Just curious. I hate to be tied down by reservations. We usually have pretty good luck finding a place without making reservations. Just wondered what others do? What happens if you get to a destination and can't find a campsite? We usually get a temporary place for the night and then go into the campground we wanted to the next day. I have found it is best to get a campsite if you can arrive around 10-12 in the morning and people are usually leaving then. I don't like parks that allow reservations on all their sites, any opinions here? We usually don't camp a private campgrounds either, just state federal, or county campgrounds, simply because we prefer the natural surroundings that they offer.
Just thought I put this out there and see what others opinions are.
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We will wing it if traveling during the week, but if we want to stay at a specific state, federal, county, or COE park on a busy summer weekend, we will reserve ahead of time. We don't like being tied down by reservations either so if we have time to get to the park a day or so early, we'll take one of the first come first serve sites before they are all filled for the weekend.
Using U.S. Campgrounds website, I call ahead to the campground a day or two to check on availability. I can almost always get a site by traveling Sunday-Wednesday. For holiday weekends, I pick campgrounds with non-reservable sites or at least one that holds back a few sites for those who don't make reservations. It's extremely rare that I have to black-top camp for a night in order to get into a campground.
Sandia Man wrote: We will wing it if traveling during the week, but if we want to stay at a specific state, federal, county, or COE park on a busy summer weekend, we will reserve ahead of time. We don't like being tied down by reservations either so if we have time to get to the park a day or so early, we'll take one of the first come first serve sites before they are all filled for the weekend.
Double ditto. It also depends on my itinerary, the time of year (busy season or not) and how much of a schedule we have to adhere to.
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We travel and sightsee, not camp, and don't like the commitment of reservations but do make them on occasion. We will call mid day to see if sites are available for that evening. In six years we have never had to search for a place to stay. We have a 22' Class B so we fit where others can't.
Depends on the day of the week, nearby attractions, holidays, and population if you want to use State Parks, NFS, and COE's. That wouldn't work well in Florida.
I am a Full-Timer. When I first started full time, I did NOT make reservations. However, after finding some of the parks I wanted to stay at were full, I started to make reservations.
I am a member of ARO, RPI and C2C. I also stay at Federal (NP, COE, BLM etc) campgrounds. Thus to take advantage of an average cost of about $10.00 to $12.00 per night I make reservation several weeks in advance.
I use Garmin's MapSource to plan my trip and routes and side-trips in advance. I try to think "What do I want to see - do for the next 3 to 6 months". For example I am now planning a 12 to 24 month trip from TN to OR/WA and then back to South CA and return to TN. I estimate the trip will be about 7,000 to 10,000 miles.
While I have plans and reservation, I am also somewhat flexible and make changes as necessary.
Please give me enough troubles, uncertainty, problems, obstacles and STRESS so that I do not become arrogant, proud, and smug in my own abilities, and enough blessings and good times that I realize that someone else is in charge of my life.
With most of the CG's utilizing the internet to take reservations it is easy to see just how full a CG will be when you arrive. If it looks tight a reservation might be the way to go. We usually book a specific site at the more popular State Parks/USFS's because we have our favorites.
Most of our sumer camping is in the White Mountains and despite all of the choices many of the CG's fill up a couple of weeks in advance particularly on the weekends (which we get to avoid for the most part). The fee is only an extra $5 to know we have the site we want guaranteed which for us is usually worth it.
4 years on the road full time and have never made a reservation and have never been CG'less in any town I have traveled!
I find that every CG including popular destinations always have about 4 or 5 pull thru sites they keep open for travelers. If I like the CG and want to stay more days, they always accommodate me by letting me stay in that site until the first one opens up in the general population areas.
* This post was
edited 06/02/12 08:20pm by rockhillmanor *
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