Powertour
Nevada
Full Member
Joined: 08/08/2019
View Profile
|
Hate the fact there are so many First-Come/First-Serve camping spots at the National Parks & Forest Service campgrounds. I really prefer camping in National Parks & Forest Service campgrounds (especially if wanting forest/mountain camping) but the lack of reserveable spots is a major impediment to doing so for us. We to go RVing for relaxation purposes, therefore heading out for a weekend trip without having reservations in hand is anti-relaxing / stressful.
Seeing a lot of YouTube reviewers saying they rarely get skunked when it comes to being able to find a FCFS site in any given campground. That seems a little rosy-er than what I would think would be the case.
What's you guys' experience with this stuff nowadays?
2015 Itasca 25b Ford E350 V10
|
agesilaus
North Florida
Senior Member
Joined: 05/06/2008
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
 Offline
|
Skunked??
Arctic Fox 25Y Travel Trailer
2012 Ford F-350 4WD Lariat 6.7L
Straightline dual cam hitch
400W Solar with Victron controller
Superbumper
|
Powertour
Nevada
Full Member
Joined: 08/08/2019
View Profile
|
agesilaus wrote:Skunked??
Get to a place & there's no available spots.
|
pianotuna
Regina, SK, Canada
Senior Member
Joined: 12/18/2004
View Profile
Offline
|
I wish there were no reservations. But then, I rarely stay in a park as I prefer to boondock.
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.
|
Lwiddis
Death Valley NP
Senior Member
Joined: 08/12/2016
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
 Online
|
I don’t like to reserve since they straightjacket my schedule. Also hate reserved but empty campsites wasted with others turned away.
Winnebago 2101DS TT & 2020 Chevy Silverado 1500 LTZ Z71, 300 watt solar-parallel & MPPT, Trojan T-125s. TALL flag pole. Prefer USFS, COE, BLM, NPS, TVA, state & county camps. Bicyclist! 14 year Army vet-11B40 then 11A - (MOS 1542 & 1560) IOBC & IOAC grad
|
|
|
mleekamp
Washington, IL
Senior Member
Joined: 10/18/2012
View Profile
Offline
|
Powertour, I'm with ya. We used to just "go" and had no issues...state parks, Nat. forests, etc, as you mention. But I stress w/o a reservation. Regardless, we always had a reservation for Memorial / Labor wknds.
Recently, we had a reservation at a campground on Rend Lake in southern IL. Beautiful lake, and we were staying 9 days and wanted a FU site ... so we reserved. Apparently, the check out time at that park is 4pm, and it's common that folks stay until 4pm. Yes, I know that's the rule...but we arrived at 1pm thinking we would get in (Sunday reservation). Nope. Between 3:50pm and 4:30pm, the place was nuts with people leaving. Never seen that before in 23+ years of camping as an "adult".
2019 Jayco Redhawk 29XK Class C, Ford V10 E450 with Roadmaster Hitch Mounted Spare Tire holder, Bigfoot Hydraulic Leveling
Dinghy: 2021 Ford Ranger XL
|
Lwiddis
Death Valley NP
Senior Member
Joined: 08/12/2016
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
Online
|
Leaving that late mystifies me, mlee.
|
2oldman
south
Senior Member
Joined: 04/15/2001
View Profile
Online
|
Never been skunked, but I guess it depends on where you go and when. I try to arrive on a Tuesday morning. The only time I've ever come even close was on the WA coast at South Beach camp.
I don't like reservations either.
agesilaus wrote:Skunked?? Never gone fishing?
* This post was
edited 07/28/20 12:38pm by 2oldman *
|
hotjag1
Lake Chelan, Wa/Lake Havasu, Az.
Senior Member
Joined: 07/14/2002
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
|
We have never gotten skunked, but we have pulled into FS campgrounds and gotten the last or 2nd to the last site available. We usually arrive just before check-out on Sunday through Thursday and find available sites. I wouldn't try that on a week-end.
hotjag1
2003 40' Allegro Bus, 3 slides, 400hp 8.9 liter ISL Cummins
2000 24' Dynamax Isata
|
Seattle Steve
Tucson
Senior Member
Joined: 09/18/2010
View Profile
|
Darn. I was hoping this post was literally about being skunked. Now that would be interesting!
However, being retired, I never arrive at a public (government) campsite between Friday and Sunday. In fact, when I arrive earlier in the week I try to be out by the weekend to avoid the crowds and make room for the weekend warriors. I've never had a problem finding a spot mid-week because, even if the official camp spots are full, there's no problem finding dispersed camping here in the West.
|
|
|
