekend.
Just about every place had plenty of open sites, even thru the weekends.
So once again I have to say that this so called shortage is limited to the east coast, especially the NE and maybe parts of Cali. I don't know about OR and WA.

I suspect all of those states have onerous regulations that force campground owners to quit. I have seen blog posts from one in Cali who said he was pulling his business out of the state. That leaves fewer government CG to supply the demand, leading to cg being booked solid.