Supply and Demand

[KiltDog]

Just bought a camper. Too bad there's not a single campground within 200 miles with any available sites.

[William]

That is crazy how popular camping has become definitely need more campground ..

[hboy]

Does your area offer any first come first serve sites? Around me very few cg offer reserved sites. So you don't really know where the open site is unless you drive out there. Not ideal with 3 kids and a wife. Good luck

[William]

They have a certain prestige that are first come first serve but on holiday weekends you have to drop the Sunday prior and regular weekends wednesday or Thursday night. Unless you drive a few hours out of town..

[12VOLTMAN]

As a potential buyer, this concerns me. If anything, it might strengthen the appeal of a hybrid to me. I suppose I'd be able to fit into more remote places with it.

[KiltDog]

I have to admit that I just logged onto reserve America and did a quick search this morning. I guess I could break out the phone and call places individually, but who does that anymore?

[clubhouse]

This certainly a problem in California. Reservations are required fir any of the popular spots, and recommended for everything else. Now there is always a place that can be found to go camping, but it will takes some work and compromise.

Our first year required a lot of compromise. Now we pretty much have come to RENs with making reservations 6 myths in advance. We would like to be spontaneous, but with 3 kids and all their activities it's not realistic so planning and reservations have just become the norm.

The good news is we already no where we will spend New Years, and now we have started thinking about 2015 spring trips.

[Luvthenw]

I feel your frustration. It is the good and bad of the reservation system. Good when you only have fixed weeks for vacation. It is bad when you just want to get away. I would suggest calling the campgrounds since most have cancellations and people that leave early. I would agree with a previous comment. Be prepared to make compromises.

[nunyadamn]

Supply and Demand = Research and Prepare

I can second the California availability problem. I am in Arizona and try to camp near the beach in California as much as possible. The best thing you can do, anywhere you want to go, is to plan 6 months or more in advance. If I didn't do that for the campgrounds in California, I would never find a decent spot - by decent I mean on the beach in a state/county/federal campground, not an expensive private parking lot a mile from the beach.

You can always look into boondocking too. I am starting to look for places within a 100 mile radius of myself near the lakes and forests for weekend trips.

[eldermike]

I do the pulling and setup and the wifes job is to find the places to go. It's a job in itself to book the sites sometimes 6 months ahead. Since we are 65 feet long hooked up we have even more restrictions but so far she has managed to keep the wheels moving. We have found that state parks that show booked up are never close to full on most weekends unless it's a big weekend. People are booking sites so far out that plans change. So call them and see if they can find you a site. Once you get started you can do your booking way out and then it's smooth sailing from there. Good luck.

[Bassdogs]

Try checking hotel availability at D World or airline tickets around holidays or peak seasons. Same will be true of Campgrounds. Summer is when kids are out of school and when most families use their RV. Yup, reservations 6 months or more in advance. Its the nature of peak demand with a fixed supply. Its also one of the many blessings of being retired. Ah the joy of driving or flying on a Tue or Wed instead of on the weekend. Don't be turned away from camping, just learn how to play the game. The off season always offers more availability and a much less jangled camping experience, even in some of the most popular destinations.

[DocBrown]

Are you looking at just state and county parks? Or including private CGs. We love the state parks in WI, but anything with electric is booked 11 months in advance on weekends. We've been doing more private CGs the last few years because they usually have more short notice availability.

[Plowtoy]

Something else to think about... See if there are spaces availible for a smaller unit. If your camper for example is 28', you would tell the campgound (or reservations center) that, and more than likely they would automaticly put you on a spot for a camper 30' or bigger. What I have found is when you look for sites for roughly 5' less in length, it may open up sites you will still fit on, but it may just be a little tight.
I just had to do this on our fishing trip. The CG said the site was good for up to 20', but I had a 26 to put on it. Got there, and it fit with no problem.
I'm not saying you cant get burned, but chances are if you are willing to work a bit to get your camper on a site, 9 times out of 10 you should be able to do it with a smaller site

[Owen Stubbs]

It is very frustrating. Most CGs that take reservations require the entire fee to be paid in advance, and once paid, it cannot be rented to anyone else even if the person who reserved it fails to show up. I drove through a nearby campground over Memorial weekend, and a good 10% or more of their sites were vacant, but all were rented.... and therefore no vacancy.

[nunyadamn]

Originally Posted by Owen Stubbs

It is very frustrating. Most CGs that take reservations require the entire fee to be paid in advance, and once paid, it cannot be rented to anyone else even if the person who reserved it fails to show up. I drove through a nearby campground over Memorial weekend, and a good 10% or more of their sites were vacant, but all were rented.... and therefore no vacancy.

Check their website for the policy on that. Usually if no one shows up within 24 hours they will rent you a site. I just went camping in the mountains near me and the park was nearly empty. There was a fire near by and I think it scared a bunch of people away. The campground policy was if no one showed up within 24 hours of the initial day check-in time, they would forfeit the site and the campground could rent out that spot. This information was in the reservation screen when I booked and also in the registration/rate/info screen near the cancellation policy. It may not help you the initial day, but you could come back 24 hours later and get a spot.

[KiltDog]

Just booked a camp site for 4th of July weekend. Had to call like 20 campgrounds but was able to stumbled upon one with a cancellation. Camp trip #2, here we come!