19 replies to this topic

[wicked1]

I'm trying to plan a winter trip, and this is the first year I'm noticing this recreation.gov crud..  I have been a lifetime backpacker, been to most national parks, etc..  Then had a kid 6 years ago and took a break.  And now I'm starting to get out again..  everything I used to just pull up to and stay seems to want reservations..  what happened?!?!?  Even national forest sites which are always empty, now say they require reservations.

 

So, was planning on going to bigbend for Christmas and staying on some of their dispersed sites.  They're all booked for months.  But also, they're free sites, so there are zero consequences for people to think maybe they'll go, and book the site.  Then never end up showing up. 

I guess I'm wondering.. Is this recreation.gov stuff real?  I really can't just drive around in the parks and forests and find a random place to stay, w/out planning my stops months ahead of time?
What happens if I drive out to big bend, and down one of those loooooong roads and it gets dark?  Are there still unpublished options for us explorers who might not want to reserve things months ahead of time?

[fish more]

Alot of camp sites were blocked out in the Sierra's as well, due to work being performed in campsites, thinning of the forests and brush. They would block out months at a time and you could not reserve any spots.

[wicked1]

I just have a hard time believing they enforce this, or that everyone is on board.   I mean, what about the old timers who might not be internet savvy? Are they excluded from enjoying the national parks now?   I have never in my life planned an outdoor trip, beyond knowing an area I want to be in.  I have always driven in to the park and camped, whether that be dispersed, or if I had to pull in to an established camp.  There was always a space for me right then, w/out planning ahead.

I know dispersed is still available in the forests.  I'm just having a hard time understanding why all the established sites, even way out always empty ones, are saying you have to reserve on recreation.gov now.   I really don't think this was a thing 6 years ago, last time I was going out all the time.  (either that or I just never bothered looking, because I had been going out my entire life already w/out booking anything)

[rando]

For Big Bend anyway, many of the backcountry camp site have not been available for the past few months so there is probably some pent up demand. It is also a double whammy for camping in Big Bend right now - we are entering the usual 'high season' and then with COVID on top of this the overall visitation is way up. In any year your chance of getting a campsite in high season a few weeks out would be low, but particularly this year.

I agree about the low cost of these reservations leading to folks just reserving anything and deciding not to go, but I am not sure about how to address that. Maybe make a 'no show' fee that is way higher than the usual fee?

 

I too fondly remember the days when you could turn up at Yellowstone in July and get a camp site, but the reality is there are just more people out in the woods than there used to be.  How to address this is a thorny problem, and recreation.gov is one way to address it. Other resources (river permits etc) have gone to lotteries. There is no great solution.

 

And to be clear - no you can't just turn up and camp in Big Bend, you need to be at a designated site, and you need to have a booking.

Edited by rando, 09 December 2020 - 05:19 PM.

[wicked1]

I too fondly remember the days when you could turn up at Yellowstone in July and get a camp site, but the reality is there are just more people out in the woods than there used to be.  How to address this is a thorny problem, and recreation.gov is one way to address it. Other resources (river permits etc) have gone to lotteries. There is no great solution.

 

Thanks for the reply.  I guess I just needed a little hand holding to help me accept the new realities. 

I spent about 8 years in my 20's cruising around the country camping.  Yellowstone was one of those stops.  And yeah.. Drove in.  Camped.  Same w/ Yosemite, Glacier, etc etc..  But that was 20 years ago.   Though even more recently, like I said, as recent as 6 years ago my wife and I were driving into camp grounds and staying.  If Recreation.gov was around then, we didn't know and no one seemed to care we didn't.

 

The biggest issue for me is the entire idea of a trip changes.  It's not walking out your door and seeing where you end up..  Just going out on an adventure and choosing which way to turn on the fly.  It's prep and research and figuring out how long it will take to get from A to B, again and again,  for every day, of however many weeks or months you'll be out. 

 

I mean, I guess it's not that bad.. we still have most national forests and BLM land.  But wow, what a change...   I finally have something to say about 'the good old days'. 

Edited by wicked1, 10 December 2020 - 02:38 AM.

[XJINTX]

If you want to see and enjoy Big Bend just stay in any of the Teralingua area privately owned campsites. You can travel in and out of the National Park and still enjoy remote camping. ALSO you can check out the Big Bend Ranch State Park. We travel to the area frequently and have not stayed in the Park for a couple years now.

