Reservations at federal parks

[Mayor30]

While making reservations at Army Corps of Engineer and Forest Service sites,I came across a few things. One is that the COE parks will only take credit cards from now on. Since credit card companies charge for each use, the government is making less money than if they were paid by check or cash.One of the parks I looked at would only take advanced reservations. So if you showed up at the campground and there were open sites,you could not use one. More loss of revenue. Another rule at many of these parks is no early check in. So even if the site is open,you cannot use the site even if you wanted to pay for early arrival.Most commercial parks allow for early arrival or late departure if you pay extra.On our upcoming trip to Texas from Pa, I wanted to make 2 reservations at one federal park in Arkansas. One for an over night going down and one coming back. At that park I could only make 1 reservation per call. So I called back the same day and made the 2nd reservation. Makes no sense but that's the way it is.At that same campground,with the Senior Pass,I pay $7.50 a night with water and electric hookup.That's the cheapest I found anywhere. In Arizona at one Forest Service campground with no hookups,we paid $12 a night and $18 at another with electric only. Not sure how they figure out what to charge. It varies from state to state.

[Mayor30]

2oldman wrote:

Mayor30 wrote:
I wanted to make 2 reservations at one federal park in Arkansas. One for an over night going down and one coming back. At that park I could only make 1 reservation per call. So I called back the same day and made the 2nd reservation.

You normally call to make reservations?

Yes, I prefer being able to talk to someone.

[afidel]

TechWriter wrote:

bikendan wrote:
Most CA beachfront campgrounds are state beach campgrounds. Less than 1% of California State Parks campgrounds have heookups of any kind, mostly W/E only. The very few that have full hookups are booked up months ahead of time. The few state beach campgrounds with full hookups are gone in mere seconds, months ahead of time.

What's new?

Months in advance - it's been that way for as long as I remember

Gave up on a CA full hookup beach campground, but found an OR full hookup beach site instead.

Was able to get a CA beachfront site with electric hookup. Inconvenient, but enough for me as it's location, location, location . . .

Agreed, that's why big holding tanks are one of my requirements, so many of the best waterfront sites don't have sewer hookups due to the obvious problem of water infiltration and slope being near the water table. My current rig is a huge step up from my last one in that regard but my next rig that I plan to live in will probably be nearly twice as big again 😃

[bikendan]

TechWriter wrote:

bikendan wrote:
Most CA beachfront campgrounds are state beach campgrounds. Less than 1% of California State Parks campgrounds have heookups of any kind, mostly W/E only. The very few that have full hookups are booked up months ahead of time. The few state beach campgrounds with full hookups are gone in mere seconds, months ahead of time.

What's new?

Months in advance - it's been that way for as long as I remember

Gave up on a CA full hookup beach campground, but found an OR full hookup beach site instead.

Was able to get a CA beachfront site with electric hookup. Inconvenient, but enough for me as it's location, location, location . . .

I know that quite well, as I've been camping at California State Parks for 35 years.
But many don't, especially a lot of the new Covid Campers.

[TechWriter]

bikendan wrote:
Most CA beachfront campgrounds are state beach campgrounds. Less than 1% of California State Parks campgrounds have heookups of any kind, mostly W/E only. The very few that have full hookups are booked up months ahead of time. The few state beach campgrounds with full hookups are gone in mere seconds, months ahead of time.

What's new?

Months in advance - it's been that way for as long as I remember

Gave up on a CA full hookup beach campground, but found an OR full hookup beach site instead.

Was able to get a CA beachfront site with electric hookup. Inconvenient, but enough for me as it's location, location, location . . .

[bikendan]

TechWriter wrote:

bsbeedub wrote:
It’s tough to get get choice sites but there are, as TechWriter said, scores, possibly hundreds of others doing the exact same thing.

Bingo!

Been trying to book a few CA beach front camp sites with hookups. Nearly impossible. I was able to get one campground just from repeatedly click-click-clicking at the magic turnover time.
Did the same for a full hookup Oregon beachfront campground. Luck and persistence.

Most CA beachfront campgrounds are state beach campgrounds. Less than 1% of California State Parks campgrounds have heookups of any kind, mostly W/E only. The very few that have full hookups are booked up months ahead of time. The few state beach campgrounds with full hookups are gone in mere seconds, months ahead of time.

[TechWriter]

bsbeedub wrote:
It’s tough to get get choice sites but there are, as TechWriter said, scores, possibly hundreds of others doing the exact same thing.

Bingo!

Been trying to book a few CA beach front camp sites with hookups. Nearly impossible. I was able to get one campground just from repeatedly click-click-clicking at the magic turnover time.
Did the same for a full hookup Oregon beachfront campground. Luck and persistence.

Been doing this since 2004 for WI state parks . . . it hasn't changed.

[bsbeedub]

Just this past Monday I was waiting for 9:00 a.m. CDT to reserve two sites (in a COE campground) for my buddy and me at the opening of the six month window. We wanted to be side by side so we had three or four that we had picked out that would work for us.

