Yep, getting harder to find places to camp

[booster]

Of course, most of us have been finding that out on our own over the last few years, especially when comparing to 10 or 15 years ago when it was quite easy most places.

This is a copy/paste part of an article in the Denver Post that was referenced in the Minneapolis Sunday newspaper.

Avid campers are painfully aware of how challenging it has become to secure camping reservations over the past three years. Now we know just how much.
Getting a spot was five times harder in 2022 than before the pandemic, according to an annual survey conducted by The Dyrt, a popular camping website and app with 30 million visitors annually.
The Dyrt’s 2023 Camping Report, which is based on a random survey of 3,000 Dyrt users and a separate survey of camping property managers in all 50 states, found that sleeping under the stars is more popular than ever. The Dyrt says an estimated 80 million people went camping in the U.S. last year, 7.2 million for the first time. More than 15 million went camping for the first time in the past two years.
More than 58.4% of respondents said they had a hard time finding campsites in 2022. That number was only 10.6% in 2019.
“The thing that strikes me the most is the continued uptick of camping, which makes me really happy because I truly believe the outdoors is something everyone should be able to enjoy, not just a few who know how to do it,” said Dyrt founder Sarah Smith.
According to the survey, the two most popular kinds of camping were via RVs (35.8 million) and tents (30.6 million). Nearly 54% of campers responding were 55 years of age or older, with the 45-54 age group accounting for another 19.4%. Only 11.5% were 34 and under.

Here is the a link to the entire article.

camping article link

[Davydd]

We have been using Harvest Host more and more while underway instead of Walmart, etc. They are more interesting, some are very scenic especially wineries, have tours of their operation that cater to tourist. However, even those you can't just show up anymore and usually have to make a reservation a day ahead. You are not required or forced to make a purchase as generally thought but if a winery, brewery or distillery have a bar or serve food we take advantage of the opportunity. One of my hobbies is to sample local craft beers that you can't purchase at home since I am a passive founding owner/investor of a craft brewery in Minnetonka, MN. On our way to ARV Fest in Cleveland next week we have a reservation at 10-56 Brewery and Winery (HH) in Indiana. We do plan to buy a bottle of wine as a gift when we visit our daughter in Pittsburgh. We usually stop at Indiana Dunes State Park on our annual May Ohio, Indiana (and now Pennsylvania) trip ending at the Indy 500 Race. We checked there and you could get a site but it is early May still and the kids are not out of school. We are also going to "mooch dock" (friends and family driveways) on the way. We have all this planned out ahead of time which we never bothered to in the past.

Hopefully, it will ease up with Covid inspired people finding camping is not for them, people back to work in offices instead of the romance of working anywhere, and high interest rates discouraging sales. Maybe the baby boomer bubble will ease up for those generations following but I doubt it will affect me preceding the baby boomers.

This was a no cost (suggested or otherwise) Harvest Host site that was very popular last year and with unlimited RV stays.

[mkguitar]

Reading that California has a bill to institute "instant" cancellations for no shows and no refunds. and to ban resales of public campground spots. limits to length of stay= 30 days.
Legislature acknowledging that the reservations systems are not working to award access to the public.



Been finding the past few years that some campgrounds may have a week long reservation for a party who only wants it maybe thursday friday saturday.

OR reservations made by a business which then resells or "scalps" the camping spot ( 1 of these had multiple trailers with a reservation phone number posted on the door )



this results in campers in the rest areas and under utilized campgrounds

[jrobe]

I wouldn't mind if campgrounds raised their prices dramatically especially when there is more demand than supply. There is almost no downside for most people to making reservations far ahead and then changing plans later. Who cares if you lose the $15-20 (sometimes even less). I also see more and more long termers. It is cheaper for people to buy an inexpensive trailer and spend the summer at rotating campgrounds for 2 weeks each than it is to pay rent.

[jjrbus]

Gotten to the point of horrible.

I am not interested in the conference room, pool or gym. I just want to spend a night. Now in some area's they do not have any openings available.

