Strict schedule or flexible travel out west

[nails]

We are somewhat new to longer term travel and have a couple of questions.
We want to visit the southwest next early fall (aug. - oct.), and see National Parks plus general sights in the area. My wife and I have opposite ideas on how to plan. Her thoughts are that we should make early reservations and a somewhat strict schedule for each leg of the trip. My plan is to be much more flexible and to take the trip as a journey without having to plan each night months in advance. I understand that the National Parks are busy and we may have to call several private campgrounds at times to find a site.

We have a 30'TT and will be able to short term boondock occasionally if needed. Seems like making a strict reservation schedule will not allow for unplanned extended stays if we see something interesting, and I'm sure each campground will want deposits to lock in reservations. Although if we do it my way, and have problems finding a campground with vacancy, I'll never hear the end of it.

Can this type of trip be done without a strict reservation for each stop, or will it be a nightmare trying to find a place to stay each night.

[Lauren]

As many of you know, I am a reservation guy. I like to know that I will have the site I want at a place I want and not have to worry about it. Sometimes plans change but rarely have for us in 17 years part time (3-4 months a year) of this wonderful RV life. I don't want to spend my time looking for sites when I could be hiking or photo shooting or whatever. And I don't want to be next to the dump station. And I believe in what someone once said - the trip comes in three parts; the planning, the doing and the remembering.

[Jayco-noslide]

I think it has to be whatever you are comfortable with. I plan out our trips semi- rigidly. I like to plan where we will spend each night, planning to arrive well before a 6 PM diner and never after dark(can be a disaster). But I don't always make reservations. That depends on where, time of year, type of campground, etc. Also, a back-up plan is very advisable. I hate the stress of not being sure by mid-afternoon if we will even encounter a campground that night. Doesn't work for me. But experience is needed to know what works best.

[KarenS144]

pnichols wrote:
When folks say that WA and OR spots are already getting booked, they may be referring to coastal camping spots.

In Oregon we stay inland and have neved needed reservations anytime during the peak summertime season. Remote inland spots is the key to no reservation camping in the coastal states. We find the same situation in California during summers - stay inland.

Stay inland is hard to do and camp on the coast! 😉 We want to camp on the coast somewhere but are planning several days inland too.

[pnichols]

When folks say that WA and OR spots are already getting booked, they may be referring to coastal camping spots.

In Oregon we stay inland and have neved needed reservations anytime during the peak summertime season. Remote inland spots is the key to no reservation camping in the coastal states. We find the same situation in California during summers - stay inland.

[KarenS144]

When we went to Utah a few years ago & when we went to Glacier & Yellowstone a couple of years ago, I did make reservations at Nat. Parks early. Even then, I was out of luck in a couple of places and could only get 1 night on the North Rim (I know..that's not Utah but close!). We stayed at a couple BLM & a Nat. Forest CGs that were great and were among our favorite places.

I'm trying to get a trip to WA & OR together for this year and have looked at a couple NP CGs and they're already full. I did make reservations in a state park for Labor Day but probably won't make any others until a couple of days from arrival.

I have a general idea a route & of where we need to be & when we need to be there and will sort of keep to a schedule since we have the reservations for Labor Day weekend. They could be cancelled though if we find somewhere we'd rather be. 😉

[MTPockets1]

You will always find a place for the night even without reservations.. We've done it in past years, Walmart lots on occasion, private campgrounds, BLM, COE, Nat'l Forrest. Having said that, we now prefer from the experience of doing it both ways, a well planned itinerary with reservations well in advance. You can always cancel if a plan changes, but for us, a lot of pressure is removed from the venture knowing that site is being held just for us, and we can arrive at our leisure with no anxiety about getting in. Right now we have every stop reserved from March 27 when we leave Tucson, through Labor Day weekend in September. No pressure and slow travel. Always two or more nights, never over 200 miles on a travel day......