At the stroke of 9:00:01, I hit my two sites and received a notification that there were many others that were trying to book and they would do their best to accommodate me. (I’m paraphrasing here.) Then I immediately got a notification that they could not fulfill my request.

I went back to the booking area of the site and saw that someone had grabbed only one of the two sites I wanted. In the time it took me to click two sites, the person that wanted only one of those two beat me to it! By that time there was only one of our other choices available so I was able to snag them.

It’s tough to get get choice sites but there are, as TechWriter said, scores, possibly hundreds of others doing the exact same thing.

[drsteve]

TechWriter wrote:

Yosemite Sam1 wrote:
Priority for federal park reservation system is that they are unable to solve the problem of insiders who block the choicest campsites for their friends.

How do you know this?

Yosemite Sam1 wrote:

I was booking a good campsite in the Village at Yosemite NP seconds after it's opening for the next calendar cycle. And lo and behold, by a stroke of incredible miracle, it's all already booked solid.

Are you new to booking hard-to-get campsites?

Those few "seconds" are all it takes for popular sites to disappear. Scores, possibly hundreds, of people could be right there at the same time with you trying to get those choice spots.

I hate it too. I was tempted to sign up to Campnab, but it's too pricey.

My solution is to book as far in advance as possible (typically months or even years) and wait for the exact "rollover" date and time -- down to the minute. It can work (see my Booking Banff 2019 blog entry). Recently, using this technique I scored sites in popular Oregon & California campgrounds.

Thank you. I smh at the number of people whose first response to reservation issues is "CONSPIRACY!!! CHEATERS!!!". Same with those who think there is a system that could be instituted that will allow THEM to easily book sites that hundreds of other people are also trying to book. News flash: the rules are the same for everyone. Anything that makes it easier for one makes it easier for all.

The only change that could possibly make a difference is more campsites.

[2oldman]

Mayor30 wrote:
I wanted to make 2 reservations at one federal park in Arkansas. One for an over night going down and one coming back. At that park I could only make 1 reservation per call. So I called back the same day and made the 2nd reservation.

You normally call to make reservations?

[valhalla360]

afidel wrote:

agesilaus wrote:
5 PM? really? I've seen 2 PM which is a PITA but not 5

Yes, some COE campgrounds have a 4pm checkout time. It works great for us as frequent weekenders as it means we can get up and do something at the park rather than just fix breakfast and pack up.

If it's weekenders, the simple solution is to make Sunday a later checkout. (maybe even add a $10fee for late checkout in the system)

Not many weekenders checking out a 4:30pm on a Wednesday but midweek, a large percentage of travelers want to be done driving by 2-3pm.

[TechWriter]

Yosemite Sam1 wrote:
Priority for federal park reservation system is that they are unable to solve the problem of insiders who block the choicest campsites for their friends.

How do you know this?

Yosemite Sam1 wrote:

I was booking a good campsite in the Village at Yosemite NP seconds after it's opening for the next calendar cycle. And lo and behold, by a stroke of incredible miracle, it's all already booked solid.

Are you new to booking hard-to-get campsites?

Those few "seconds" are all it takes for popular sites to disappear. Scores, possibly hundreds, of people could be right there at the same time with you trying to get those choice spots.

I hate it too. I was tempted to sign up to Campnab, but it's too pricey.

My solution is to book as far in advance as possible (typically months or even years) and wait for the exact "rollover" date and time -- down to the minute. It can work (see my Booking Banff 2019 blog entry). Recently, using this technique I scored sites in popular Oregon & California campgrounds.

[Yosemite_Sam1]

monkey44 wrote:
As seniors and campers, seems we have to give up everything we deserve and give it to those cheaters that don't. Progress!!

Or two class of campers where those of us who are not well-connected are relegated to least desirable sites tucked somewhere in the most inaccessible area of the park.

[monkey44]

As seniors and campers, seems we have to give up everything we deserve and give it to those cheaters that don't. Progress!!

[Yosemite_Sam1]

Cliff_Michele wrote:

Yosemite Sam1 wrote:
Priority for federal park reservation system is that they are unable to solve the problem of insiders who block the choicest campsites for their friends.

I was booking a good campsite in the Village at Yosemite NP seconds after it's opening for the next calendar cycle. And lo and behold, by a stroke of incredible miracle, it's all already booked solid.

This toasts my taco. They should leave at least 20% for first come first served to give the rest of us a chance because bots have locked us out of the parks.

Bots and the insiders.

Went to a campground with 4 first-come-first-serve campsites. I was there at 7am to be able to corral it. When I went to the counter, the lady said it's all booked. No protestations from me that there is no one there yet would make her relent.

It was a concession run very popular USFS campgrounds.. Wrote USFS to protest. Did not even got a response of at least acknowledging the receipt of my e-mail.