Any hints to score a reservation on Recreation.gov

[atodalen]

Myself and a couple of family members have been trying unsuccessfully to get a reservation at a popular Forest Service campground in Idaho. We hit the BOOK NOW button the second that reservations open for the day and get the message that INVENTORY IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE. It was listed as available immediately prior. Any hints or ideas to improve our odds?
Al

[bukhrn]

jandjbaums wrote:
I've tried it. Didnt like it at all. They charge you to make a res.? Mid week is the only way to go. It should go back to first come first serve.

That's easy to say when you live close by,, but not a good thought when you're driving a 1000 miles or more, it would be nice to know you've got a site when you get there.

[2gypsies1]

Have you tried calling instead of online?

[toedtoes]

jandjbaums wrote:
I've tried it. Didnt like it at all. They charge you to make a res.? Mid week is the only way to go. It should go back to first come first serve.

I have no problem with the service charge (which is not charged for all campgrounds). I also am very grateful for the ability to make reservations at campgrounds. I don't get enough time off work to be able to take a chance on getting a first come/first serve campsite. Being able to reserve allows me to go camping often.

[atodalen]

From the sounds of it, there's no magic tricks involved in it. Guess I'll just keep plugging away until my karma aligns. Thanks everyone, for the words of encouragement that it is indeed possible.
Al

[Dutch_12078]

Oasisbob wrote:
I checked availability the night prior and found several sites already taken. I asked the reservations folks how this could be? They had no idea. What a sad joke on us

I've found sites at various state parks at times that were shown as taken, were actually being held temporarily for maintenance or upgrades.

[rondeb]

made fourth of July reservations for my daughter exactly 6 months in advance. Made them for a North Idaho park through reserve america. I had no problem. Obviously I must of hit it just right based on the above.

[NCWriter]

Try the state parks in the Florida Keys. They all book up most of the year at the split second reservations open. It's just pure chance whether you'll hit the key at the precise nano-second but it can be done.

[tll]

Two summers ago we planned a vacation to Door County WI and wanted to stay at the state park there. I monitored the reservation website and found that sites would be taken the first few seconds the reservation window opened each morning. My wife, daughter, and myself sat on our laptops and started to attempt to make a reservation a few seconds before the window opened. It took 3 days of trying but we finally got a site. Some campgrounds are just that popular.

[atodalen]

smkettner wrote:

atodalen wrote:

smkettner wrote:
Book midweek camping. Book less days, just one day taken eliminates your search space availability.

I appreciate the thoughts, however, whatever one chooses for search criteria, one can still see what is available and when when a site will come available by using the DATE RANGE AVAILABILITY tab. 😉
Al

Yes so you select the available week and 1/4 second before someone else steals your Saturday and it is a no go.
BTDT, then selected Sun -> Thurs and got it.
YMMV

I'm happy that it worked out in your situation. We haven't been so fortunate in that regard, it seems that the person that does get lucky and get the site reserves it past the date that we're able to go. Most everyone seems to reserve for the full term allotted (14 days). People are forced to start reserving the 2 weeks prior to the desired date and then later cancel what's not needed in order to have any chance of a site. Cancellation fees for the unwanted part of the reservation seem to be considered part of the cost of being able to camp at popular destinations. It's the name of the game as nasty as it is. There are some that are opening up closer to the weekend that we'd like and those are the one's that we're watching now.
Al

We need some smileys in here, I'm getting bummed out just thing about it.:):D:)

[jandjbaums]

I've tried it. Didnt like it at all. They charge you to make a res.? Mid week is the only way to go. It should go back to first come first serve.

[time2roll]

atodalen wrote:

smkettner wrote:
Book midweek camping. Book less days, just one day taken eliminates your search space availability.

I appreciate the thoughts, however, whatever one chooses for search criteria, one can still see what is available and when when a site will come available by using the DATE RANGE AVAILABILITY tab. 😉
Al

Yes so you select the available week and 1/4 second before someone else steals your Saturday and it is a no go.
BTDT, then selected Sun -> Thurs and got it.
YMMV

[atodalen]

Nunyadamn wrote:
I too have asked myself this question. I am just guessing, but it may be that people are making reservations over the phone.

I called their reservation phone a couple of days ago, there is approximately 40 seconds of information that you are required to listen to prior to being connected to a live person. No way to bypass due to legal issues according to an e-mail response when I asked. They also claim that the phones aren't answered prior to the set opening time, so it would seem that on-line is still the best option.

egrove wrote:
I don't think you can go by a clock to know when to hit the book button, as the clock you are looking at is probably different than the one Rec.gov is using. What I do is start hitting the Book Now button a little before and if you're too early it kicks right back to the page where you can the button again. Repeat as fast as you can! I've had fairly good luck with this approach.

Perhaps the clocks are different but I suspect that they're mighty close as evidenced in my prior post of staggering BOOK NOW on 3 different computers. All 3 of our computers clocks are smack on with the USNO clock as that is a national standard but it is possible that their servers use a different time standard for all that I know about. I imagine that your method starting to hit a little early and then refreshing is going to be the one that wins out when all is said and done. I'm going to play with timing a bit on days that there aren't any sites available at our preferred area but tons at less popular destinations. My goodness, the efforts we'll take to get into a certain place. Might have to consider dispersed camping in the National Forest in the future.

Al

[egrove]

I don't think you can go by a clock to know when to hit the book button, as the clock you are looking at is probably different than the one Rec.gov is using. What I do is start hitting the Book Now button a little before and if you're too early it kicks right back to the page where you can the button again. Repeat as fast as you can! I've had fairly good luck with this approach.

[Nunyadamn]

I too have asked myself this question. I am just guessing, but it may be that people are making reservations over the phone. I have run into this too many times for it to be a computer issue on my side. If it's not that, then maybe their system just defaults to none available right at the 6mo mark when too many people are trying to get on to book - example, 10 people max on their system at any one time, default to nothing available. Try back in a few hours or even a day and see if you still have the problem. That would be my only advice.

[atodalen]

smkettner wrote:
Book midweek camping. Book less days, just one day taken eliminates your search space availability.

I appreciate the thoughts, however, whatever one chooses for search criteria, one can still see what is available and when when a site will come available by using the DATE RANGE AVAILABILITY tab. 😉
Al