Paying for NF campsites

[azflycaster]

Originally Posted by Mollysdad

So if you have a reservation system online AND a "first come, first served" system, how do you know the vacant spot is not reserved?
Or is the entire campground one or the other?

The camp hosts place signs designating which sites are reserved and the dates of the next reservation. The campground I was at this past week had zero available sites as it is a very popular for camping and fishing. They had a sign at he camp ground entrance stating that there were no available sites

[Lily&Me]

In my experience, most if not all first come, first served federal campgrounds don’t have online reservations.

The ones that do have a camp host who tags sites that have been taken.

This would be very unusual, in my experience.

Some larger campgrounds have a combination of reservable and first come, first serve.

And, many campgrounds are less than $10/night with the senior pass, and some with no amenities at all are free.

It’s always good to find the camp host and ask about available sites, as sometimes they know of someone who has just left or readying to leave.

Maggie

[n2916s]

If a NF campground is enrolled with Recreation.Gov (not all are), usually there are both reservable and FCFS sites. Most have at least one campground host who will post the reserved sites. The FCFS sites can usually be occupied for 14 days so, once you are in, you are good.

To confuse things, if a reservable site is not reserved, it can be occupied on a day to day basis — great for a quick overnight while underway.

[Hikingsolo]

Most Reservations have to be 24 hours in advance. Campground hosts or front office personnel then (usually) post a reservation notice at the campsite showing the name and dates of the reserved site. Many state parks have every camper check in at a kiosk as they come into the park even if they have a Confirmed reservation.

I said ‘usually’ because I just had an experience in Kansas at a state park where the front office person sent me out to park my rig at any open site because “some people just take a site and don’t register until later.”

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by Krikati

OK, I give up, what is "NF?"

FYI "Acronym" links here:

https://www.google.com/search?q=acro...=airforums.com
https://www.airforums.com/forums/f13...ist-28713.html

HT . . . Happy Trails . . .

[dstaggs]

Originally Posted by jessl_99

Check out the 'America the Beautiful' passes. There is a life time senior, disabled, and annual one. These will almost always get you half off on the camping fee. FS camping fees run from $10-30/night. Depending on ammenities available. Recreation.gov is a great way to go if you can plan ahead. With few exceptions you can 'walkin' stay on a available site without a reservation for a day or two. I'm a FS recreation Tech so I field these questions just about everyday.

Just a small correction to your statement. The Annual 80.00 America the Beautiful pass does not get you any amenity discounts, nor does the free military or 4th grader one. The only ones that have the discount on amenities is the Senior Annual/Lifetime or the Access (Disabled) Pass.

[TouringDan]

Originally Posted by Mollysdad

So if you have a reservation system online AND a "first come, first served" system, how do you know the vacant spot is not reserved?
Or is the entire campground one or the other?

Most NFS campgrounds I have been to have both FCFS and reservable sites. We just returned from camping last Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at Stony Fork CG where site 48 was reserved for the weekend. We camped on site 48 as it was FCFS until the weekend. Looking at the attached photo, site 48 is reserved for next Labor Day weekend, but is FCFS for the next 4 days and available for reservation the next two days. Typically there is not a need to reserve a site during the week at this CG. I have also included a map of the CG and information on the sites that are reservable. BTW, this is a 5 star CG in my opinion.

Dan

[Moodywelman]

Originally Posted by Krikati

OK, I give up, what is "NF?"

National Forest

[KelloggKid]

The FCFS versus Reservation policy is, I suspect, set by the concessionaire. Most of the campgrounds in Eastern Wa and N Idaho are run by Scenic Canyon. Last year most of these campgrounds had roughly 1/4 FCFS sites. This year they did away with all of them Strictly Reservation only. All of the campgrounds were totally full until about 10 days ago. Now there are empty sites in almost all of them.

[Overstreet]

how do you know the vacant spot is not reserved?

Usually the park is one way or the other. At reservation parks the host camper/ranger puts a card on the site post with name and dates. You pull in, set up and leave at scheduled time. Sometimes there are or are not gate attendants.

[Overstreet]

Ps........recreation.gov.....for national parks whether in the National Park system or not. Ie Nat Forest, Dept Agriculture, NASA, National Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service.

State Parks .....often use ReserveAmerica.com, but not always.

Land Between the Lakes,.......TVA/USDA has their own system. Which the USDA/ Forestry Dept still uses instead of Recreation.gov.

[Suza]

Originally Posted by Hikingsolo

Most Reservations have to be 24 hours in advance. Campground hosts or front office personnel then (usually) post a reservation notice at the campsite showing the name and dates of the reserved site. Many state parks have every camper check in at a kiosk as they come into the park even if they have a Confirmed reservation.

I said ‘usually’ because I just had an experience in Kansas at a state park where the front office person sent me out to park my rig at any open site because “some people just take a site and don’t register until later.”

Many campgrounds will post a list of incoming reservations so you can see if a site is reserved for the following day.

[tvketchum]

There are some concessionaires at National Forest campgrounds who require you to call Recreation.gov, which entails a reservation fee in addition to the site fee, on empty reservable sites, where reservations can be made day of arrival. There are others where the reservations have to be made 72 hrs prior to arrival, so those unoccupied, unreserved sites can be rented.

I much prefer locations which have first come first serve.

[M. Smith]

Originally Posted by n2916s

Check fraud is pretty rare these days. If you just carry a gel pen and not leave any blank space on the “amount” line, it would be pretty hard to alter. Yeah, they would have your account number and bank ID but there is not much they could do with it nowadays when every bank communicates with every other bank in real time.

Unfortunately, it does happen. Had some clever thieves take a check and make new ones using the bank routing number and the account number. They bought a lot of stuff and it was heck straightening it out, especially since we didn't catch it until we received the bank statement. I regularly check the account online now.

[GettinAway]

We often reserve a site that may be one of the last reservable sites. (If you don’t plan ahead as well as you should ). So we reserve a “not so good” site, inside the loop, downwind of the pit toilet. When we get there we check out the FCFS sites. Almost every time the host will let us switch. I think once a host didn’t want to hassle with switching. For us it’s a good way to reduce anxiety. At least you know you have some place to stay..

[SouthForkAS]

The envelope and honor system is alive and well at Horsethief Camp in Moab. Otherwise, book and pay online at recreation.gov
Or, if ur lucky, pay the camp host

[SouthForkAS]

Originally Posted by M. Smith

Unfortunately, it does happen. Had some clever thieves take a check and make new ones using the bank routing number and the account number. They bought a lot of stuff and it was heck straightening it out, especially since we didn't catch it until we received the bank statement. I regularly check the account online now.

Everyday.
That's why god made credit cards.
welcome to the 21st
(truth be told, I keep a wad of tens for the occasional serendipity. With the old fogie lifetime pass that I bought a couple years back for $10 (!) I pay 50% discount, most places are $10. For me.)

[Jim Pona]

Originally Posted by smsasf

Because I lived overseas from 2006 until couple years ago I have not camped in a NF campground since about 2004. At that time, as I recall, at the place I camped (first-come, first-served) there was a box where you took out envelop, put $5 in it and either put site number or your auto tag number on it. I know costs have gone up if doing a NF mainatined site. But how are payments handled these days? Cash in envelope? Check? Credit card info? Or do all payments need to be in advance online?

Hello smsasf,

I am not sure about the fee for camping at a national Forest, but are you aware that the National Forest Service often enough has special use agreements with state park campgrounds? And if you have a senior pass you can access these campsites - usually excellent quality with at least some hookups - for half price.

[Doc Foster]

This past summer I used cash or check in NF fee situations.