Cancel our 3 month trip for this summer?

mandt

We have a 3 month trip schedules for this summer. From our home in Michigan to Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington, Canada, Montana and back home. Mostly national parks. It is all reserved and paid for. 
Then came the pandemic....
We are going to decide on May 1st if we will cancel it, but right now my bet is that we will need to cancel both for our health and safety and the public good by social distancing.

Cbusguy

I don't know what to tell you, other than we are in the same boat.

Things I considered when making a similar decision,   Cancellation and rebooking policies for the campgrounds and tours we had paid for.  Closures of venues, and campgrounds at the destination. Current and projected infection rate of the destination.       We had some tickets that were non refundable refunded because of the circumstance, others held to their policys to the letter. 

I doubt it will be over by may 1st,  we may be on the back side of the peak infections,  but that is anybodys guess at this point.   

you may try to pick up your trip from a mid point time frame.   Make your trip starting point where ever you would have been in Mid June early July.    Not as convenient,  but a possibility.

Denny16

We are holding to our mid May plans, waiting to see what May brings...
cheers

mickietucs

My 3-month trip doesn't start until July (Jul-Sept) so I'm crossing my fingers - but realize my plans may have to change. Will wait to see what campgrounds start opening up (if they do) - if they don't, I would think most would issue a full refund. 

jkjenn

mandt said:

We have a 3 month trip schedules for this summer. From our home in Michigan to Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington, Canada, Montana and back home. Mostly national parks. It is all reserved and paid for. 
Then came the pandemic....
We are going to decide on May 1st if we will cancel it, but right now my bet is that we will need to cancel both for our health and safety and the public good by social distancing.

If you can be at all flexible maybe hold on to the reservations for the second part of the trip and modify it vs cancel?

Verna

In talking to my snowbird friends and fulltiming friends, the snowbirds started going home 6 weeks earlier than normal, and full timers are looking for private campgrounds so they can spend possibly months in one place.  Mid summer reservations might be OK...., late summer should be fine. 

But, I do admit to be an eternal optimist, so my gut feeling is I have two sets of reservations and I trust my money will be refunded, if needed. If I get to go camping that’s fine. I just want myself, my family and my friends to survive this pandemic. 

dCliffhanger

In reading these posts I noted frequent mention of "reservations". So far I've taken only two trips with my T@B320s without a thought of making a reservation. My vision, prior to this pandemic, was roaming around the country in, at most, a semi-planned itinerant manner with direction and timing being determined on a daily basis. Would more experienced members regard this, non-strategy, to be unworkable and\or bad idea? In general I rarely constrain my travels with much advanced or detailed planning other than: I'm gone or not gone.

Verna

@dCliffhanger, I only have reservations because both outings are with a group of campers. Normally I “fly by the seat of my pants” without reservations—it’s more fun to be spontaneous.

If you go to @jkjenn and read the post about the link to check for reservations, states that didn’t make changes to their state parks gave now closed to camping. It would be very difficult to travel right now and find places to stay. Police are denying access to some states, pulling over vehicles from hard hit states. Police will not allow as much parking lot camping due to the rear of spreading the Coronavirus. People are also on edge....not always friendly if you have out of state license plates. 

I only watch 90 minutes of news per day, giving me just enough info to stay abreast of the latest national and state orders and how the situations are being handled. This situation is scary....I’ll stay home and stay away from others. 

jkjenn

Verna said:

@dCliffhanger, I only have reservations because both outings are with a group of campers. Normally I “fly by the seat of my pants” without reservations—it’s more fun to be spontaneous.

If you go to @jkjenn and read the post about the link to check for reservations, states that didn’t make changes to their state parks gave now closed to camping. It would be very difficult to travel right now and find places to stay. Police are denying access to some states, pulling over vehicles from hard hit states. Police will not allow as much parking lot camping due to the rear of spreading the Coronavirus. People are also on edge....not always friendly if you have out of state license plates. 

I only watch 90 minutes of news per day, giving me just enough info to stay abreast of the latest national and state orders and how the situations are being handled. This situation is scary....I’ll stay home and stay away from others. 

