Reserve America

[Bob_Vaughn]

There is a state campground near me and every time I try to make a reserve america reservation at this park RA says all the sites are booked for the day I want to go there but when I just drive there I find the park virtually empty. The Ranger told me they have trouble with RA doing this. When he tries to look up a site it tells him the same thing. Is there something wrong with the way RA reserves sites??

[NYCgrrl]

Great hearing all the different ways there are to spend leisure time and decide(or not) when and where to stay.

My 4th of July trip is all about kiddos and THEIR school/after school/day camp schedule so it requires advanced logistics: what size car to rent(Honest; we don't own a car. Told you it was different:D), where their only seen when camping buds will be sited, how much food to bring, what Oriental Trading Co. stuff needs to be re-supplied, what days their fav carnival/state fair will fall on; the list goes on and on. The only thing that is a norm is when we go camping: the last week of June to the middle of July. Set in stone. As is searching for a week day trip for adults only after the kids have returned home. Lots of liquid libations are consumed.

[pnichols]

For an additional example: We a few days ago camped at an ultra-popular and beautiful large lake with a huge beach that we could drive our RV right down on close to the water and then rent a PWC for myself and the grandkids. Using Reserve America, we had easily made reservations two weeks ahead of time for a couple of desired days at a campsite close to the beach. We canceled the reservations while on the trip two days before arriving and lost some money due to the late cancellation (a long story).

HOWEVER, the next day we frantically tried to re-reserve the same campsite right back. We could only re-reserve the same campsite for the 2nd of our original desired days, but had to take our chances and drive to the park to try and get some kind of campsite for the 1st of our original desired days. When we got to the park, we got our original campsite back on a first-come first-served basis for the 1st of our original desired days. Hence, in the end we got our original desired campsite for the original desired days - all happening in a hurry while on our trip through reservation, last minute cancellation, last minute re-reservation, and first-come first-served drive up. On top of all that, there were several other open campsites open right close to ours - but even closer to the beach than our campsite.

However, usually our camping style does not require reservations .... and certainly not reservations much ahead of time. We are rockhounds, bird watchers, nature observers, ghost town visitors, etc. - so we don't camp where most others want to. We're not afraid of drycamping and have no problem running the A/C in our self-contained rig for hours to keep cool in summer weather in out-of-the-way camping spots. We don't need cool coastal areas or cool high altitude mountain areas to enjoy summer camping. In the winter is when, if at all, we hit our coastal areas for ocean camping without reservations.

[2gypsies1]

bikendan wrote:

NYCgrrl wrote:

pnichols wrote:

NYCgrrl wrote:
Oh well. Someone else will be staying at my favorite site 4th of July 2016 but I did get my second choice. Such is life for the slow

Good grief .... having to get reservations NOW for the 4th of July next year!!!

What is this world coming too, anyway. :E

That's not my idea of "free an easy" spontaneous camping. I'll camp in my back yard, first, before going to those kind of reservation extremes.

You reside in the less populated West; I live in the more crowded NE.

NYC, pnichols is in the minority out West here. most of us are at the mercy of RA also. there is HUGE competition for campsites in California, Oregon and Washington.
can you find campsites, sure but you have to go where most don't want to camp. even weekdays can be gone 6 mths in advance.
for coastal campsites, all will be reserved within minutes of them becoming available.
we don't camp in the summertime or holidays because of this. we prefer spring and fall when the crowds are gone.

Pnichols is not in the minority, I can assure you. There are many of us who do not make reservations - even for the state parks on the Oregon coast, Yellowstone, Grand Teton Nat'l Park, Glacier and many others. It can be done - even in the summer. However, if you're on a tight schedule you probably shouldn't try it.

As full-timers we weren't on a schedule. We'd stay nearby the previous night and get to the campground early morning as folks are leaving. Many parks do not have reservations on every site and some parks even have campgrounds that don't accept any reservations. Plus, each day there are cancellations.

This way of traveling is not for everyone but if you don't want your traveling planned out, this is very doable. We've never had an issue of not getting a site - even with our 40' motorhome.

I will say that we'd never try this for the major holidays. Purposely, we'd find a nice quiet place away from any kind of water (pools, lakes, streams, beach) and have a peaceful holiday. We let the vacationers have their activities. We could go to those kinds of places another time.

