New Rules at Illiniois State Parks.

[LoriK]

Does anyone know why the Illinois State Parks close the online reservations a week in advance? Last year we could reserve online even the night before a last minute weekend trip. Now the reservations are no longer allowed inside of the 7 day window. They also will not allow us to call the park and reserve or even drive over the park and reserve. The only option will be to go directly to the park and sit in the long SLOW line, hoping that there is even a space available after the long drive.

The guy at Illinois Beach State Park was less than helpful, saying only- "7 days, pretty self explanatory." So then I called Mississippi Palisades State Park. They only have 50 of their 241 spots reserved for this weekend, but our only option is to drive the 3 hours- unable to leave until Saturday morning- we can not risk getting there and not finding a spot. I am not sure if this change came from the State DNR or if it is a policy of Reserve America... Any ideas why they made this change?

[Crusty]

Maybe they need a week's lead time to get a TSA guy there to feel you up and make sure you're not gonna blow up the dumpster.

[Lothlorian]

Interesting about reservations. I am heading to the north part of Illinois this summer and will need to get my ducks in a row. Finding a park anywhere near Will County is challenging. We stayed last year at Kankakee State Park and the bathrooms were terrible. We were the only folks using the park and it was spooky.

Brian

[Soyboy]

That policy just seems stupid, especially in today's "high tech" world. Seems like it would have made (maybe) some sort of sense years ago when they were just starting to take reservations on line. Anything to make life more difficult I guess.

[Jim Foster]

California State Parks have a similar situation. They use Reserve America. If you go to the park without a reservation and use space available, you must check the next morning to see if the space they put you in is available for another night. They do not have access to the reservation system to make or change reservations.

It's no wonder that some of us prefer to use privately owned RV parks who are much more user friendly, and in many cases offer much more at a lower price than many State or County parks.

Seems a little nuts, especially in a vacation destination like California, but I guess they just don't care.

[LoriK]

Originally Posted by Lothlorian

Interesting about reservations. I am heading to the north part of Illinois this summer and will need to get my ducks in a row. Finding a park anywhere near Will County is challenging. We stayed last year at Kankakee State Park and the bathrooms were terrible. We were the only folks using the park and it was spooky.

Brian

I grew up camping at Kankakee State Park, because my grandparents lived nearby. The last time I drove through, it did look pretty scary. That was years ago, but I have not gone back. If you are headed to the western part of Will County, you might take a look at the beautiful Starved Rock State Park.

[LoriK]

Originally Posted by Jim Foster

Seems a little nuts, especially in a vacation destination like California, but I guess they just don't care.

That was pretty much the impression that I was left with.

[Al - K4GLU]

Don't know that this has anything to do with the 7 day window but there is a blurb on the IL Parks website saying that people who have been displaced by flooding are being allowed to stay in the state parks.

[Splitrock]

In the 90's I traveled the country from one end to the other, camping all the way. I avoided state parks like the plague. To say the few we visited took an impersonal approach to management was an understatement. Really, the KOA's treated us the best.

[CanoeStream]

Dane County Parks around Madison, WI, has a similar policy -- but it's 14 days for them. Their explanation is that drive-up campers may stay in open sites for 14 days and the reservation system has no way of determining when that is happening. Therefore they will not reserve a site that may conflict with campers in place. Writing software to fix this is expensive enough. Staffing each site at a level to make it work in real time would be a continuing civic cost. These days, that's not going to happen.

[LoriK]

That makes sense, I guess. I just wish that they would let us call the actual park and reserve something directly, without using Reserve America. I suspect that the two parks that I called will, maybe for the first time ever, have empty spots for memorial weekend, because with the price of gas, who will want to risk the drive with no option to make a reservation.

[glogeo]

LoriK
Come to arkansas....... state parks are great and you can reserve....it is best to do it in advance for a holiday weekend but "turn over day" is usually sun. and easy to get a site....lakes;golf,campfires,hiking etc. glogeo

[Jim Foster]

Originally Posted by CanoeStream

Dane County Parks around Madison, WI, has a similar policy -- but it's 14 days for them. Their explanation is that drive-up campers may stay in open sites for 14 days and the reservation system has no way of determining when that is happening. Therefore they will not reserve a site that may conflict with campers in place. Writing software to fix this is expensive enough. Staffing each site at a level to make it work in real time would be a continuing civic cost. These days, that's not going to happen.

We are currently at Pismo Coast Village in Pismo Beach, CA. They use computer software to keep track of 400 spaces of which most are occupied all of the time, and all occupied some of the time. They are able to keep a large staff of office and maintenance people and equipment, and still make a profit.

Attached is a Google Earth photo of PCV and the California State campground next door to the south. You can see that PCV is nearly full, and the state campground nearly empty.

Sad, but true.