Required Stays

[road_crew]

I have been looking for a campground close to home to stay at perhaps Wed. Thur. Fri. of any week, just to check out that everything is working well before an extended trip. Not a beach campground or resort. It seems that all the state parks require a Sat. stay if you are there Friday. Do they hold to that? What if you are just passing through? Are they more flexible if they are not booked or do they just stick with the "rule"?

[wbwood]

What state parks are you looking at?

[1775]

I have heard of this for holiday weekends (and then they want a booking for the whole weekend) but not in general, but if the campground you are looking at says it has that rule then they will stick to it except perhaps in an off-season when they are glad to have any bookings that they can get. Obviously, now in the height of the summer season they want full bookings and will not stray from their "rules".

[fla-gypsy]

Florida does not have those requirements in the state parks that I am aware of

[crabbin_cabin]

Stefonius wrote:

nevadanick wrote:
They cant make you stay, they can only make you pay.

X2!

You both are two hours late hijacking my comment??

[Stefonius]

nevadanick wrote:
They cant make you stay, they can only make you pay.

X2!

[nevadanick]

They cant make you stay, they can only make you pay.

[NCWriter]

wildtoad wrote:
Don't know where you are but I've never heard of that at SC state Parks.

Though this isn't specific to weekends, at Hunting Island SP, the website says reservations must be made for a minimum of two nights. I guess if you just want to show up, they'll sell you an open site for one night. But you can't reserve ahead for just one night.

So OP could stay there Thurs and Fri without having to stay Saturday...I think.

[Dog_Folks]

road crew wrote:
I have been looking for a campground close to home to stay at perhaps Wed. Thur. Fri. of any week, just to check out that everything is working well before an extended trip. Not a beach campground or resort. It seems that all the state parks require a Sat. stay if you are there Friday. Do they hold to that? What if you are just passing through? Are they more flexible if they are not booked or do they just stick with the "rule"?

Call the park and ask if they have any "walk-in" sites. (Sites held back from the reservation system)

If they do there is a good chance that these sites do not have a required stay period.

[wildtoad]

Don't know where you are but I've never heard of that at SC state Parks.

[crabbin_cabin]

They can't make you stay! Only make you pay!

[the_bear_II]

The goal of this type of rule is to provide as many campsites as possible for those who are coming to the park to enjoy the whole weekend. You'll see these types of required stays in popular areas and on holiday weekends.

There is flexibility depending on if the park is full or has spots available. If there are many spots available you may be able to get permission to leave on Saturday. I would call the ranger and expalin your plans to see if it is possible.