When To Book A National Park Camping Trip

Above, all of Grand Teton's campgrounds are now on a online reservation system. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

We're not quite into spring yet. That arrives March 20. But now is the time to think about summer vacations. The first day of summer arrives June 20.

If visiting and camping in a national park, now is the time to see about where one wants to go to and to make reservations. More national parks are now booking campsites through reservation-only systems. There are important dates to remember.

Condé Nast Traveler has listed several national parks with information on making reservations.

They start with:

With temperatures rising and the days getting longer, it’s hard not to daydream about summery nights under the stars—particularly at an epic national park, if you can swing it.

In any other year, it can be highly competitive to nab a campsite in the middle of popular parks like Yosemite. Yet with national park visitation numbers still hitting record highs in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s more important than ever to plan ahead and book early—especially as several parks have added new rules in the wake of the coronavirus: Grand Teton just moved its entire campground reservations system online for the first time ever; Yosemite and Rocky Mountain have had on-again-off-again requirements for day-use permits; and Acadia will be implementing a new permit for driving up to Cadillac Mountain this summer.

All to say, if you want to camp at a national park, you’ve got to be serious about tracking important dates, including when they open for the season, when booking begins, and when the most popular campgrounds tend to book up. As a general rule of thumb, most sites become available six months in advance on Recreation.gov, with camping at the most visited parks selling out four to six months ahead of time. Of course, many parks set their own schedules—and, at some, nabbing the spot you want may mean sitting in front of your computer the day summer reservations become available. 

Here are the dates to pay attention to this summer, for camping at the country's top parks. Remember to keep track of state travel restrictions and park guidelines, which are always subject to change, before heading out. 

To read more, go here.

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