A new RVer question

[BeerBrewer]

My wife and I are just planning to get into RVing and we have questions about making reservations at campgrounds and parks.

We've been talking about buying an RV (travel trailer) site seeing the country at for years. Now that we are both newly retired we figured now is the time. Odds are that we'd be doing a lot or most of our traveling in Fall thru spring and not too much in the summer.

How difficult is it to get reservations at a campground or park? We're being told that some campgrounds are booked 9 months to a year in advance and that its almost impossible to be spontaneous with our travel plans. Is this true? I would tend to think that this more of an issue in the summer, no?

We do have some big summer trips that we'd like to do, like visiting Alaska and some of the northern parks (those that may get early fall or late spring snows). These trips would be well planned and WAY in advance, so making reservations early would not be an issue. We are more worried about the impromptu trips that we'd like to do.


Thanks

[fanrgs]

A few years ago, we took a 3-month RV trip to Alaska without any reservations in advance and never spent more than 3 nights in any single campground. However, I started working in Alaska in 1972 and knew exactly where I wanted to go, what I wanted to see, and how much time I wanted to spend in each place.

But we did make a reservation for 3 nights at Denali NP 4 days before we got there and for Jasper and Banff NPs in Alberta 5 days before we got to Jasper. We didn't even make reservations for the Canada Day-July 4 week despite being in Stewart, BC, and Hyder, AK, that week (if you have seen Hyder, you know that no reservations are required!). Advanced reservations for an Alaska trip completely ruin any flexibility and, especially if you haven't there before, flexibility is key since you never know when, or if, you will ever be back.

Last January, we took a month-long RV trip to Florida without any advance reservations and didn't get turned away from any RV Park or public campground in that month. But, like the Alaska trip, we stayed in only one park for more than two nights.We

So, as others have said, it is still possible to RV without reservations if you don't mind off-peak season locations, occasional dry camping, and shorter stays in a single campground. We call ourselves "travelers," not "campers," because we enjoy the journey as much as the destination. So no-reservation travel fits our RV lifestyle perfectly.

But you'll have fun RVing, regardless of the style you choose!

[one_strange_tex]

You have made the need for reservations lower by not travelling much in the summer. The exception is the snowbird areas, especially southern Florida, from late fall through the end of February. Prime state parks and national parks down south also need reservations year round on weekends and holidays.

I tend to plan and reserve ahead of time because that is just the way I am. That helps me avoid dicey parks. I always consult RV Park Reviews and rarely get led astray. Planning is not stressful for me, but scrambling for a place to spend the night or staying in a park with poor facilities and management is.

[jplante4]

Kentucky Joe brings up a good point about flexibility. If you're set up for dry camping (good batteries, solar, generator, sufficient tankage) you can go 2-4 nights without a camp site at all. freecampsites.net has a wealth of info about dry camping along your route.

[valhalla360]

Prime locations at prime time...yes, get a reservation (winter snowbird parks can qualify).

But if you are flexible and arrive mid week, typically you don't need reservations.

[2gypsies1]

We full-timed for 16 years and traveled constantly. That's 5,840 nights. If we would have had to make reservations for all of that we wouldn't be RVing.

We rarely made reservations and had no problems - even with our 40' motorhome. We've stayed in major national parks such as Yellowstone, Grant Teton, Glacier, etc. without reservations. Some campgrounds don't even accept reservations. We spent the whole summer in Alaska and only made two reservations - one for the July 4 weekend because we were going to be in a popular area; the other for Denali Nat'l Park at Teklanika campground - the farthest you can drive a RV. For those we only made them about 2 weeks prior when we could judge when we'd be in the area.

3-day holidays: don't go anywhere where there's water (pools, lakes, rivers). Find a quiet spot and go to those places when the weekenders leave.

We usually moved on a Monday or Tuesday and stayed put for the weekend.

No, you don't need a bunch of reservations. That's way too structured for us.

[Kentucky__Jo]

I think it depends on how flexible you are!In 25 years,we have made very few reservations more than a day or two in advance.(exception-Yellowstone,Key West), but we are willing to stay at private cg, or not have a lot of amenities. We aren't picky about sites. Having freedom to move on or stay longer is what is important to us. If you want particular cg, or certain sites, you may need to plan ahead more.

[doxiemom11]

If it's a real touristy area, or a holiday you may need reservations. We have been full-time in our 8th year and have made reservations only a handful of times.

[Edd505]

BeerBrewer I'll add I use this app as we go https://www.rvparky.com/
Have the wife check this as we travel, look at reviews and decide which one.

[Community Alumni]

Traveled across the US twice and Canada and never made reservations ahead of time. There were a couple of times that looked dicey but we still managed to get a site.

As others have already stated, you may have a tough time without reservations during high season in popular spots but you should be fine the rest of the time. We usually hit the popular spots before or after high season.

[tomman58]

I am a planner I like to decide where and when we are going to stay along our annual path. I do an excell sheet with everything I need from address' to internet web sites to costs to phone numbers. I do not like surprises while on the road and cross the USA every year ending in Florida.
The info given is both useful and on the money. Let me add that our TT is 40' and we are in need of the right size accommodations so we plan for them. We always stay at RV parks and many are cheap. We like a nice long hot shower at the end of the day.

[Dutch_12078]

We normally book our 3 month Florida winter stays while we're still there the year before. This year we couldn't book until early this month due to waiting on medical clearance. We favor state and national parks, and we were able to completely fill our schedule with one or two week stays at various parks in the central and northern regions of Florida, but site choices were very limited, with some parks only having 1-3 suitable sites available.

[DrewE]

How necessary (or not) reservations are varies greatly with when and where you're looking to go. Popular campgrounds in major tourist destinations during high seasons or holidays absolutely positively do require reservations. Ordinary campgrounds in ordinary places during less popular times generally do not require reservations, though occasionally what may seem like not especially popular places or times could turn out to be the week of the annual Earthworm Farmer's Convention and Skateboard Race that draws skateboarding earthworm farmers out of the woodwork from far and wide, and they all stay at the local campgrounds.

Generally, though, it's not essential to have reservations for non-holidays, non-tourist destinations, especially on weekdays, and doubly so if you're willing and able to be a little flexible about where you camp.

[enblethen]

We normally find a cheap place to hold up on three day weekends. We try to find a place on Thursday through to leave on next working days.
Worker bees are and sometimes must push the time table.

[camperdave]

BeerBrewer wrote:


PS: I too agree, weekends should be for workers and I promise to stay out of their way whenever possible.

Thank you! Lol. Only 15 years till retirement...