[bikendan]

NYCgrrl wrote:

pnichols wrote:

NYCgrrl wrote:
Oh well. Someone else will be staying at my favorite site 4th of July 2016 but I did get my second choice. Such is life for the slow

Good grief .... having to get reservations NOW for the 4th of July next year!!!

What is this world coming too, anyway. :E

That's not my idea of "free an easy" spontaneous camping. I'll camp in my back yard, first, before going to those kind of reservation extremes.

You reside in the less populated West; I live in the more crowded NE.

NYC, pnichols is in the minority out West here. most of us are at the mercy of RA also. there is HUGE competition for campsites in California, Oregon and Washington.
can you find campsites, sure but you have to go where most don't want to camp. even weekdays can be gone 6 mths in advance.
for coastal campsites, all will be reserved within minutes of them becoming available.
we don't camp in the summertime or holidays because of this. we prefer spring and fall when the crowds are gone.

[NYCgrrl]

tatest wrote:

NYCgrrl wrote:

tatest wrote:
What is wrong is that the sites are reserved by people not actually using them. It is not unusual for someone to reserve (and pay for) a site for a two week window in order to have it for two or three nights at the end of that period. For the people doing this, the value of those nights is sufficient to justify the cost of a two week rental.

It may or may not be against the policy of a public park to tie up a facility but not use it, but separating the reservation system from park management makes it just that much more difficult to police, where policy considers it abuse of the reservations system. And for some parks, all they care about is whether or not the site is paid for, and so don't consider it abuse.

That doesn't make a lot of sense to me (reserving sites for a week and then only using 2 or 3 days)but I value my hard earned dollars too much I guess. I have been known to book several days and allow the first night to go by unused due to work or transport problems but that's it. On the bright side since I pre-registered I can enter the campground early in the morn before the office opens, settle in and present my paperwork later in the day.

Separating the reservation system from the parks happened in part because people were abusing the system and living at the park for the entire camping season. Saw that happening back in the 80's when I attended college near Taughannock Falls State Park outside of Ithaca, NY. Students, locals renovating homes and others just looking for less expensive housing, found a spot and NEVER moved until it got cold or the park closed for the season. This of course meant less of the public could use the campgrounds. And sometimes money exchanged hands under the table. RA and similar computer systems made for a more level playing field as well as allowing states to cut costs associated with payroll. It has it's problems but is inherently fairer and faster than past ways of making reservations as I see it.

Might not make much sense to you, but it makes sense to the people who do it. It is not just the reserved sites. I've been camped in Federal CGs two weeks before a holiday weekend, watched people drive in, set up a children's play tent, pay the fee for the two weeks up through the holiday, and drive away until the weekend, when they move in their RV. When you are spending several thousands dollars a year ownership costs on a RV you use only a few weekends, paying $100-200 camping fees for a site you don't use, in order to have the site the three days you want it, is just small change.

There's no getting into the mindset of others on that level but I've a question for you/all: I keep reading about unreserved campsites but it's not a policy I'm familiar with. How does it work?
It's not the emergency stopover system is it?

[tatest]

NYCgrrl wrote:

tatest wrote:
What is wrong is that the sites are reserved by people not actually using them. It is not unusual for someone to reserve (and pay for) a site for a two week window in order to have it for two or three nights at the end of that period. For the people doing this, the value of those nights is sufficient to justify the cost of a two week rental.

It may or may not be against the policy of a public park to tie up a facility but not use it, but separating the reservation system from park management makes it just that much more difficult to police, where policy considers it abuse of the reservations system. And for some parks, all they care about is whether or not the site is paid for, and so don't consider it abuse.

That doesn't make a lot of sense to me (reserving sites for a week and then only using 2 or 3 days)but I value my hard earned dollars too much I guess. I have been known to book several days and allow the first night to go by unused due to work or transport problems but that's it. On the bright side since I pre-registered I can enter the campground early in the morn before the office opens, settle in and present my paperwork later in the day.

Separating the reservation system from the parks happened in part because people were abusing the system and living at the park for the entire camping season. Saw that happening back in the 80's when I attended college near Taughannock Falls State Park outside of Ithaca, NY. Students, locals renovating homes and others just looking for less expensive housing, found a spot and NEVER moved until it got cold or the park closed for the season. This of course meant less of the public could use the campgrounds. And sometimes money exchanged hands under the table. RA and similar computer systems made for a more level playing field as well as allowing states to cut costs associated with payroll. It has it's problems but is inherently fairer and faster than past ways of making reservations as I see it.

