What's the trick to getting good sites in state parks?

[Octopus Prime]

Originally Posted by venoran

Garner isn't that hard to get into, we camped there last year with a couple months notice and a little flexibility on dates. Definitely not worth fighting for though unless you have kids, there are much nicer parks in TX if you ask me. If you have kids...that's a different story, it's kind of a crowded amusement park.

I’ve never actually stayed in Garner. I’ve stayed at Neal’s in the cabins, and at the home of a friend. I’ve also gone through there with a friend to taxi her daughter, but have never gotten the chance to experience the place.

I hoped to get reservations for this June. I tried 11 months out, but nothing.

I have kids, and I think they would like it.
Maybe another year.

[TxLoser]

This is funny. We've been to Garner once. Loved it. My kiddo was in Pre-K at the time. Now unless we miss school we'll probably never get there again. It's booked every weekend.

[TCNashville]

I'm fortunate enough as my job allows me to camp Sun-Thurs 6 or 7 times a year. I like getting in on a Sunday evening when everyone else has gone. Too crowded on weekends and and don't do the combat camping on holidays.

[sirrealone]

We're in Michigan and it's definitely about booking days in advance and then canceling later. Even then it's tough for us to get the one, or sometimes two (if we book for our in-laws) spots that we need.

I have no proof but I sometimes think there are behind the scenes shenanigans being played. As I said, we'll have a tough time getting one or two spots, but when we go to the campground, there will be groups of campers all with adjacent spots. So how did they manage to get all 6-8 sites that they needed with no problem and we had to book our sites across the street from each other because every side by side option in the park was gone by 8:00:08? We're not talking junky sites, they're often very desirable sites. And I've seen this even in Ludington State Park, which as anyone who stays at Michigan State Parks regularly can attest, is THE most in demand state park campground.

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by Octopus Prime

Garner?
I thought Garner was harder to get into than Forbidden City.

Originally Posted by venoran

Garner isn't that hard to get into, we camped there last year with a couple months notice and a little flexibility on dates. Definitely not worth fighting for though unless you have kids, there are much nicer parks in TX if you ask me. If you have kids...that's a different story, it's kind of a crowded amusement park.

Nah, Garner was relatively easy. But I'm not sure I would go back. It was okay, but not great. I have other places to stay in the general area that are nicer IMO. Lost Maples is actually really nice, but not a lot of spaces ... well for RVs anyway. I don't have a problem backpacking my way in to the "primitive" spots there as well as Enchanted Rock, Pedernales Falls, etc. But I would be camping alone; DW won't go with me anymore. Which, now that I think about it, doesn't sound too bad!!

I've been trying to get into Dinosaur Valley SP, and every time I think I'm going to schedule us, I will scroll out a couple months in advance, and I can't seem to get spaces on the weekends. My son LOVES dinos, so I think he would have a good time. I've never been, but my wife went when she was a kid. I will probably do one of three things: 1) Schedule a stop there on our way to another place out of state so we're camping there during the week or 2) make a reservation WAY in advance during a shoulder season and hope our schedule holds for it 3) IIRC there are a couple private CGs nearby that we could stay at and make a visit to the park a "day" trip.

Really, DW and Jr. love going to the beach, so we're there more than anywhere else. I have 2 parks in Port Aransas that I go to mostly, and if I really want to go and they're full, I have a beach parking pass so I can camp right on the beach. Boondocking on the beach is actually pretty fun for us.

Anyway, back on track ... I miss the days when you hardly had to make reservations at all for TX State Parks. A lot of times you could just show up and be relatively confident you would have a space. Except for holiday weekends of course, and then you could still usually make a reservation. Those days are long gone I'm afraid...

[EvilDoer]

"Nah, Garner was relatively easy. But I'm not sure I would go back."
Sums up my concern - if it's difficult to get reservations, but there's that one park that has sites available, do you really want to go there.
There is a park near us that always has sites available. Turns out they don't allow pets at that park. What kind of monster travels without a pet? No wonder the park is never full.

[Flyrotor]

Originally Posted by Camper_bob

Really, DW and Jr. love going to the beach, so we're there more than anywhere else. I have 2 parks in Port Aransas that I go to mostly, and if I really want to go and they're full, I have a beach parking pass so I can camp right on the beach. Boondocking on the beach is actually pretty fun for us.

When I lived in San Antonio a couple of years ago Boondocking on the beach was my favorite Texas camping destination! I do miss camping right on the beach!

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by Flyrotor

When I lived in San Antonio a couple of years ago Boondocking on the beach was my favorite Texas camping destination! I do miss camping right on the beach!

I've done it in a tent before, actually quite a few times. Not as much fun. I threatened for years to take my TT out there, but DW just couldn't bring herself to do it; logic was not part of the equation, it would've been great!. When we got our MH, it was a no brainer. Park right on the beach, run the generator, have everything you need right at your fingertips. Sure, sand is a bit of an issue, but the way we set up, it wasn't any worse than if we were staying at one of the parks. Except for the dog of course...

Yeah, it's safe to say that we are HUGE boondocking on the beach fans. Have to be careful in the winter though as the tides are typically much higher. It's very possible you could wake up and step out of your rig right into the water!! Summer time is fine though.

[Octopus Prime]

The idea of boondocking intimidates me, and we are posh campers anyway.

We don’t really care for the beach. My husband actually claims to hate it. (I can tolerate it in small doses.). We both grew up near the beach, so maybe that’s part of it.

