More campers than parks

[Lightning55]

This year we have only been out in the 5th wheel 2-3 times because we can't find any places to go that haven't been sold out on the weekends. Northern CA State parks, especially on or near the coast seem to be booked solid, even this late in the year. Going east into the foothills or Sierras isn't much better.
I'd be money ahead if I rented an RV a few times a year than making a huge investment in an RV that we can't use.
Sorry for the rant but it's frustrating to watch the tires go flat on the trailer from sitting in the storage lot month after month. Is this a problem all over or just in Northern CA?

[westernrvparkow]

Donna Jean wrote:
this thread makes me very scared of what is ahead for my husband and I. we are putting our home up for sale in the spring and plan to buy a DP and live full time for 6 months or longer before relocating from MI to TN. Since we will not be able to start this adventure before we sell our house we have no idea on when it will start so trying to book far in advance is going to be a big problem. Our hope is to be on the road by August and spend time first in CO then move on to UT. I hope we are not homeless with a MH and no where to park it

Nothing to worry about. It is simple to make reservations for places that are destinations for you. You don't just accidentally end up at Yosemite or Grand Teton. There is plenty of availability throughout the country with very few exceptions if you have even a day or two advanced planning. In the unlikely event your destination plans intersect with an abnormal event (i.e. you want to stay in Sedalia, Missouri and it is the week of the state fair, hence no availability) changing your destination a few dozen miles should suffice. Major holidays are known far in advance, so don't plan to travel without reservations on or around the 4th of July. Employ a dose of common sense and you will not be without a place to stay.

[ppine]

Spacecowboy7 wrote:
I’ve found that the best spots are always booked solid months ahead, you need to check reservation web sites often for cancellations.

Depends on how you look at it. I find that the best spots are the ones that require no reservation and there is no one around.

[jplante4]

Donna Jean wrote:
this thread makes me very scared of what is ahead for my husband and I. we are putting our home up for sale in the spring and plan to buy a DP and live full time for 6 months or longer before relocating from MI to TN. Since we will not be able to start this adventure before we sell our house we have no idea on when it will start so trying to book far in advance is going to be a big problem. Our hope is to be on the road by August and spend time first in CO then move on to UT. I hope we are not homeless with a MH and no where to park it

In most areas of the country, 6 month advanced booking is not required. We've done several trips where we were booked only a couple of stops ahead. Unless you want to be in a particular place at a particular time, you can still somewhat wing it.

[Donna_Jean]

this thread makes me very scared of what is ahead for my husband and I. we are putting our home up for sale in the spring and plan to buy a DP and live full time for 6 months or longer before relocating from MI to TN. Since we will not be able to start this adventure before we sell our house we have no idea on when it will start so trying to book far in advance is going to be a big problem. Our hope is to be on the road by August and spend time first in CO then move on to UT. I hope we are not homeless with a MH and no where to park it

[Yosemite_Sam1]

bikendan wrote:

I specifically referred to new "campgrounds". Sam, I was born and lived in California. I camped all ove the state, mainly state parks, for 40 years. Still camp there every year, since leaving the state.
So I'm quite familiar with the status of campgrounds, in California's state and national parks.

They might not have seen the need.

CA is my go-to campgrounds. And I may have shorter in-state camping as yours but as I've seen, all the coastal, lake, rivers etc, eg, popular sites are always fully booked.

But try inland campgrounds, campers are pretty sparse. I went camping several times during our hunting trips, and sometimes, we are the only ones in the campground.

[bikendan]

Yosemite Sam1 wrote:

bikendan wrote:

Lightning55 wrote:
Wow, this thread has gone full circle! Thanks for all the input. I'm still a working guy so weekends are my only option. Even trying to book spots 6 months in advance hasn't worked for any of the beach or lake spots. When advance reservations open up for these places they are filled within seconds. Can't click fast enough. I guess we'll start just taking whatever we can find. There's probably spots in the privately owned places we can check out. Just too many people here that have RVs.

Unfortunately California and many other states haven't developed more campgrounds, to keep up with population growth. This is mainly due to, especially in California, all the laws, restrictions and costs to do this. Try and name any new campgrounds, over the past 25 years, in California's state and national parks. Yet the population has doubled over the past 50 years.