[GeorgeRa]

We just came back from the NW coast camping trip south of Waldport. In Waldport there was a sign Beachside State Park Campground Full, well, wrong info. Most of no utilities (water/electric) campsites were vacant and few sites with (w,e) utilities were available. We got the one with a great ocean view.
Practically all state or forestry campgrounds along hwy 101 had vacancy signs.
For our NW trips we tend to travel during weekdays without reservations and have no issues.

But, times of Fridays departures from Bay Area to Yosemite in seventies without reservations are gone forever.

[Davydd]

We are at the Blue Mounds SP southeast of Spring Green, WI in the hilly driftless area of Wisconsin. It is practically empty of campers on May 2.

[avanti]

Originally Posted by Davydd

We are at the Blue Mounds SP southeast of Spring Green, WI in the hilly driftless area of Wisconsin. It is practically empty of campers on May 2.

Been to House on the Rock yet?
It is the anti-Taliesin.

[booster]

We are planning a partial rerun of a trip east in 2014 that had the Skyline Drive, Blue Ridge Parkway, Smoky Mountain Parkway and a stay at Smoky Mountain National Park in a longer trip.


In 2014 we made the trip without any reservations and even though rookies did just fine in finding places to stay out of the old campground books.


When we decided to do this trip over the winter I started checking the reservation windows so we could get reservations at Smoky Mountain National park which was said to be tough sometimes, even in fringe season like we will be doing. We did get the site we wanted by hitting it right when it opened 6 months before going.



Today, I decided to check the National Parks along the parkways to check their current reservations for the times we would be going by and was surprised to see that the weekends were filling quickly. They now do 50% at 6 months ahead, 30% at 14 days ahead, and 20% at 4 days ahead so a lot less long reservations available. We decided to make two 3 day reservations over the weekends to be sure we have a place to stay. Weekdays looked better so haven't reserved any of them.


When we went in 2014 at about the same time, those parks were deserted all week and on weekends and we drove up to Smoky Mountain park and got in. Most of the National Parks along the Parkways were drive up only back then.



Very big changes to be sure.

[Davydd]

Originally Posted by avanti

Been to House on the Rock yet?
It is the anti-Taliesin.

Been there. I’ve been to Taliesin three times now once on a bus trip from college circa 1963-4.

[ilmor]

I keep reading this however I’ve had no problem getting campsites. One just needs to plan ahead and reserve ahead.

[Urlauber]

Originally Posted by ilmor

I keep reading this however I’ve had no problem getting campsites. One just needs to plan ahead and reserve ahead.

Yes, but some campsites are near impossible to even reserve. I can't believe how many mornings I have clicked the Reserve button about 1/2s after 7am and either got a "Very popular site" or "Still trying to reserve" popup with no success. Try getting weekends at Yosemite...

Around here we have a number of first-come BLF sites, as well as some dispersed camping potential. Of course, both of those are filling up more and more too. It's just the sad fact of increasing overpopulation.

[ilmor]

Originally Posted by Urlauber

Yes, but some campsites are near impossible to even reserve. I can't believe how many mornings I have clicked the Reserve button about 1/2s after 7am and either got a "Very popular site" or "Still trying to reserve" popup with no success. Try getting weekends at Yosemite...

Around here we have a number of first-come BLF sites, as well as some dispersed camping potential. Of course, both of those are filling up more and more too. It's just the sad fact of increasing overpopulation.

My observations are that this is much more a problem in the western states than in the rest of the country. Having said that, earlier this year I planned an entire trip including reservations as several locations throughout AZ and CO with no issues. I think the key though is that I started early.

[Davydd]

Making my way east. I’m camped in a driveway behind a Pleasureway in Amherst, OH. Previously a brewery in Knox, IN.

[booster]

Originally Posted by ilmor

I keep reading this however I’ve had no problem getting campsites. One just needs to plan ahead and reserve ahead.

I think this somewhat applies, but many people don't like or don't have the flexibility to do all the preplanning when you have to reserve 6-12 months ahead of time to get a decent, or sometimes any, site in a popular place.


The trip we have planned that I mentioned in the first post is one that requires a lot of preplanning even just to do the actual planning because you have to figure out your exact schedule based on time and where you will be for an entire month or more of 1-3 day stays spread out over 5000 miles or more.