I had originally considered taking off with my T@b, but when I got my official work from home order, things had progressed to the point that I could tell it was not the right time. 

There may be a point where I can do that when there is easing (May), but I will have to wait and see.

dlb

This site gives national and state by state projections for COVID-19 infection rates, hospitalization etc.  https://covid19.healthdata.org/projections

Also most of the National Forests in the PNW are now closed to all activity until September 30th.  

So my perspective is it will be mid summer at the earliest before things start to normalize enough to open up the parks and forests to overnight stays.

rfuss928

As I read these posts the little voice in the back of my head was saying "that's the problem with reservations, things change".
Like Verna, we only make reservations for group events out of necessity.  Otherwise like dCliffhanger describes, we make decisions on a daily basis and generally have little more than a block of time and a general direction in mind.  We have never been without a place to stay or unable to do or see something we sought.  Often we have discovered something that likely would have been missed planning from afar.  Our absolute favorite campground is a "no reservations, cash only" establishment we  discovered many years ago facilitated a bit by this approach to travel.  Adventure is the attraction for us and you can't plan and reserve adventure.
With some luck the adventures with SUNT@B will resume sometime this summer.
'Til then, take care of yourselves, keep safe and have fun.
Bob

ontheroad

We've only planned 2 group events...June and October...and both are in the United States...whether those continue ?..the question for us whether the border will be open to non essential travel so we could attend...we don't camp in the summer, since that is our " summer" where we live..swimming etc...

dCliffhanger

Well it is encouraging to hear that, normally, I'll be able do my usual random, un-reservationed wandering. On the other hand it clearly wouldn't be wise or good citizenship to do my wandering now until the risks to all and myself have largely cleared. I recently got my T@B and was anticipating doing multi-month tours around the country with my long term girlfriend. But she died and I don't need anyone else I care about to fade out of my life either... I just have to look out the window and make sure that beautiful teardrop is still out there waiting... and find something else to occupy my time and imaginations for, maybe what could be a year. If they've closed the national forests... Maybe I'll work on insulating and heating my underbelly. I've got the parts, and now the time.

jkjenn

dlb said:

This site gives national and state by state projections for COVID-19 infection rates, hospitalization etc.  https://covid19.healthdata.org/projections

Also most of the National Forests in the PNW are now closed to all activity until September 30th.  

So my perspective is it will be mid summer at the earliest before things start to normalize enough to open up the parks and forests to overnight stays.

Do you have a link to the info the PNW NF closures?

VictoriaP

jkjenn said:

dlb said:

This site gives national and state by state projections for COVID-19 infection rates, hospitalization etc.  https://covid19.healthdata.org/projections

Also most of the National Forests in the PNW are now closed to all activity until September 30th.  

So my perspective is it will be mid summer at the earliest before things start to normalize enough to open up the parks and forests to overnight stays.

Do you have a link to the info the PNW NF closures?

I haven’t seen one central announcement, but every WA link and all the OR ones I checked on this page has a closure notification. I did not seen any specifying a Sept. 30th date though.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r6/home/?cid=fsbdev2_026675#washington

N7SHG_Ham

@jkjenn here is a link to a TV station article with a summary. Certainly all developed camping seems closed and on some forests even boondocking. State and County facilities are also closed. In general BLM is closed too, although boondocking is still OK there.
https://www.kgw.com/mobile/article/sports/outdoors/coronavirus-oregon-washington-close-all-national-forest-sites-trails-across-24m-acres/283-e70c8ff5-e594-42fb-b970-a80eb5a76038

Cbusguy

Regarding reservations.......   You are not going to get a campsite in the Florida keys or any beach campsite without one,  Same for many other high traffic touristy areas.     I am not retired yet and money is not an issue yet so having a reservation at my destination is a guarantee of not having to screw around trying to find an open campsite once we arrive.   Same for tours or things we view as must see or do,   prepurchased scheduled tickets are a guarantee we will see what we want.    