I think California has the most public parks as a ratio to the total state's land mass.

The issue is that everyone and his brothers, including me, go there for vacation for the sights and the weather.

I don't know if the word is out yet and weed is also legal in WA and OR -- and they can have their own share of these kind of tourists and CA can less second hand smoke pollution in Venice Beach .;)

Maybe, to prevent congestion, the state should screen out by IQ test and driving abilities, LOL.:B

I specifically referred to new "campgrounds". Sam, I was born and lived in California. I camped all ove the state, mainly state parks, for 40 years. Still camp there every year, since leaving the state.
So I'm quite familiar with the status of campgrounds, in California's state and national parks.

[Yosemite_Sam1]

bikendan wrote:

Lightning55 wrote:
Wow, this thread has gone full circle! Thanks for all the input. I'm still a working guy so weekends are my only option. Even trying to book spots 6 months in advance hasn't worked for any of the beach or lake spots. When advance reservations open up for these places they are filled within seconds. Can't click fast enough. I guess we'll start just taking whatever we can find. There's probably spots in the privately owned places we can check out. Just too many people here that have RVs.

Unfortunately California and many other states haven't developed more campgrounds, to keep up with population growth. This is mainly due to, especially in California, all the laws, restrictions and costs to do this. Try and name any new campgrounds, over the past 25 years, in California's state and national parks. Yet the population has doubled over the past 50 years.

I think California has the most public parks as a ratio to the total state's land mass.

The issue is that everyone and his brothers, including me, go there for vacation for the sights and the weather.

I don't know if the word is out yet and weed is also legal in WA and OR -- and they can have their own share of these kind of tourists and CA can have less second hand smoke pollution in Venice Beach .;)

Maybe, to prevent congestion, the state should screen out by IQ test and driving abilities, LOL.:B

[bikendan]

Lightning55 wrote:
Wow, this thread has gone full circle! Thanks for all the input. I'm still a working guy so weekends are my only option. Even trying to book spots 6 months in advance hasn't worked for any of the beach or lake spots. When advance reservations open up for these places they are filled within seconds. Can't click fast enough. I guess we'll start just taking whatever we can find. There's probably spots in the privately owned places we can check out. Just too many people here that have RVs.

Unfortunately California and many other states haven't developed more campgrounds, to keep up with population growth. This is mainly due to, especially in California, all the laws, restrictions and costs to do this. Try and name any new campgrounds, over the past 25 years, in California's state and national parks. Yet the population has doubled over the past 50 years.

[ReneeG]

Yosemite Sam1 wrote:

cummins2014 wrote:

Yosemite Sam1 wrote:

IdaD wrote:
You're in a very populated area. Go north into Oregon or east into Nevada and you'll find all kinds of wide open spaces to camp in and explore.

Forget about Idaho, though. Nothing to see there but potato fields.

What??? You just killed our spring plans!

Twin Falls and onwards.:(

Not to worry ,they are just trying to keep people out of Idaho, its a beautiful place.

I know, we just passed by Idaho on the way from Yellowstone. This time we are taking the time to camp and see the sights.

I have a question or Utah though. Do you have something against Californians? My daughter and son was driving at the same speed along your highways. My son has a Nevada license plate while my daughter has California. Guess what, it was just my daughter who got the speeding ticket (there was even no speed limit posted).

Nope, they are equal opportunists when it comes to scamming. Years back, we were on our way back from touring Cedar Breaks, when we were stopped by a police officer for going 5 miles over. Ok we were, but he handed us a ticket and my husband looked at it and said to the officer, "we're not in a school zone. This ticket says we were speeding in a school zone." The school zone sign was 50 feet ahead of us. The officer said, "oops, wrong ticket." He took it back and gave us another pre-written one.

