Booking Campsites At Recreation.gov

Above, The Beast at the North Pines Campground in Yosemite National Park. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The best way to reserve a campsite in a national park (not all national parks have campgrounds where people can reserve a site) is Recreation.gov. Besides campsites, it will also let people sign up for other things.

I made use of the reservation site in November 2015 to reserve a campsite at the North Pines Campground in Yosemite National Park in April 2016. I found out the date and time the reservations start and I was ready on that date and time by setting it on my cell phone's calendar. It was a good thing I did as sites were gobbled up in short order.

The features I like the most is that a map of available (and taken) campsites is provided along with a photograph of each site. This way, people can see what's available and see what the site looks like without blindly selecting a site and finding later on arrival that the site is too short for their 40' motorhome.

Do It Yourself RV has an article with 5 tips to using the government website.

They wrote:

Recreation.gov lets you search and reserve campsites, lodging, permits, and tours at the largest inventory of federal land in the country. Not only can you reserve a campsite, but you can also sign up for cabins, group facilities, lotteries, and special events. With campgrounds becoming more and more crowded on summer trips, these five tips will help you plan an RV trip ahead of time using the online service.

Once people sign up in Recreation.gov, they'll always have an account to make future reservations and see their past reservations for future reference.

To read more, go here.