How can I travel without making reservations

[raldl]

I am new to camping. I have a 22 foot trailer and plan to tour the western U.S. I would like to be spontaneous, so I have not made reservations at any campgrounds. I am now worried about getting a camping spot in the more popular areas (Yellowstone, Glacier, Grand Canyon). I want to be in the Yellowstone area in early Sept and Grand Canyon in Oct. I am reading that reservations are recommended (is it too late?) and generators are not allowed at the first come, first served campgrounds (my battery will only last one night). HOW DO YOU DO IT???

[bgum]

My wife and I have been all over the US including the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone and the only place we were turned away was Disney World.

[tonyandkaren]

You have two big advantages over a lot of other campers - you're visiting after the summer season and your trailer is small. You should have no problem getting a site at any of the parks but, as other people have mentioned, it might be a little cold. Yellowstone is very picturesque when it's cold because of the steam rising from all of the thermal areas.

[noe-place]

We took a major trip out west a few years ago with NO reservations. We travelled through the southwest, up the west coast to Canada and back down through the Midwest and never had the first reservation. I had no trouble finding an rv campground and getting a spot whenever DW decided it was time for us to stop and rest up. Good luck.

[woodgeezer]

Think outside the box. There are lots of places to stay outside Yellowstone on the North and West sides. Same with the Grand Canyon on the North side. Your timing is good for outside the normal travel times, usually ending with Labor Day, but weather may play into your plans. Years ago I spent the week after Labor Day in the South end of the Park. Our second day we had a ranger warn us about snow, and if we didn't leave we would not have any help from them if we got snowed in. We were gutsy kids and took the risk, no problems. Five or so years ago, same weekend friends got caught in a storm and paid over $500 to be towed out.

[CA_Traveler]

You may not get the best site or if popular none. But there is usually one not to far away. Your flexible is an advantage. Plus Sept/Oct works in your favor.

and generators are not allowed at the first come, first served campgrounds

As a blanket statement that would only apply to some CGs, certainly not all/most.

While there are many tools for locating CGs Allstays RV and Camp for a phone is one of the best. Displays a map of any area or your current area with CGs. If you like one tap the phone number and see if they have a site for you. You can do it that day or perhaps the day before. Hundreds of filters for selective viewing. You can try the PC version but it's not nearly as good as the phone app IMHO.

[midnightsadie]

on your way stop at wal mart,,, cracker barrel,,, lowes , home depoe and churchs,

[K_Charles]

We mostly stay home by the pool when schools are closed and that might help but we never make reservations and were on the road about 5 months a year.

[klm]

I prefer to make reservations for popular spots during summer camping season. I am not comfortable looking for cg's, and driving from place to place - seems like a waste of precious touring time. We don't make reservations for overnights, or in the off season. You need to find your own comfort zone. You don't mention if you are traveling with wife, kids - but after a long travel day, hunting for a cg site can make for some cranky folks 🙂

[agesilaus]

Even if you don't want to make reservations, we've found that certain major target points for a planned trip need them. The major national parks almost always require a reservation made as much a 6 or 7 months ahead. Yosemite the most difficult of all, is a lottery that's over in less than an hour, months ahead of the dates reserved.

And thinking about Yosemite, Bahia Honda is just as difficult (in FL Keys), reservations open 13 months in advance and are quickly filled.

So make a few major reservations and be spontaneous in between. Not much of a problem knowing that you need to be at Yellowstone on this date and Grand Canyon on some other date.

BTW the 'best' campground in Yellowstone. The only one with hookups (Fishing Bridge) is a parking lot. But getting in that parking lot can save you 3 hours a day driving time if not more. We only got to the CG late in the afternoon anyway so it's not like you are hanging around the CG all day.

BK

[bigdogger]

1775 wrote:
If you are going to a popular spot any time that others may want to be there - summer vacation season, school breaks, weekends no matter when - you are going to find that you need reservations. If it is a holiday weekend or week - there is no question that you will need reservations. In the middle of the week on an off season you may find sites available - sometimes also in the summer at the beginning of a week but in really popular areas you are shooting dice to find vacancies.

Unlike the parks near major cities, Yellowstone tourism does not drop during the midweek. If anything, Saturday is the least crowded day of the week. It makes sense if you consider that Yellowstone is at least a two day journey from almost any populated area. People get off work on Friday and then drive the two days arriving either on Sunday or Monday. Then they need to leave on Friday to be back at the Cube Farm on Monday. People local to Yellowstone avoid the summer season like the plague. You won't see the locals in the park except in May and late September. And even then, the entire population within 100 or so miles of the park boundary wouldn't constitute much more than a mid sized town.

[Ka_Ron]

We find that when we travel, most of the time if we stopped by 2PM we were always able to get a spot.
I can probably count on one hand the times we could not get a spot in over 20 years of RV'ing.

Maybe now things have changed with parks closing, but we are still not making reservations and just winging it with no problem.

[Community Alumni]

I have traveled across the U.S. and Canada without making reservations, including the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone, and always managed to find a place to stay. One day my luck almost ran out in Canada when I needed a place to stay during the Canada Day holiday, but still managed to score a nice FHU spot at a golf course.

Good luck!

[1775]

If you are going to a popular spot any time that others may want to be there - summer vacation season, school breaks, weekends no matter when - you are going to find that you need reservations. If it is a holiday weekend or week - there is no question that you will need reservations. In the middle of the week on an off season you may find sites available - sometimes also in the summer at the beginning of a week but in really popular areas you are shooting dice to find vacancies.

[bigdogger]

If you know when you are going to be somewhere, what is the problem with making a reservation? It is not like you are just going to stumble on to either of those parks while just be-bopping down the highway. With Yellowstone, many of the campgrounds start to close down in September. Even though there are less people, there are also less sites. If you get there and there is no room at the inn, it can be 50 or more miles to a park with availability In the summer I have seen the park where we stay telephoning other parks looking for a vacancy for a last minute guest needing to go out nearly 100 miles before finding said open site. You will probably find a site with little or no notice, but why chance it?

[kgarrett9999]

Yellowstone is a giant parking lot. The campsites are tight and the traffic can back up for miles because of a bear sighting. I actually saw traffic backed up over 5 miles due to a bear on the side of the road.

We happened to get a last minute reservation or we wouldn't have stayed there anyway. My wife had never been there and she wanted to go so I monitored the reservation site for a few days and someone cancelled about a week before our trip.

I do love staying on the Greys River Road southeast of Alpine. There are multiple National Forest campgrounds there. Generators allowed. Additionally there is an almost infinite number of places that you can just pull over and camp along the 60 miles of dirt road that runs alongside the Greys River. It is about 2 hours from Yellowstone but still easy enough. There are of course several other choices outside of Yellowstone that are closer including National Forests and private campgrounds. West Yellowstone area has a lot of nice campgrounds and is convenient to the park as well.