When I retire that probably will change as my biggest asset will be time instead of money.   

reservation experience,    Outerbanks absolutely,  the Keys absolutely,   Myrtle beach week days off peak no problem but be prepared to move on Friday for the weekend reservations.    Had several Harvest host turn us away on the weekends as they were too busy to host on a friday or saturday night. 

@dlb took a look at that chart,  I think it misses how regional the peak infection rate and timing will be......New York City is now,   and Ohio they are saying the peak will be somewhere between mid april through mid may.      I guess it is just a wait and see sort of thing still.     I wonder about more rural areas and whether it will miss them entirely or they will just get hit later.


@dCliffhanger once retired my "plan" is similar to yours,   wonder this fine country and experience its many facets.   You can't know an area blowing through it in a day or two.    sort of follow the temps north and south and then east and west,  till I can't do it any longer.

jkjenn

N7SHG_Ham said:

@jkjenn here is a link to a TV station article with a summary. Certainly all developed camping seems closed and on some forests even boondocking. State and County facilities are also closed. In general BLM is closed too, although boondocking is still OK there.
https://www.kgw.com/mobile/article/sports/outdoors/coronavirus-oregon-washington-close-all-national-forest-sites-trails-across-24m-acres/283-e70c8ff5-e594-42fb-b970-a80eb5a76038

Thanks!

You also need reservations if you want to stay in some national parks, at all, and especially at the height of summer.

ScottG

I agree with @Cbusguy. A lot depends on when you go and where you are going. Our camping time is still largely scheduled, and finding a state or NP campsite in the northeast U.S. or Atlantic Canada on a weekend during the short tourist season may be a tall order without a reservation. Even that "no reservations, cash only" establishment fills up on a pleasant holiday weekend.  ;-)

When we do get out we also like to plant for at least four days, and I tend to be kinda' particular about campsites as some are considerably nicer than others. Not surprisingly, those are also in the highest demand. I claimed my Labor Day site at the opening bell of reservations and when I checked back the next day it was booked for every single weekend from June through September.

That said, given the choice I'd rather be a little more spontaneous. When retirement arrives (which won't be too soon) we hope to focus more on off-season, mid-week travel when the crowds are thinner and there are more opportunities for (voluntary) social distancing!  :-)

mandt

From our experience national parks are crazy busy in the summer. Big crowds. Sometimes the only way to get around is by shuttle bus. This does not sound good for pandemics.

Cbusguy

@mandt our plan to visit utah is during the winter off peak season,   I have no desire to deal with crowds.    Traveling Robert did this  last year and it was significantly less busy.

hobbithouse

I am wondering "if" and "when?" the time will arrive when we might be asked, "show me your papers" to cross county or state lines. Just a thought, like "I think we're going to need a bigger boat."

Marceline

mandt said:

We have a 3 month trip schedules for this summer. From our home in Michigan to Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington, Canada, Montana and back home. Mostly national parks. It is all reserved and paid for. 
Then came the pandemic....
We are going to decide on May 1st if we will cancel it, but right now my bet is that we will need to cancel both for our health and safety and the public good by social distancing.

I have a bunch of reservations at state parks and national forests here in California. I'm not cancelling them. If I cancel them, I pay the original reservation fee plus the cancellation fee. I'm letting the California parks system cancel them so that I get a 100% refund. Just something to consider.

Marceline

dCliffhanger said:

In reading these posts I noted frequent mention of "reservations". So far I've taken only two trips with my T@B320s without a thought of making a reservation. My vision, prior to this pandemic, was roaming around the country in, at most, a semi-planned itinerant manner with direction and timing being determined on a daily basis. Would more experienced members regard this, non-strategy, to be unworkable and\or bad idea? In general I rarely constrain my travels with much advanced or detailed planning other than: I'm gone or not gone.

It really depends where you intend to roam. I have wandered from San Francisco to Seattle and back without reservations in the summer and it's pretty difficult to get campsites on weekends. Now my summer strategy is to have reservations for Friday and Saturday nights and wing it for the rest.