[DSDP_Don]

On driving days where you're just stopping overnight between National Parks you'll be fine, especially if it's just one rig. When you start getting close to places like Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, you'll have to be REALLY lucky to find a spot. You'll find campgrounds in the outskirts, but places like Fishing Bridge and the Grand Canyon's Trailer Village are probably already booked.

Someone mentioned the Oregon coast. The time of year you intend to visit will probably be slowing down a little, but you may need to call ahead to your next campground.

The baby boomers are really starting to hit the road and it showed last year with campgrounds getting harder to find. RV sales rocketed this year and those people will be out in numbers this year.

[TOMMY47]

RIGHT NOW, I am organizing a trip West. I've booked certain areas--Sedona, private--Grand Canyon--Bryce--Zion, electric site 6 days through July 6th, in advance. Monument Valley, Page-Lake Powell, Capitol Reef, Calf Creek --Not yet. Some don't accept reservations.
I will probably book some Oregon state parks in advance as well as Glacier. Others as I go. Plan to use casino parking lots as often as possible in route. Generally free with lots of security.

[Veebyes]

For your time frame generally speaking, no sweat. Kids are back in school & the summer rush is over.

If you require FHUs then you might want to reserve for places like Yellowstones Fishing Bridge CG. If you are happy with water only or, better still, dry camping, getting sites is easy. Traveling with no reservations get to wherever you want to stay by mid afternoon. That means that you arrive before the marathon drivers trying to pack a months worth of traveling into 2 weeks.

Some have mentioned the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. This is an RVer's absolutley 'must do'. Even that one does not require reservations. The big crowd, when everything is full, is the first weekend. Arrive Sunday afternoon at the huge dry camping area & you will find many freshly vacated spots.

The more flexible you are the easier it is to travel without reservations.

[Islandman]

I agree with stickdog above; for travel after Labor Day, reservations won't be necessary as heavy use of the parks is over with school starting up. You and your wife will have a much more relaxed trip if you just roll with the punches as this will be a new area for both of you and there will be places you want to spend extra time, and there will also be some spots that you will want to leave quickly. Oregon coastal CG's might be a little tight on weekends but Sun-Thu nites should be no problem, same with WA or CA coastal areas. Another advantage to a loose schecule is you can deal with emergencies such as RV breakdown if that should occur. Have a good trip and don't be in a hurry!

[bee_46]

We traveled out west for three weeks last August. The only reservations we had were for Fishing Bridge in Yellowstone and Trailer Village in the Grand Canyon. Other than that we found campgrounds as we went and never had a problem. If you know where you want to head the next day or even later on a given day, you could call ahead to make sure you have a site. Our reservation at Yellowstone caused us to have to drive two very long days after we decided to add the Badlands and Devil's Tower into our trip. We rarely make advanced reservations unless there are very limited sites or it is a holiday weekend.

[MNRon]

Years ago the joke between my wife and I was that I wanted to point in a direction and drive wherever whims took us, she wanted to plan each stop and the route in between. We've both modified our desires a "little". We now generally know where we'll stay for the next few days when traveling and usually know if it will be a rambling route or point to point. We call ahead a week or so if we're concerned about availability but frankly have always found extra sites where we've been even though we were told we had reserved the "last site".

At the same time, we did make reservations for the Albuqueque balloon festival this fall...

[stickdog]

We're fulltimers the last 5 years. We thought reservations were necessary, there not. If you want to ensure that the park you want absolutely has a site for you, you may want to make them.
We volunteer during the "season" so our site is provided. Our travel is during the off season, after Labor Day and before Memorial Day.
Since you plan on August-October travels I would say if there's someplace you really want to be before Labor Day make a reservation. After Labor Day play it day by day.

[amandasgramma]

I hear the Oregon coast is almost impossible to find a camp spot during the summer. I KNOW for a fact it's hard to find a hotel/motel room in August and Sept. over there. Our friends reserve camp spots MONTHS in advance. 🙂 But double check, you never know when someone cancels. You can NOT boondock on Oregon coast.

[Steeljag]

Weekends / holidays may pose a problem. We are NOT , nor could we be strick pre planned travelers....lol, way to easily distracted!