Seasonal Campers, another challenge to those of us who don't reserve.

[garyb1st]

Maybe it's just business as usual in the Midwest, but the campground we left yesterday, a first come first serve city park, was full.  A significant number of sites were occupied by seasonal campers.  Nothing wrong with that except the majority of the seasonal campers were not at their campsite.  I guess for the $400.00 a month they pay, it's a pretty cheap summer home.  Leave their boats, bicycles, etc., right there.  Come and go whenever.  And this park was on the shore of lake Superior, so an exceptional value.  Unfortunately for those of us who don't reserve, arriving at a campground early, meaning before Friday, isn't going to work at these parks.  In fact, it might be that these parks will no longer be a viable option for us non-seasonal RVers. 

 

[Bobtop46]

There is a similar situation going on here in the western end of Virginia.  There is the State park with a Max stay of 14 days, and small Mom and Pop campgrounds full of seasonal campers.  So, if we want to visit the grand baby for more then 14 days the options are very limited inside an hour drive.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

More and more local campers are doing seasonal sites, a weekend getaway spot and maybe some occasional evenings too.  They did it for the same reason you are complaining - could not rely on finding a site when they want one.  Campgrounds that have many empty sites during the week, even public parks, like the reliable and improved income it brings, so they are happy to go along with the trend.  For you, the choice is either Fight 'em or Join 'em.

 

[jeffj]

Wow, never thought of this - maybe that's why these campgrounds are so full all the time! Thanks for the info.

 

[skydivemark]

There is a similar situation going on here in the western end of Virginia.  There is the State park with a Max stay of 14 days, and small Mom and Pop campgrounds full of seasonal campers.  So, if we want to visit the grand baby for more then 14 days the options are very limited inside an hour drive.

Bobtop46,  I recommend to stay away from clinch river campground (not far from Gate City), especially if towing. It's nice there but the road in/out is one lane dirt for over 4 miles. If you meet "face-to-face" with another RV you're screwed. The road is not wide enough to get past each other on that one lane.
Plus there's no WiFi more than 50ft from the attendant's office and most cell providers signals don't reach there.

 

[garyb1st]

Not complaining, just making an observation.  If the shoe were on the other foot, I'd be looking to do the same thing.  Having read a few threads in the past month or two regarding whether or not to reserve, I thought this was relative. 

 

[SpencerPJ]

So, if we want to visit the grand baby for more then 14 days the options are very limited inside an hour drive.

You can book back to back, just create 2 accounts, His and Hers.  Worse case, move in the campground.  There are ways around the system, just be creative. 

 

[Prior member]

More and more local campers are doing seasonal sites, a weekend getaway spot and maybe some occasional evenings too.  They did it for the same reason you are complaining - could not rely on finding a site when they want one.  Campgrounds that have many empty sites during the week, even public parks, like the reliable and improved income it brings, so they are happy to go along with the trend.  For you, the choice is either Fight 'em or Join 'em.

Or better yet, buy your own site like we did and never worry again.

I might add, even though we didn't buy it for an investment, another lot not nearly as desirable as ours just sold for three times what we paid for ours three years ago

Jack L

 

[Arch Hoagland]

Just returned today from a trip where we stayed at 12 different RV parks on a four week trip through California, Nevada, Utah and Oregon.  Every park had several full timers living in them. 

I made reservations before the trip so always had a place to stay but several of them were booked completely full when we came through so I was glad I had made reservations.

This was our last big trip in the June, July and August time frame. Never again.  The reason for the trip was a family reunion held every other year in Utah.

I told them that this was the last time we're coming in the summer when EVERYBODY is traveling. Said they better hold it in September or count us out.

Guess I'll find out where I stand two years from now....LOL

 

[Dragginourbedaround]

You can book back to back, just create 2 accounts, His and Hers.  Worse case, move in the campground.  There are ways around the system, just be creative.

We created two accounts and it does work, but we only use it in one state park in the metro DMV area that locals book full on opening day. Because the penalty for canceling is minor they can wait until the last minute and cancel.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Or better yet, buy your own site like we did and never worry again.

Yeah, but that gets expensive if you like to visit more than one place!
People buy into membership campground groups to get around the one-place problem. Chains like Thousand Trails or site-exchange clubs like RPI and C2C.

Both methods give up some freedom of choice in exchange for the security of better site access..

 

[RVRAC]

Summer is pretty bad even if you try to make reservations ahead of time. I tried to make reservations a couple months in advance for the 4th July this weekend, and had no luck in the places I wanted to stay. It did not work. Winter in FL is almost impossible.  More people are holding places year round even when they are only parking their units most of the time.

 

[NY_Dutch]

Summer is pretty bad even if you try to make reservations ahead of time. I tried to make reservations a couple months in advance for the 4th July this weekend, and had no luck in the places I wanted to stay. It did not work. Winter in FL is almost impossible.  More people are holding places year round even when they are only parking their units most of the time.

I just finished filling out a 3 month Florida reservation schedule for Jan/Feb/Mar 2020 with a 14 day National Forest Service full hookup stay yesterday. The rest of the reservations are all state parks, most also for 14 day stays, were made last month. One more National Forest Service park to go in North Carolina when the April reservation window opens next month before we start drifting north again.

 

[UTTransplant]

Summer is pretty bad even if you try to make reservations ahead of time. I tried to make reservations a couple months in advance for the 4th July this weekend, and had no luck in the places I wanted to stay. It did not work. Winter in FL is almost impossible.  More people are holding places year round even when they are only parking their units most of the time.

Holiday weekends, especially the 4th, are absolutely the worse times to be out. Of course when we worked and had kids, we went anyway, but we got reservations the minute the window opened up. Usually by March our entire summer was planned, including camping reservations.

 

[garyb1st]

If I had to plan my entire summer, I'd skip it. 

 

[Senator]

Back in the day, MN State Parks would leave a bunch of spots open for "walk-ins" vs. reservations.  I used to set up for Thursday on a walk in, and had until 6 PM to extend my stay on Friday.  Thursday was never booked, and I was always able to extend.