badsix wrote: The wife and I drove down to a couple of our local campgrounds one Saturday during the summer last year. both have signs that they are full. as we are driving through we see several sites vacant 8- 10, as we are exiting I see the camp host and ask if your full how come you have many open sites. he says they are reserved, but he also says the people may or probably wont show up. most were reserved for three nights the soonest we could have one would be monday afternoon. even though they sat vacant Friday Saturday and Sunday. what gives!
Jay D.
I really doubt the campgrounds care if the site was occupied or not. The y apparently were paid for.
badsix wrote: The wife and I drove down to a couple of our local campgrounds one Saturday during the summer last year. both have signs that they are full. as we are driving through we see several sites vacant 8- 10, as we are exiting I see the camp host and ask if your full how come you have many open sites. he says they are reserved, but he also says the people may or probably wont show up. most were reserved for three nights the soonest we could have one would be monday afternoon. even though they sat vacant Friday Saturday and Sunday. what gives!
Jay D.
I’ve hosted at a campground that takes reservations for some sites. When people reserve sites, they pay for them, too. At ours, they pay for the entire reservation up front. Other CGs they may only pay for day one. In doing so, they are guaranteed the site no matter when they arrive. Sometimes they get a latter start on the trip than they planned or encounter delays on the road. Then there are those who just decide not to go camping after all and instead of doing the right thing and canceling so we can let somebody else have the site, they just never show up.
Many reservable campgrounds do have a policy that if the site isn’t occupied by the end of the first day, the rest of the reservation is automatically cancelled. This, IMHO, is the best compromise but not all campgrounds do it.
Many of those reservation cancelled sites become available if you are willing to show up early in the morning and hang around waiting, which some are willing to do and some are not.
Iceman31 wrote: Sask Landing which is North of Swift Current opens for reservations for April 11th according to the website.
Thanks.
I just realized I'm looking too early. Thought it may be open to reserve, guess I should have considered that first.
Just did a province wide search at the government website and it shows unavailable everywhere. Thought maybe it was because I want full hookups for a 32 foot TT... Or I waited too long and everyone in Canada best me to it!
Oh well, gotta wait til April. Makes it hard because we have to book our time off now, not April
Carlyle has a nice campground on the south east side of town. The bakery is famous for its cinnamon rolls.
There is a free campground with power at the Bear Claw Casino 15 km north of Carlyle. Not too level. 30 amp and 15 amp outlets which are incorrectly wired (bypassing the pedestal breakers, but polarity is correct). Just be aware that you want to power down items in the RV before plugging in, to avoid arcing. All back in sites. Reasonably priced food at the restaurant, but not open for breakfast. Register for a players card for some free casino cash. Ask before you park--because the sites no longer had much of a gravel base--I sank in to my wheel wells once. They do have a paved parking lot--and you can plug into 15 amp circuits.
Another bakery to hit is on main street of Stoughton. Their donuts are to die for. I generally preorder 4 dozen and give them to friends. Stoughton has a campground with shower house, dumpsite and power. NOT free.
Maryfield has a campground--but I've never stayed in it. There is no longer a gas station--just a cardlock.
* This post was
edited 02/10/19 09:35am by pianotuna *
Regards, Don
My ride is a 28 foot Class C, 256 watts solar, 556 amp hours of AGM in two battery banks 12 volt batteries, 3000 watt Magnum hybrid inverter, Sola Basic Autoformer, Microair Easy Start.
Thanks Don.
Carlyle would be 2 days max. Short family get together. We are collectively inputting family history stuff.
Maryfield would be a day trip from Carlyle. One cousin lives there, my father, stepmother, grandfather are buried at the local cemetery there. I used to walk the boardwalks there as a boy. Sidewalks were made of wood slats. Quaint little place. Grandfathers homestead there is now a vacant lot, at least it was years ago the last time I was there.
Well, I'm happy to hear that your current problem is the fact that you're too early!
That said, finding camping spots in many areas is becoming very difficult if not impossible at times. Here in the Lower Mainland of BC it is becoming worse with every year that goes by; the price of real estate is through the roof so the chances of having any new campgrounds built is nil. We bought a campground membership in Bridal Falls a few years ago which has helped but it is tough to even get in there at times. We have talked to many people in many different areas in the past few years who say the same thing.
We have even thought about selling the camper because of it.....
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blofgren wrote: Well, I'm happy to hear that your current problem is the fact that you're too early!
Yeah usually I'm always too late!
I was going to do something about my procrastination, but I never got around to it!
I hear you on the real estate pricing in the Lower Mainland.
I lived in Surrey from 85 through 2013. I was in Fleeteod, 161 off 96th. Saw lot of changes. Especially what it cost me to build my house vs what it sold for in 14! Wow!
Not enough decent campgrounds there. There are a few kinda scungy ones though. Like the one off 160 on 103 close to the Port Mann.
Cultus is nice, but in all the years I lived there I never did get to camp there. Place is always full.
Never camped at Bridal Falls either. Oh well!
You wanna see a frenzy, try booking for the National Parks! I was online at 8am to book Waterton for July and in 2-3 minutes all sites except a few stragglers were booked for the summer. With Whistlers in Jasper closed for 2019 the pressure is on the other parks. With AB prov parks its a 90 day window starting late Feb so I expect that to be a hectic day also. I hate being part of the rat race for booking, but with larger rigs one needs to plan especially for long weekends. I hope you find what your needing in sask. We have a family friend in Swift that is part of the tourism/marketing dept and she helps educate us on what's available there. She part-times in Sask landing most summers.