[Yosemite_Sam1]

mdcamping wrote:

Lightning55 wrote:
Wow, this thread has gone full circle! Thanks for all the input. I'm still a working guy so weekends are my only option. Even trying to book spots 6 months in advance hasn't worked for any of the beach or lake spots. When advance reservations open up for these places they are filled within seconds. Can't click fast enough. I guess we'll start just taking whatever we can find. There's probably spots in the privately owned places we can check out. Just too many people here that have RVs.

yup were in a similar situation booking popular provincial parks(see my post 3 pages back) I've had multiple windows open while trying to book when the reservation site opens on their time, somehow I think the returning locals have the advantage, maybe because of proximity?

I also wonder if some of the openings were already booked and were just ghost openings.

Mike

I wonder this myself. I was right there right at the dot at the time Yosemite campsite opened for booking and I'm actually getting notifications of these openings.

And yet, in mere seconds, these campsites are all fully booked.

I'm not yet ready to concede to those who are saying that the insiders somehow are block booking it prior to opening it up to the public. I also know that they have attempted reforms on their booking system.

[mdcamping]

Lightning55 wrote:
Wow, this thread has gone full circle! Thanks for all the input. I'm still a working guy so weekends are my only option. Even trying to book spots 6 months in advance hasn't worked for any of the beach or lake spots. When advance reservations open up for these places they are filled within seconds. Can't click fast enough. I guess we'll start just taking whatever we can find. There's probably spots in the privately owned places we can check out. Just too many people here that have RVs.

yup were in a similar situation booking popular provincial parks(see my post 3 pages back) I've had multiple windows open while trying to book when the reservation site opens on their time, somehow I think the returning locals have the advantage, maybe because of proximity?

I also wonder if some of the openings were already booked and were just ghost openings.

Mike

[Spacecowboy7]

I’ve found that the best spots are always booked solid months ahead, you need to check reservation web sites often for cancellations.

[Lightning55]

Wow, this thread has gone full circle! Thanks for all the input. I'm still a working guy so weekends are my only option. Even trying to book spots 6 months in advance hasn't worked for any of the beach or lake spots. When advance reservations open up for these places they are filled within seconds. Can't click fast enough. I guess we'll start just taking whatever we can find. There's probably spots in the privately owned places we can check out. Just too many people here that have RVs.

[pnichols]

Yosemite Sam1 wrote:

cummins2014 wrote:

Yosemite Sam1 wrote:

IdaD wrote:
You're in a very populated area. Go north into Oregon or east into Nevada and you'll find all kinds of wide open spaces to camp in and explore.

Forget about Idaho, though. Nothing to see there but potato fields.

What??? You just killed our spring plans!

Twin Falls and onwards.:(

Not to worry ,they are just trying to keep people out of Idaho, its a beautiful place.

I know, we just passed by Idaho on the way from Yellowstone. This time we are taking the time to camp and see the sights.

I have a question on Utah though. Do you have something against Californians? My daughter and son was driving at the same speed along your highways. My son has a Nevada license plate while my daughter has California. Guess what, it was just my daughter who got the speeding ticket (there was even no speed limit posted).

That probably won't happen anymore ... with all our California fires maybe - just maybe - the anti-Californians will muster up a little bit of compassion and begin to feel sorry for us CA folks. 😉

[westernrvparkow]

Yosemite Sam1 wrote:

cummins2014 wrote:

Yosemite Sam1 wrote:

IdaD wrote:
You're in a very populated area. Go north into Oregon or east into Nevada and you'll find all kinds of wide open spaces to camp in and explore.

Forget about Idaho, though. Nothing to see there but potato fields.

What??? You just killed our spring plans!

Twin Falls and onwards.:(

Not to worry ,they are just trying to keep people out of Idaho, its a beautiful place.

I know, we just passed by Idaho on the way from Yellowstone. This time we are taking the time to camp and see the sights.

I have a question or Utah though. Do you have something against Californians? My daughter and son was driving at the same speed along your highways. My son has a Nevada license plate while my daughter has California. Guess what, it was just my daughter who got the speeding ticket (there was even no speed limit posted).

So your whole family is a bunch of speeders? I would be willing to bet there was a speed limit sign, they just missed it. My bank account appreciates the fact they can't stop all the speeders, all the time. Think of it as a reverse lottery, your son won and your daughter lost.