Is rec.gov the devil?

[BirdManMike]

Grabbed a reservation campground early last week for Sat night to be closer to a trailhead for a Sun morning hike in the Beartooths with the missus and one of the mongrels. Checked on a whim, was surprised there was anything available. Mustve been a cancellation by a responsible person. Which brings me to my point...

6 of the sites at the campground were reserved but unoccupied. Its like this every time I say at one of these places.

I feel like once something goes onto rec.gov for reservations, its 'ruined'. Unobtainable, for the most part, unless one wants to plan months in advance and be online and ready to book within minutes of reservations being opened in the spring.

Just a morning rant. Le sigh (thats a sigh in French FYI).

 

[cedahm]

6 of the sites at the campground were reserved but unoccupied. Its like this every time I say at one of these places.

I feel like once something goes onto rec.gov for reservations, its 'ruined'. Unobtainable, for the most part, unless one wants to plan months in advance and be online and ready to book within minutes of reservations being opened in the spring.

I mean, the system is built and operated by Aspira (www.aspiraconnect.com) - who also runs licensing systems for a bunch of states (including here in CO, where they have made a mess of a number of things on the technical side and have had a lengthy bug list for a while.)

But, yes, the preponderance of reservation-only camping and the lack of a meaningful cancellation penalty to no-show - particularly in peak usage like now - are frustrating. I rarely stay in a developed campground any more, but realize for a lot of people that’s their main/only option and the days of ‘first come first served’ are more or less over. I stopped in @ Steamboat lake SP last weekend to reprint my park pass and was chatting with the folks @ the desk. They are booked full every weekend this summer, and so are Pearl down the road and Stagecoach south of town. Even most weekdays have 1-2 sites available.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

I rarely stay in a developed campground any more, but realize for a lot of people that’s their main/only option and the days of ‘first come first served’ are more or less over.

A lot of the NE does not allow dispersed camping...

Also cash only camp grounds, esp those with no attendant, i.e. envelope with exact change.

 

[Bluffgruff]

I was running into the reservation conundrum looking for spots for next week. I'm headed to the first come first served section early instead of reserving a spot, hope it works out.

 

[Nameless Range]

I agree that a place going on rec.gov likely increases awareness of it and thus makes it more popular to a degree. That said, I don't think camping locations are placed on rec.gov willy nilly, and when they become an option within that system requiring reservations, it is out of past necessity.

Damned if you do damned if you don't. Last summer I took the kids camping in the Pioneers with the aim of camping at Little Joe Campground along the Wise River. It is 5 sites in a little cul de sac and that is it. There was one camper in there and the rest were "taken" by chairs, a kitchen table, the truck that hauled the one camper that was there was in one. I stopped and talked to the one camper and he said his friends were coming later that day and he was "saving" the spots. OK, that is questionable but there is no shortage of camping along the Pioneer Scenic Byway so we went on to a different campground. Drove past the next day and he was still the only one there. I am not one for confrontation, particularly with my family in tow, but I was pissed so I stopped and let him know that you are not allowed to save sites for people who aren't there and that is was utter bullshit for him to basically claim an entire campground as his own. He tucked tail and apologized and knew he had been caught.

Would Little Joe Campground requiring reservation on rec.gov have prevented this? I don't know. I think making people who reserve a spot "just in case" pay dearly for not utilizing their reservation would help, but the elephant in the room is that even many of the most popular campgrounds out there cannot find or retain "volunteer" campground hosts. If we want accountability on our public lands we need to invest in people to record misdeeds and hold the bastards out there accountable. That will cost money in the form of employees.

One of the reasons dispersed camping is the preferred method for my family is not dealing with this type of stuff.

Ha! Rant over.

 

[MTLabrador]

We need more grizzlies around to scare people off. I’m considering making a few thousand copies of this sign and sticking them up everywhere I go.

 

[LCH]

I have pretty serious anxiety when travelling with the family if I don't have pre-made reservations.

That said, I learned of a dirty little trick a lot of people use. Say you want a certain spot on a certain weekend, it's easier to make a 2 week reservation that ends on the weekend you really want to be there. This allows you to basically skip line by a week and a half, rather than log on at exactly 0900 or whatever 6 months to the day ahead of time, and grab your spot. You can later modify your reservation to only the dates you plan to be there, and pay nothing or very little in the way of cancellation fees.

I logged on at exactly the precise minute I was allowed to make reservations for an upcoming trip to Michigan, and still barely got one of the less desirable spots due to this "trick."

 

[Irrelevant]

For those of us not living in the dregs (i.e. @wllm1313 ), I just took the family to MT for the weekend. Zero reservations, zero plans for where to camp. It took less the 15 minutes from the freeway to find absolutely excellent dispersed camp spots along beautiful little creeks in places I'd never been before. The point is I think it's still more than worthwhile and completely doable to ditch the .gov crap and find great camping on our public lands.

I would encourage any other dispersed campers to pay a fee anyway, the fee is one bag of garbage, that's not yours, packed out.

 

[BirdManMike]

Bad behavior abounds wherever one goes, I guess.

Even in the backcountry, despite the ample signage saying, 'Camps must be 100 feet from streams and 200 ft from lakes', there is the odd group that decides this does not apply and sets up right on the lake shore. Ive made it a point to walk or fish thru their campsites a few times - no respect is owed if none is given - but none have said anything tho I have returned a few glowers. No respect given, no respect earned.

My wife - who is outdoorsy in the sense she enjoys hiking, fishing, hunting, etc - has never and will not ever spend the night in a tent. We have a little teardrop camper that she wanted last year. Im slowly working her up to the idea of dispersed camping, but at the moment we are still on forest service sites w/ bathroom facilities. Itll be better once she is good with using the outdoors or a camp toilet. Hence the need for rec.gov and first come forest service sites.

Obv Id rather be out in the wilderness sleeping in my bivey, but I will admit this teardrop thing with the queen-sized, memory foam mattress is que comfortable! Have even fit she, myself, and the 3 mongrels in there for a couple nights. Tight, but fun.


Agree with @Nameless Range , the first come squatters are the worst of the worst. Whether its leaving a camper parked all week while spending the weekend there or leaving chairs, whatever, these people need to take a good look in the mirror.

 

[SummitsCalling]

The easiest trick I've found is use a little known site called BLM.gov. Don't let the word out, before you know it they'll run out of reservations...

 

[geewhiz]

Its a joke. I go on 6 months in advance to book reservations the day that they open and many times everything is already "booked solid". Yeah right. The last one I rented said it was booked solid and there clearly had not been anyone there for at the very least a week or more before we were there.

 

[Cousin Basil]

Chairs, tents, etc placed on the shoreline of our local lake for saving spots are treated as "free stuff."