Camping in national parks: how reservations actually work

Federal campgrounds book on recreation.gov, and the popular ones release sites on a rolling window, most commonly six months out, at 7 a.m. Pacific. A summer weekend at a famous park is gone within minutes of release. This isn't a lottery you can be casual about. Know your release morning, have the account set up beforehand, and have two backup loops already picked when the first one evaporates mid-checkout.

The old way still works too. Many parks keep loops or whole campgrounds first-come, first-served. The move is a weekday arrival by mid-morning, catching sites as the previous night's campers pull out. Ask the ranger at the entrance station what's open instead of circling; they usually know to the site.

What the listings won't tell you

Our park pages show each campground's size and amenity tags, such as flush versus vault toilets, showers, potable water, and hookups. Some things still need checking on the official page. RV length limits matter because plenty of park campgrounds were laid out decades before modern rigs, seasonal open and close dates are short at elevation, and generator rules matter if silence or power matters to you. Showers inside parks are rarer than people expect. Plan on being a little feral.

When it's all booked

Almost every big park borders national forest, where dispersed camping is generally free and legal and forest campgrounds catch the overflow. Gateway-town private campgrounds trade scenery for showers and availability. Book a forest site as insurance, then chase an in-park cancellation over breakfast. Recreation.gov reposts cancellations the moment they happen.