[larryqp]

Hey wicked1,

 

I hear you and went thru exactly the same stuff you are, times have changed, go with it or sit home and cry in your beer. So here's what is happening at Big Bend N.P. Normally, 1/3 of the sites are first come first serve. But with Covid, they went to an entire reservation system, but did not add the first come, first serve sites into the system so 1/3 of the sites are unavailable and empty. Add the new demand that everyone wants to be outside due to Covid and you have limited opportunity. I just booked 13 nights in the National Park and 8 nights in Big Bend Ranch State Park, for mid January.

 

I spent multiple days and multiple times a day on the site and spoke to a customer rep a few times, but got it done. Christmas break and and spring break have always been the busy season there even without Covid. So I decided I would grab any reservation in January that I could. First, I got a week at Cottonwood, not my first choice but that was the only thing available, then 2 days latter I found 2 nites in the Chiso Basin and booked that, a couple of days later I was able to book 4 nites at two different drive-in backcountry sites, then a couple of days later I booked 8 days in BBRSP. It was very time consuming but I'm retired so I looked at it like my job and just did the grind. 

 

People cancel all the time, in fact while I was on the phone, I refreshed the screen and a site became available for 7 nights the first week in January, but by then I had already gotten 13 nights and you are only allowed 14 nites. The customer rep told me that as soon as someone cancels, the system refreshes and the site is available, so it is worth checking multiple times a day. Once you log in a counter appears and you only have 15 minutes to complete your reservation.

 

So grab a coffee in the morning and get to work, then grab a beer in the afternoon and do it again. Don't forget if you have the geezer interagency pass, you don't pay the entrance fee and camping is half price.

 

I was extremely frustrated like you but now I'm a HAPPY CAMPER. Maybe I'll see you down there in January, I'll be the guy in the F150/Hawk combination with a big smile on my face and a beer in my hand.

 

Good Luck and be persistent.

[wicked1]

Thanks to you both..  It was a shock at first, but just a day later I have better accepted the situation.

XJINTX (or anyone), what are private campgrounds like?  I have only ever stayed in BLM/Forest lands.. Other than the occasional NP or park established campground.  But have always avoided the privately owned ones, as I have visions of the parking lot style RV parks in my mind. 
Are there decent, spread out, attractive private campgrounds?  And if so, how do you find them vs your standard RV park? 

[Foy]

In my experience, the Reservations.gov is most certainly "for real" and I can't imagine it going away.  Some attributes of the system not discussed above include:

 

While online access is encouraged (and is at least reasonably user-friendly), you can call in also. Last time I checked, the call center opens at 10:00 am Eastern time, so callers would be wise to time their call for exactly 10:00 am Eastern.

 

Similarly, the online system starts accepting reservations for the first open date within the 6 months window at 10:00 am Eastern.  That means if you're trying to book, say,  July 15, 2021, the earliest you can book is January 15, 2021 at 10:00 am Eastern. Best practice is to be online in the system a few minutes before 10:00 am Eastern and keep refreshing the page until 10:00 sharp, then try to lock in your already filled-in booking info.

 

Unless there have been changes since the last time I booked through Recreation.gov (August 2020), there is a modest cancellation fee and no penalty if you don't  cancel and don't show. 

 

For my August 2020 Montana trip, most if not all of the NF campgrounds which we were interested in could not be reserved via Recreation.gov or any other method (and, absent some sort of special circumstances, I don't think there is any way to reserve other than Recreation.gov).  That meant that we had to rely on faith that an hour-long trip up the access road to Twin Lakes campground in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge NF would result in our finding an open site.  We found out the hard way that expecting to find campsites  available on a Friday or Saturday was not going to happen, so we changed our approach and entered new campground locations on Sunday or Monday.  That worked well, as we did not get skunked again after the first time when we entered the Pioneer Mountains late on a Friday evening.  On that particular August Friday evening, all of the 7 or 8 campgrounds along the Pioneer Mountains Scenic Byway were full, and all disbursed sites we came upon were occupied.  As we explored on day trips later that weekend, we found all  other very remote primitive NF campgrounds full, as well.  There was apparently lots and  lots of pent-up demand in early August 2020.

Foy

[ski3pin]

In our very busy neck of the recreation woods, most of our local campgrounds and rentals are 365 days in advance. Yup, if want to be sure to get your campground reservation for next summer, you need to do it a year in advance. The high ticket spots need to be reserved the moment it comes available.

 

It depends on the region, agency, etc., if sites are available 365 or 180 days ahead. Another little detail to check.