National Park Camping Reservations

Above, the site I reserved at North Pines Campground in Yosemite National Park. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The only time I've made reservations to camp at a national park campground was five years ago when I reserved a site at the North Pines Campground in Yosemite National Park.

I found out when the "window" for making reservations opened and set my alarm for that day just before the window opened. It worked out just great and I was able to choose the site I wanted (there was a handy map of all the campsites with site numbers).

I also camped at Joshua Tree National Park (Cottonwood Campground) and Lassen Volcanic National Park (Manzanita Lake Campground). I didn't make any reservations for either and took a chance in their first-come, first-served campgrounds.

RV Life has posted an article with 10 tips for making national park campground reservations. 

The begin it with:

Some of the best places to go camping are our nation’s national parks. These beautiful places offer a whole host of things to see and do. Best of all, most have campgrounds right on site. This means you won’t have to do a lot of driving back and forth between your lodging and the park. 

All that said, there are some things you should know before attempting to book national park camping reservations. Keeping the following ten tips in mind will help ensure you get a campsite that works well for you and your family.

 To read more, go here.