Might not make much sense to you, but it makes sense to the people who do it. It is not just the reserved sites. I've been camped in Federal CGs two weeks before a holiday weekend, watched people drive in, set up a children's play tent, pay the fee for the two weeks up through the holiday, and drive away until the weekend, when they move in their RV. When you are spending several thousands dollars a year ownership costs on a RV you use only a few weekends, paying $100-200 camping fees for a site you don't use, in order to have the site the three days you want it, is just small change.

[NYCgrrl]

pnichols wrote:

NYCgrrl wrote:
Oh well. Someone else will be staying at my favorite site 4th of July 2016 but I did get my second choice. Such is life for the slow

Good grief .... having to get reservations NOW for the 4th of July next year!!!

What is this world coming too, anyway. :E

That's not my idea of "free an easy" spontaneous camping. I'll camp in my back yard, first, before going to those kind of reservation extremes.

You reside in the less populated West; I live in the more crowded NE. Becomes a true different strokes for different folks moment.

Many other fairly nearby parks I can stay at within a 4 state range but this place is my favorite and obviously that of others. Oh and I own no backyard/garage/attic to store/use my camping gear or future RV what with living in a vertical urban area, LOL.

It might not be free and easy (my fav park charges me almost 20% more for not being a resident of the state which is a mindset I understand) or spontaneous but goodness knows I wuvvv the time spent there and have no problem choosing Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Extravaganza or cheering on a fife and drum corps dressed as Minutemen. Minutemen have been winning for the past 9 years;).

[pnichols]

NYCgrrl wrote:
Oh well. Someone else will be staying at my favorite site 4th of July 2016 but I did get my second choice. Such is life for the slow

Good grief .... having to get reservations NOW for the 4th of July next year!!!

What is this world coming too, anyway. :E

That's not my idea of "free an easy" spontaneous camping. I'll camp in my back yard, first, before going to those kind of reservation extremes.

[NYCgrrl]

Whyyyyyyyyy didn't this topic stay closer to my thoughts on July 29th :S?

Dazed out and forgot to make my reservation until the next day knowing full well that the reservation window opened the day before.

Oh well. Someone else will be staying at my favorite site 4th of July 2016 but I did get my second choice. Such is life for the slow:(.

[GMandJM]

More likely it was a search criteria issue than a browser issue.

[2gypsies1]

NYCgrrl wrote:

2gypsies wrote:
Here's a link to that campground. It shows many sites with a 'R' (reserved) and some with a 'A' (available. Look under 'Date Range Availability'. Hope this helps.

http://www.reserveamerica.com/camping/alafia-river-state-park/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=FL...

Your link doesn't show the date's info you prolly put in; just where the campsites are located for horses and RV and tent camping.
Still, I see lots of weekends available over the next 2 months (btw 3-27 open sites) including weekends and Labour Day. Maybe you want to change browsers,Bob Vaughn.

I didn't put any dates in. Just click 'Date Range Availability' and all the campsites will show. Arrow ahead to get future dates.

[NYCgrrl]

2gypsies wrote:
Here's a link to that campground. It shows many sites with a 'R' (reserved) and some with a 'A' (available. Look under 'Date Range Availability'. Hope this helps.

http://www.reserveamerica.com/camping/alafia-river-state-park/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=FL...

Your link doesn't show the date's info you prolly put in; just where the campsites are located for horses and RV and tent camping.
Still, I see lots of weekends available over the next 2 months (btw 3-27 open sites) including weekends and Labour Day. Maybe you want to change browsers,Bob Vaughn.

[GMandJM]

Yeah, Alafia is popular with the snowbirds. Might have something to do with it being $22/night.

If the LAL loop is full, it is okay to book a site in LLL (horse loop). We prefer staying there and always hope there will be horses "camping" with us.

I called Alafia this afternoon and according to Ranger Brian (a new guy), it's still okay to stay there even if you don't bring a horse. (RA web site has a different opinion and doesn't make it easy to book on the horse loop). Just a FYI.

Also, Ranger Brian didn't know about any RA glitch causing empty sites to show as reserved. The RA web site shows good availability for most dates 'til snowbird season.

I wonder why the OP wasn't able to book there.

[Dutch_12078]

I just booked a 5 night stay at Alafia River for next January a couple of days ago. There was only one site available for the time slot we needed. A few days earlier there were none available for the same time slot, so someone must have canceled.