Recreation.gov Question (camping reservation)

[Mule3006Elk]

With this reservation website you can't reserve campsites > 6 months out.
Campsites will be released today the 16th. 17th will be released tomorrow etc.
The campsites are released at 8 am MST.
Everyday I login several minutes before 8 am MST and campsites that should have been released at 8 am MST are already reserved. I refresh multiple times before 0800. For example, tomorrow there are 7 campsites in this area that should be available at 8 am MST. I'll try again.

Example: campsite 10 yesterday showed NR for the 16th. Login this morning and it's gone.
This has happened every day I check this week. I'm open to any campsite available so I'm not being picky looking for specific spot. I called them and they have no explanation.

Am I doing something wrong? I would understand if the campsite were available at 8 am MST as they claim, allowing me to add to cart, but in the cart prior to checkout it said no longer available. Simply someone checked out before I did. However, every campsite that should be available at 8 am MST, based on research the day prior, is already taken by 8 am MST.

At this point I'm just going to camp on BLM. It's frustrating b/c my son and I used to go to this area every Father's Day and reservations were fairly easy to get 3-4 years ago. Now it's seems impossible.

I feel like the system is being manipulated in some fashion. Bots? I don't know.

 

[jblam]

Lots of ways to play that website. You can book out past the date displayed if your trip STARTS on one of the “open” dates. It’s very frustrating to try to plan a family vacation. Guess it’s the woods for us…

 

[Customweld]

I use it on various cabins throughout Idaho and my best guess is someone has an inside on those dates. I've been trying to get in on a cabin for multiple years during Veterans Day week. A lot of times, it is reserved a week before it's supposed to be available.

 

[Mule3006Elk]

I use it on various cabins throughout Idaho and my best guess is someone has an inside on those dates. I've been trying to get in on a cabin for multiple years during Veterans Day week. A lot of times, it is reserved a week before it's supposed to be available.

Exactly my thoughts. It doesn't make logical sense if one is playing by the rules.
I'll find some BLM land. On a positive note it will probably be more peaceful!

 

[92xj]

I freaking hate it. People are booking the full 14 day window (or whatever the max length is) to claim the second weekend or last 3 days of that 14 day window. They will then just cancel the first 10-11 days that they originally booked. I wish recreation.gov would NOT allow canceling of dates unless you cancel the entire booking. Or, charge the same amount for canceling as they do per night. I hate stupid reservation games.

 

[william schmaltz]

Interesting. I always play this game and was planning on booking a camp site tomorrow. I'm on the website now for the first time since last year and I see that about 30 of the approximately 90 sites will be available for booking tomorrow morning. One very huge change I'm seeing is that even if a site was listed as "NR" for tomorrow, I used to be able to click on it, select my dates, and it would take me to the "book now" option. If clicking the "book now" before its released, you would simply be sent a warning message that it wasn't available. So you would need to have an available site pulled up on your screen with dates selected and be ready to click "book now" basically a nano second after it opens at 6 am and it would take you to the payment page. It will be interesting to see if it will let me do that tomorrow morning or if I need to refresh the page, select a camp site, and then somehow try to navigate to the booking page before everyone else. Or if I have the same issue as the OP and all available sites disappear before 6 am. I will report back. This whole booking process is already a nightmare, I would be disappointed to see them make it even more complicated (or unavailable completely in the OP's case). I felt like the way they previously had it where it took fast fingers and a bit of luck at 06:00:005 AM to book a site was the fairest, but I almost feel like all this stuff will eventually be on a lottery. But I guess if zero sites are available when it's time to book and bots or employees are getting them all, I would push for a lottery to at least have some sort of chance.

Side note: didn't know they let people book 14 day blocks. I've booked numerous sites and cabins through that site and the max stay I've ever seen was 3 days.

 

[Geewhiz]

Its a huga PITA and sure as heck seams like a scam when you go to book a camp site 6 months in advance and every single one is booked already. REALLY?? Cant really say I buy that, especially since we were able to book one cabin last summer and it said it was booked solid. When we got there there had quite obviously not been anyone there in at least a few weeks before us. Doesnt ad up.

 

[Hackleback]

This web site sucks, I have had nothing but bad experiences with it. I know others that have few if any issues. Is it me and my lack of tech savvy-ness, maybe.

 

[mtnbiker208]

I believe you can book out past 6 months. try it and see.

 

[Maverick1]

Interesting. I only use their site a couple of times per year (thank goodness!). It seems to be inconsistent about which sites are available or not, I always just assumed people were booking and then canceling.

 

[MThuntr]

lots of people start booking cabins and campsites early and just pay extra for the days they aren't using or modify their reservations before they arrive and lose a small processing fee. I see it all the time when the campground is full on a Wednesday but not a single campsite is actually occupied until Friday. The one way to resolve this is to require an occupied camp on the first night of your reservation or you forfeit the whole reservation. Unfortunately to doesn't work for cabins that have a simple combination lock.

 

[Mikido]

Dude people are using bots to claim the reservations, terrible system.

 

[Mule3006Elk]

This web site sucks, I have had nothing but bad experiences with it. I know others that have few if any issues. Is it me and my lack of tech savvy-ness, maybe.

Seems like quite a few of us are have issues. I'm no IT guy but feel very comfortable with tech. Inside booking I don't know. Bots? Other?

 

[Mule3006Elk]

I believe you can book out past 6 months. try it and see.

You can but you have to book right at the 6 month mark then it will let you book additional days.

 

[Mule3006Elk]

lots of people start booking cabins and campsites early and just pay extra for the days they aren't using or modify their reservations before they arrive and lose a small processing fee. I see it all the time when the campground is full on a Wednesday but not a single campsite is actually occupied until Friday. The one way to resolve this is to require an occupied camp on the first night of your reservation or you forfeit the whole reservation. Unfortunately to doesn't work for cabins that have a simple combination lock.

Basically, booking the entire week but use only the days they want. Total bull$%^&!!!! BUT...you're probably spot on with your assessment.

Reminds me of Leupold's quote for Hunters Education.

Technically legal but definitely not right.

 

[william schmaltz]

I was on this morning to book out June 17th weekend. I had eyes on two different campgrounds. When I was on at about 5:35 the boxes for sites available for June 17 were "A" and I could select them, enter my dates, and play freddie fast fingers on the "book now" button just like usual a fraction of a second after 6am. The larger campground I had my eye on had about 30% of the approx. 90 sites available, which makes sense. The smaller campground had only 1 of 25 sites available - that was odd and not typical. I wasn't fast enough to lock up the campground I wanted, but I was able to get the one spot at the other campground. So for me, the system worked as usual this morning other than the one campground having much less availability than usual.