Reserving NPS campsites during prime season

mandt

We are taking a long trip next summer to several national parks in the northwest. I know you can't reserve more than 6 months out. My question is for the more popular parks such as Yellowstone do you need to click the reserve button 1 minute past midnight to get a site or is it not quite that bad. 

Arizonayeti

That really depends. I've tried to get North Rim Grand Canyon campground reservations (it's smallish and there are some really nice sites) literally one second after the time change and the prime sites are already full. Not sure how that is done, but I'm sure there is a computer wiz that knows.  However, there usually is time to get another site booked in that first couple of minutes to an hour if you want to get a "less than" stellar spot. In the shoulder seasons, some spots are open for months without being booked. 

I booked a couple of nights at Yellowstone in February for July, several weeks after the 6 month open season started.  Now, I don't know the prime campgrounds or sites there, but there were some sites left in Bridge Bay, probably because it isn't the best campground there. 

Good luck!

DenisP

We are leaving for a extended trip to multiple national parks in US and Banff NP including Yellowstone. We were surprised to get a reservation at Yellowstone Madison campground for early June after a late decision to include in our trip.  Online reservations were full and decided to call which was great as they had a few sites left which were not offered online.  We made most of our reservations as soon as the window opened for NPS, State and Canadian campgrounds and were able to get some prime sites. 

jkjenn

You can also find cancellations here and there if you do not mind checking everyday. Most parks have some first come, first serve sites but for Yellowstone people line up fairly early for those. 

klenger

I believe that most cancellations occur in the last week up to the reservation. If your schedule is flexible, you can try to catch one of those late cancellations.  One tip I've heard to help you do this is to temporarily make your browser home page the CG reservation page so that you are reminded to check every time you open your browser.  T@Bazona is a good example of this. 

DenisP

this is a link to suggestions for last minute plans to visit Yellowstone https://www.yellowstonepark.com/where-to-stay-camp-eat/no-reservations?utm_campaign=YellowstoneNews&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=72721725&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--2gzqCQyNVBrBQ1xGCUBcdAodGb6MryM97yievHoDfLfg4STkX93uYEJiLhiCXJSZSSLwv7AH4z-2AhibLTe4LaB-BCQ&_hsmi=72721725