State Park permits - is there a better way?

[Anaj06]

I am making reservations for our first big camping trip and have found 3 state parks in 3 different states that require a state park permit to enter the park. I see all the options for buying in each individual state (daily, annual pass, etc). My question is: does a national pass/permit exist to enter all state parks? I doubt it because the states need their revenue! I am just wondering if there is a better way than buying permits for every state we plan to visit a state park in?

Thanks!

[Mountain_Mama]

If you're going to stay several days in Texas SP, the annual pass will probably pay for itself in one visit. You just have to do the math. Included with the pass are some (4 maybe?) 1/2 price camping discount nights when you stay at least 2 nights but you have to use on separate visits. The daily fees are per person over 12 per day & are from $3-7 which can add up un a hurry. A couple of years ago our kids joined us for a week @ Garner SP & I think the fee was $7/day, so for 4 adults that was an extra $28 a day on top of the camping fee of $22. So it made sense to have the pass because we were staying several days. The daily fees for each TX SP can be found at each park info site under fees.

Now that we qualify for the national Senior pass, we try to use COE parks, much cheaper..

[Anaj06]

We are staying in state parks in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Nebraska. All of the reservations mention that we need a park entrance permit. This is our first big trip. We will be gone about a month. We are mixing it up and staying in some state parks and some private. We are staying at a COE park in June on a different trip. I feel by the end of the summer we will know what we like;).

[Major_Dad]

dahkota wrote:
The only states I have been in that required a camper to pay a day use fee were Wisconsin and Texas. The rest included it in the site fee. Which states are you going to? Also, you can just pay the fee when you arrive...

Colorado required daily passes as well last time we stayed in one (2010). A few years before that we spent a week at Ridgway SP and paid for a stack of sticky-note window passes for the week that we had to change daily.

It is a pain that each state does it differently but the establishment, funding, and operation of state parks belongs to each individual state. Even with the user fees, state parks usually provide a more economical (and less cramped) camping experience than private parks. We enjoy both state parks and private parks; where we stay is based upon many factors, but daily entrance fees are not a huge deciding factor for us. Since we frequent Texas state parks, the annual pass easily pays for itself every year. If we decide to spend a long vacation in NM or CO, we would consider the annual passes for those states as well.

[agesilaus]

"We camped in Georgia (Fort McAllister) last year and were never asked or required to pay a daily fee. "
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Maybe they changed their policy, we haven't camped in GA for 5 or 6 years. I'm glad to see that they have a better system in place now.

[Tvov]

I THINK that Connecticut does not charge a separate parking/user fee - pay the camping fee, that includes use of all the park. Having said that, out of state people are charged substantially higher daily camping fee than residents.

Most Connecticut state parks are dry camping. There are a few electric only sites scattered about - they are usually considered handicapped sites, BUT anyone can use them if they are still available at the end of the day. I believe CT was adding more electric sites, but that effort seems to have slowed down with budget issues.

Considering the out of state fees for CT state parks, it makes private campgrounds, with hookups and facilities, much more appealing for visiting campers.

[wannavolunteerF]

One thing I like about the GA fee, in addition to the fact that you pay one daily fee for your entire stay, is that the fee (using the hang tag they give you at check-in) will cover the daily fee at any other state park during the time the tag is good.

In FL, you have to pay a separate entrance fee to go in a different state park, even if you are camping in a nearby park.

Not sure if my recent stay in a SC state park included a daily entrance fee, but it really bugged me that I had to pay a Reserve America fee to put my registration into the system. No reservation, just show up and check in at the park, and pay a Reserve America fee -- even the night that I didn't get there in time to check in before office closed, so I paid the fee as I was leaving. I would rather pay the state park and entrance fee that could help with operations, than Reserve America when I didn't even make a reservation.

[dahkota]

Laman wrote:

accsys wrote:

agesilaus wrote:
Georgia does I know. If you camp for X number of days you have to pay park entry fees for every day. Unless you don't leave the park I suppose.

My experience at several Georgia parks has been that as long as you are camping, you only pay the $5 for one day and it is good for as long as your reservation.

That has been my experience at numerous Ga. Parks, one fee for the entire stay.

We camped in Georgia (Fort McAllister) last year and were never asked or required to pay a daily fee.

[Laman]

accsys wrote:

agesilaus wrote:
Georgia does I know. If you camp for X number of days you have to pay park entry fees for every day. Unless you don't leave the park I suppose.

My experience at several Georgia parks has been that as long as you are camping, you only pay the $5 for one day and it is good for as long as your reservation.

That has been my experience at numerous Ga. Parks, one fee for the entire stay.

[mockturtle]

There are quite a few states where a daily entrance fee is required in addition to the campground fee. It would be much less confusing if they just posted the total fee for camping as one price, IMO. Personally, I will try to find the NPS, NFS, BLM & COE parks if there are any available, where my ATB pass is honored. State parks are often crowded, anyway.

[SDcampowneroper]

SD State parks have a use fee for the facilities, short term or annual. Custer State Park fees are higher than all others, however it has much more to offer. Support of the Parks facilities and programs are funded by those passes.
Camping fees are separate from visitor passes and pay only the costs of the camp.
A user pay structure, you see?

[accsys]

agesilaus wrote:
Georgia does I know. If you camp for X number of days you have to pay park entry fees for every day. Unless you don't leave the park I suppose.

My experience at several Georgia parks has been that as long as you are camping, you only pay the $5 for one day and it is good for as long as your reservation.

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

I did some research over the winter and almost half the states now charge an entrance, parking or other fee in addition to their state parks camping fee. For some states it is a one time fee per camping trip, for others it is a daily fee.

[bukhrn]

You need to look into the COE campgrounds, you can use your federal passes, and they are as good or better than most State Park campgrounds, most have at least electric & water, some even have FHU's in many cases they are cheaper than the state parks. This all depends on where you're going, as a few states don't have any COE CG's in them.

[Randu]

dahkota wrote:
The only states I have been in that required a camper to pay a day use fee were Wisconsin and Texas. The rest included it in the site fee. ........

Add MI to states that require a daily fee or annual permit in addition to the camping fee. Randu