Once you have the schedule and route you want, you have to find what campgrounds are in that area and choose one based on pictures, maps and reviews.


When you have the parks selected, it is often best to look in detail at the campground to select the kind of site you want and list them in preferential order. At the same time look up the reservation window for those sites as nowadays not all sites have the same window which I learned first hand planning the trip.


We had 8 places we decided to stay at, with one being a driveway, and with two weekday nights in the middle of a week that we think will be OK without reservation and one night on the way home in the middle of the midwest in way off season.


You then have to wait for the reservation windows to open and at the busiest places it is necessary to be ready to reserve the minute the window opens. For us this was spread out over a month, and was 6 months ahead of when we plan on going.


In reality the planning might be the easiest part of it all, as when we go it will be necessary to stay on the schedule without major side trips, delays, or breakdown. For us, the tight schedule makes it much less enjoyable because of the lack of flexibility.


A trip we take every spring to Custer State Park is much less hassle, but still has to be reserved or we can't get in unless very lucky. Custer has a 12 month reservation window, so we generally reserve our spot for the next year while at Custer or just before leaving. If we don't do that we can't get our favorite site in our favorite campground. One reservation and not any major preplanning or scheduling, so not too bad.


I think there is a huge difference between the Custer trip that is all in one place, and a long, wandering, trip to unfamiliar areas, and the reservation necessity makes the wandering trip a much more work and hassle trip, so not as enjoyable as those trips used to be.


One hint that might be useful to some people who are trying to get into the very popular spots is to do a bit of checking on how fast a particular campground and a few sites book up


A week or so before a reservation window opens up, I usually will got to the reservation site and check the availability map for a week or two before our desired dates. That way I can see how many got reserved in the first couple of minutes, hours, or days for those days just before we will be ther. If a particular site always gets booked immediately, you might be better to go for one that isn't quite that fast so you are more likely be able to get it. About 10 minutes before the reservation window opens, I have a site all ready to go in the reservation process so all I have to do is hit the "reserve site" button or equivalent at opening time. It is a very irritating game to have to play, for sure.

[Rocinante]

As interest rates climb, the economy slows down, and people forget about the worst of the Covid years folks will once again remember that for most folks RVs are a luxury and not a necessity. (Full-timers excepted, of course.) Signs of this are already showing up in slowing sales of new and used RVs. Used units are also seeing lower resale prices (e.g. it's becoming a buyer's market vs. a seller's market). Eventually, so many people will be looking to unload their units that even spots in popular campgrounds should once again become easier to get and we'll see some consolidation (maybe a lot) from both RV dealers and manufacturers.

So, let's see how things go over the next year or two.

[jjrbus]

Making reservations 9 months ahead, I do not know where I am going to be tomorrow. let alone months from now.

[RT-NY]

Is the main difficulty with state/national parks? Are private places such as KOA and such things still easily available?

[Punkinhead]

We don't camp much in the summer so haven't had any problem finding nice sites in state, national, or private campgrounds from Fall after the kids are back in school until Spring. The only thing we've noticed is that it can be hard to stay at the same site for more than a few nights. For example, in Florida in January we might have to change sites within the same campground every few days because people would reserve certain sites. It's no big deal for us since it's as easy as unplugging a cord. It would be a hassle for someone with a large rig who had to unhook power, water, and sewer, raise the leveling legs, hook up a tow vehicle, unstring 100 yards of mood lighting, pull up all their plastic flamingos, take down their "Ron and Barb from Mudwater Iowa" sign, then unhook at the new site and set up all over again.

[Rocinante]

Our main challenge has been when we are trying to get campsites in the most popular campgrounds in the most popular national parks. However, we've been successful getting sites at Watchman in Zion NP and at the North Rim Campground in Grand Canyon NP. We just camp (with our internet browser) on those campgrounds via recreation.gov and keep hitting refresh a time or two every day to see what shows up. We managed to get two sequential nights in June at Watchman, and three nights (two different campsites, I'll admit) in June at North Rim. Challenging and annoying, but not impossible.