Cbusguy

@Marceline That is a horrible cancellation policy.  something to consider when headed to CA

Marceline

Cbusguy said:

@Marceline That is a horrible cancellation policy.  something to consider when headed to CA

I'd be surprised if it's not the same elsewhere - i.e. If you, the reservation holder, decide to cancel then the regular cancellation policy applies. If the park system cancels because they have closed the park then you get everything back. 

N7SHG_Ham

@Cbusguy I went to Arches NP in April 1982 for first time. Was on a work assignment in Moab at the time. I think the Moab area saw maybe 50,000 visitors a year in 1980 time frame, now at ONE million. Way too many crowds to enjoy for my tastes. Infrastructure certainly hasn't improved that much! Last year we drove through on way back home to Oregon but stopped only a couple hours for a break and food, no parks visited at all.

If I ever go for a visit again it will be total off season if such a thing even exists. It is on my list to spend a couple weeks doing the Grand Circle Tour, but if it includes 999,999 other people I will likely skip and watch professional videos

N7SHG_Ham

@Cbusguy I believe the CA cancellation policy is same or similar to other states, you cancel no refund, they cancel you get a refund, don't think that is unique to only CA at least in the Western USA.

VictoriaP

Marceline said:

mandt said:

We have a 3 month trip schedules for this summer. From our home in Michigan to Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington, Canada, Montana and back home. Mostly national parks. It is all reserved and paid for. 
Then came the pandemic....
We are going to decide on May 1st if we will cancel it, but right now my bet is that we will need to cancel both for our health and safety and the public good by social distancing.

I have a bunch of reservations at state parks and national forests here in California. I'm not cancelling them. If I cancel them, I pay the original reservation fee plus the cancellation fee. I'm letting the California parks system cancel them so that I get a 100% refund. Just something to consider.

Interesting; WA state parks, prior to the closure, were allowing cancellations up to about six weeks out with no penalty...IF you called to cancel. If you tried it via the website, the penalties were still in effect. My assumption was that there was something that needed updating on the site backend to get rid of penalties, and that just wasn’t a priority in the chaos prior to shutdown.

Because the reservations for sites in summer are pretty much fully booked nowadays from the day reservations open, our normal cancellation fees start out not quite reasonable, and get downright punitive the longer you hold a reservation.

Cbusguy

Ohio uses reserve america to book their campsites.     On the state of ohio website it does state that if you cancel 31 days out you basically forfeit the reservation fee.    If you cancel less than that your penaltys are higher.    up to being billed for one additional day.     But if you dont cancel dont show then you simply lose the reservation fee........That is pretty screwed up.   

Evidently reserve america never got the memo as I have cancelled reservation through them for Ohio state parks and got most of my money refunded.   

pretty terrible policy if you ask me.   I guess they want you to make sure your plans are iron clad

Marceline

Cbusguy said:

Ohio uses reserve america to book their campsites.     On the state of ohio website it does state that if you cancel 31 days out you basically forfeit the reservation fee.    If you cancel less than that your penaltys are higher.    up to being billed for one additional day.     But if you dont cancel dont show then you simply lose the reservation fee........That is pretty screwed up.   

Evidently reserve america never got the memo as I have cancelled reservation through them for Ohio state parks and got most of my money refunded.   

pretty terrible policy if you ask me.   I guess they want you to make sure your plans are iron clad

I think that maybe there's a terminology issue here.

For CA state parks --
Reservation fee = $7.99 flat fee to make a reservation 

Cancellation fee = $7.99 flat fee to cancel a reservation up to 24 hours before reservation begins (If you cancel less than 24 hours out, you also lose first night's campsite fee)
Campsite fee = nightly fee varies depending on the park

So if I cancel all of my reservations for the next few months, I will be out $16 per reservation. (Reservation fee + Cancellation fee). The balance of the campsite fees goes back to my credit card. Not a huge amount but altogether it would probably be around $100. For someone who's booked 3 months worth of campsites for a grand tour, it could really add up.

However, if I wait for Reserve California to cancel my reservations depending on how long the parks stay closed, I get the entire amount I paid up front (Reservation fee + campsite fee) returned to me. I'm pretty sure that ReserveAmerica works the same way for most National Forest & Park campgrounds (at least out here in the west).

Hope this clears it up.