vailskier
USA
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We're fairly new to RV travel and want to take a fairly long tour of the National Parks next summer. However, we don't want to travel on a fixed schedule. How do people deal with booking campsites in the height of summer?
If we turn up in (say) Glacier Park on a busy weekend in July, are we going to find all the sites full? How far ahead to paople book sites when travelling on a fairly flexible schedule?
Advice would be appreciated. Thanks
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gmcsmoke
Butler
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Most national parks are only bookable 6 months in advance. Some state parks are year around so you may never get the site you want.
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hotpepperkid
Chino Hills CA
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Some places I book and others I dont. Most of the time I will call while in route. It all depends on when and where. High traffic places like Glacier Park or Yellow Stone I would book in advance or some of the more popular places on holliday week ends.
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Jayco-noslide
Galesburg,Il., USA
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With experience you kind of learn where you may need to make reservations and where not needed. But there is never a guarantee about getting a site without reservations. When we travel West, we don't worry about it until we get to a popular place like Yellowstone or Glacier NP then reservations are highly advised. There are some campgrounds there we would just show up from mid-morning to early afternoon and expect to get a site but last year we tried that at Glacier NP and the 1 site left was too small for us, so we went about 15 miles to a Nat'l Forest campground and no problem; but then, we knew where we were going. It also depends on the size of your RV. Short answer- You do not need reservations for most campgrounds going West but, Yes, you mind find them full on a busy July weekend.
Jayco-noslide
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LynnandCarol
Pensacola, FL
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Some of these will be heavily booked, so you are going to need to make some schedule decisions. We have found that some scheduling is required and try to mix it with float'n around time.
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bikendan
Napa, Cal.
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depends on the park.
Yellowstone and Yosemite will require reserving as soon as possible.
other parks may not need reservations.
but my opinion is that you should reserve if you plan on camping in the peak season.
heck, all of Yosemite's campsites, for the summer, are gone within hours of the reservation opening day.
there are groups with multiple computers trying to make summer reservations there.
it's bad even off-season. we tried to make reservations in February, for May, and couldn't get 3 nites in one spot.
Dan- Firefighter , Shawn- Musician/Entrepreneur , Zoe- Faithful Golden Retriever , 2007 Chevrolet Avalanche LS, 2007 Rockwood Roo 23SS w/Equalizer and Prodigy, and 5 Mtn. bikes and 2 Road bikes
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dalmationlovers
Port Orchard, WA
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Agree with all the above. Here in Washington State at the state parks all the popular places, ocean, lakes, Puget Sound locations, and during holiday weekends it is almost impossible to get a site. You can book here 9 months in advance but you have to be quick to get a good site. We tend to not travel too far and our favorite places to go are easy to access in the spring to reserve.
Good Luck
Arnold
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PapPappy
Wilmington, NC
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I would make reservations at the more popular spots....and make sure that you are scheduling your trip to be there for those dates. You can still travel around and see other stuff on other days, and as mentioned, most places will have room, or you can just head down the street (though maybe quite a ways down the street )
Having internet on the road will be helpful, as you can track where you are, and how far you will have to go, to make certain CGs....and you can check on reservation policies.
If it's to busy at one place, there is usually another, and after all, that is what you were sort of looking for anyway.....a "fly by the seat of your pants" trip, right?
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JRS & B
Florida/Michigan
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Apparently you can wing it to some degree. But, based on all of the comments I have read on this forum, it is helpful/advisable to have an RV with a generator. That way if you get caught with no place to stay for a night you can boondock with the A/C on. No personal experience, just the impression I get from others' posts.
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TripleE
Traveling the country
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Many of the National Parks have campgrounds that do not take reservations but these usually do not have full hookups. The full hookup sites are the ones that fill up first. Your should research the parks you want to visit before you leave and find out which ones those are.
A hint, don't try to pull into a park on Saturday and find a spot. Plan of hitting a non-reservable park around Wednesday and staying over the weekend. You will find the weekdays are not as crowded. We try to stay away from the "big" parks on weekends if we can.
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