So far, our trips in the camper have been mostly to the Texas Hill Country. We absolutely love it there.

[Flyrotor]

Originally Posted by Camper_bob

I've done it in a tent before, actually quite a few times. Not as much fun. I threatened for years to take my TT out there, but DW just couldn't bring herself to do it; logic was not part of the equation, it would've been great!. When we got our MH, it was a no brainer. Park right on the beach, run the generator, have everything you need right at your fingertips. Sure, sand is a bit of an issue, but the way we set up, it wasn't any worse than if we were staying at one of the parks. Except for the dog of course...

Yeah, it's safe to say that we are HUGE boondocking on the beach fans. Have to be careful in the winter though as the tides are typically much higher. It's very possible you could wake up and step out of your rig right into the water!! Summer time is fine though.

That’s a great picture!

[Flyrotor]

Originally Posted by Octopus Prime

The idea of boondocking intimidates me, and we are posh campers anyway.

We don’t really care for the beach. My husband actually claims to hate it. (I can tolerate it in small doses.). We both grew up near the beach, so maybe that’s part of it.

So far, our trips in the camper have been mostly to the Texas Hill Country. We absolutely love it there.

I wish I would’ve had more time to explore the hill country more, but I prefer Boondocking over organized campgrounds, but the options in the hill country are limited.

[travelingjw]

The one thing that I have found with RV parks is that if they are booked, pay the extra fee (if there is one) and call the office and book with them. On more than one occasion a park has been booked; come to find out that by moving the TT once during the stay they could accommodate our dates. I have also had some very helpful reservation agents "move" some shorter assigned sites to make way for a longer stay. Most parks guarantee a site, but not the specific site. We recently tried this for a trip we are planning to Canada/Montana and had two parks that were "booked," after calls to the offices we now have places to stay.

[dannyabear]

RV builders are setting new sales records every month these days, campgrounds are not being fast enough to keep up with the demand

[UpNorthMGOBLUE]

In Michigan where I am from, the key is getting online 6 months before hand. The sites book up rapidly as more and more are camping. Also take advantage of the National Park System. We find it hard to reserve spots unless you book early.

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by Flyrotor

I wish I would’ve had more time to explore the hill country more, but I prefer Boondocking over organized campgrounds, but the options in the hill country are limited.

Actually, boondocking opportunities are limited all over the state. Primarily because a vast majority of the land here is privately held. We have a few National Forests, mostly in far East TX (Angelina National Forest, etc), and Big Bend, of course. But really, that's about it. A few pieces of state land here and there that you could probably boondock on if you really wanted to.

But it's nothing like some states that have vast expanses of National Forests or preserves where you could go and boondock whenever it hits you. Nope, here it's either state parks or private campgrounds. And reservations are getting harder and harder to catch, especially at the more popular parks.

[bleckb]

Originally Posted by sirrealone

I have no proof but I sometimes think there are behind the scenes shenanigans being played. As I said, we'll have a tough time getting one or two spots, but when we go to the campground, there will be groups of campers all with adjacent spots. So how did they manage to get all 6-8 sites that they needed with no problem and we had to book our sites across the street from each other because every side by side option in the park was gone by 8:00:08? We're not talking junky sites, they're often very desirable sites.

We had a similar experience booking on the west coast of Vancouver Island for this summer in a Canadian National Park. Wife had two computers running, ready to hit send right on the allotted time, and we ended up with our 8th choice and all were gone within moments. It seems like there is a secondary market in the way there are for concerts and sporting events. Or else we all need to learn how to program bots to get the sites we want.

[redley]

Originally Posted by CaptainVideo

This will be our first serious summer of RVing. We have picked parks in New York and Michigan. Both require you to wait to book until 6 months before your arrival date. When I log in the first morning that I can book, all the good sites are gone. What do other campers know that I don't. Is this like booking for concerts where there is a secret preferred camper list?

samsclub.com/- Most RV sites that I have visited are clean, space a part and economical. You can purchase a group rate membership at camping World.

[Click_here]

Originally Posted by Camper_bob

We've been going with private CGs more too. Unfortunately, this has become the "norm" for us during peak seasons. Luckily, here in TX, we can mostly find spots during the "off" season (there really isn't an "off" season here, but you know what I mean). We typically want to visit areas OTHER than the parks around us anyway, so it's fine most of the time. But there's one State park I've been trying off and on to get into for quite a while and can never seem to find a spot, "off" season or not...

Which park? We almost exclusively camped in Texas state parks this past year, at least once a month. Booked most of them a few months out but other than Garner, most were available if you looked at different weekends. Never tried a holiday weekend, too crowded for us. And yeah, we almost always check in on Thursday, even if it is just me and one of the 4 legged companions. Wife then comes out the following afternoon.

Suppose other states have smaller parks or more people (both?!).

[Kenelz]

Many mentions of Michigan. one of the most overlooked campgrounds are the State Forest campgrounds. There are mucho numbers of these, and almost always on water.

They are more crude, no hookups, but have water and dump stations. Most have no host, you are on your own with a honor pay box. More times than not, I have been the only camper in the park.

The spots are usually smaller, in the trees, not good for larger TTs. But, if you like peace and quiet, these are great.

[CaptainVideo]

Thanks for all the great advice. We were able to get the sites we wanted in New York and at Wilderness State Park in Michigan but ran into a wall a Sleeping Bear Dunes. We ended up a a KOA near by so this will be a good chance to compare the services.