It's A New Age of Making Reservations.

**traveldawg** · 03-27-2021, 05:44 PM

After a VERY frustrating and unsuccessful day of trying to line a few things up between Seattle and East Glacier I need to vent....

Since when have so many campgrounds started using the 'fill out this form; and we'll get back to you method or the 'please call for reservations' method that goes to voice mail?

What ever happened to on-line reservations??!!

Argh!!!! That's it. Not that I feel any better now. It might be time for an adult beverage......

**Dakota** · 03-27-2021, 05:57 PM

We generally just camp at state parks in MN. You could reserve on line up to a year in advance. Now it’s 180 days. They actually closed the parks last summer due to Covid. Pretty ridiculous. We want to go to Nashville, but it’s tough getting a spot where we want to go. Probably going to wait until fall when demand drops off.

**Sportsdad60** · 03-27-2021, 06:21 PM

COVID scamdemic caused more companies to release white collar workers to virtual. Campgrounds fill up with mobile virtual campers with home schooled kids.

There were at least 2 new construction sites in Rockport TX with room for yet more RV's.

Welcome to the New America.

**GeoffnCheri** · 03-27-2021, 06:32 PM

Originally Posted by Sportsdad60

Welcome to the New America.

Sad but true

**SGT ROC** · 03-27-2021, 07:36 PM

Originally Posted by Dakota

We generally just camp at state parks in MN. You could reserve on line up to a year in advance. Now it’s 180 days. They actually closed the parks last summer due to Covid. Pretty ridiculous. We want to go to Nashville, but it’s tough getting a spot where we want to go. Probably going to wait until fall when demand drops off.

I just looked at a campground we frequent in mid October. Can't even book October till after 4-14-21, so it's the same for Federal parks too. I used to be when January rolled around we could book any date for that camping season. Those days are long gone...

**JetTech** · 03-27-2021, 11:28 PM

we booked our month long trip through the southwest and back up the west coast five months in advance and had issues finding places to stay....same goes for the rest of the camping season up here in the pnw. Look forward to people realizing that camping is expensive, time consuming, not as easy as it looks, and then dumping their rv's and making room for people who actually want to camp and enjoy it.

**SGT ROC** · 03-28-2021, 06:48 AM

Originally Posted by JetTech

we booked our month long trip through the southwest and back up the west coast five months in advance and had issues finding places to stay....same goes for the rest of the camping season up here in the pnw. Look forward to people realizing that camping is expensive, time consuming, not as easy as it looks, and then dumping their rv's and making room for people who actually want to camp and enjoy it.

AMEN!

**WhittleBurner** · 03-28-2021, 07:41 AM

We had found it to be like this for the past 4 years. Started a trip with no ressies and after not finding anything at all...even NFS spot were filled up we quickly reserved the rest of the trip after driving 2 extra hours to find a spot. Many state park systems reserve 100 % of the sites so finding spots on the fly is getting harder and harder.

This last year made it even more difficult. We havent even planned a trip for this year yet...might have to enhance the solar and batterys to make extended stays dry camping...this is where having our little Aliner sure would be handy...we could take that little baby deep into the woods where the 303 would never get to.

In 2 years there will be any lightly used model you want for sale...just have to inspect carefully to find what was broken due to lack of knowledge

**xrated** · 03-28-2021, 08:26 AM

In anticipation of: 1. National Parks being a very popular tourist magnet....and...2. Because of Covid and the skyrocketing number of RVs sold in 2020, I made our reservations for our "Out West" trip in Sept. 2020. Our trip will be in Sept. 2021....so a year in advance. Many campgrounds in National Park areas will book up months, and months before the actual date you are looking for....and some (most) will not let you book more than a year out front....so I patiently waited until it was exactly a year before our planned trip and had success booking in Williams, AZ, Virgin, UT, Bryce Canyon, UT, and Moab, UT. All reservations were confirmed via email reply and confirmation number. I expect it will get worse before it gets better, so just a word to the wise.

**[email protected]** · 03-28-2021, 08:29 AM

We just planned out a trip and found it a little difficult to find parks with openings for the days we wanted to stay. Most had online reservation capabilities some we had to call. Yup traveling on the fly isn't a good idea. It is taking patience and more planning fulltiming. The wife joined us with Harvest Hosts to expand our options and some of them have full hook ups. On this trip we are even staying at a casino RV park, not for the gambling but a place to stay over the 4th of July.

Wife told me we got locked in with HH for the $79/Yr rate, that's $6.58 / month. We'll keep it for at least a year and probably longer. We're staying at one on our trip to Bull's Gap and Bristol. It will expand our options, and most don't mind extended stays if needs be. Kind of cool to think about helping out at someone's ranch, farm or winery!