The Growing Problem With America's Campsites
Campsite Reservations Are Becoming An Exclusive Affair
Last week we got an email from a dad looking for advice planning a classic national parks road trip for later this year. Will offered up a detailed potential itinerary in last Friday’s newsletter. While I offered my two cents in an email exchange, I got to thinking just how hard it's become in many ways to plan a good old-fashioned national park road trip these days.
Is This Just An Overcrowding Problem?
Now before I get written off as an old curmudgeon (I’m in my early 30’s), I want to say that it’s truly great that more people are wanting to get outside and experience the wonders of nature.
That said, I can't help but occasionally wonder about the true intentions of visitors flocking to places like Zion. Is it the allure of nature’s beauty or the appeal of social media validation? To borrow a line from The Bachelor, courtesy of my wife, I wonder who's actually there for the right reasons? Of course we can debate what those right reasons are, but I’ll leave that for another time.
Anyway, the increase in visitation has certainly caused headaches for those hoping to get a campsite or a hotel reservation. And the days of fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants national park road trips seem to be largely in the rear view mirror for average families, which is a real shame. But is the uptick in visitors the sole factor to blame here? A deeper dive suggests a more systemic issue afflicting our parks.
No Reservations
Now I’ve heard from some folks who revel in the chance to book a campsite half a year out. You can count me out of that club. I get it, you've got a family to wrangle and want everything squared away, but is that what our national park campgrounds have become? Glorified outdoor hotels for the planner elite? Oh and unlike most hotels, where you can cancel with a click, campgrounds booked on reservation.gov lock you in tighter than Alcatraz.
I'm all for having the ability to reserve some spots ahead of time, but when nearly every patch of grass demands a reservation, inevitably they become like Taylor Swift concert tickets – snapped up by eager fans with time to spare and cash to burn. That leaves the rest of us competing for dwindling first-come-first-serve sites or unable to afford a road trip to our national parks at all.
It can come as a shock I know, to think that a national park where the entrance fee is $25 and the camping fee is perhaps another $25 could be considered unaffordable, but when more and more campgrounds are switching to reservation only, that’s increasingly become the case. More affluent people can afford to be online when a campsite becomes reservable 6 months in advance and they can afford to spare the money to reserve it – even when they know they might not end up using it.
Recent research published in the Journal of Park and Recreation Administration by the University of Montana sheds light on this very issue. The study reveals that the online reservation system appears to inadvertently favor wealthier, predominantly white campers, making camping an increasingly exclusive activity. In analyzing five NPS campgrounds, results showed that campsites requiring advance reservations were more likely to be used by visitors from higher-income households and areas with a higher proportion of white residents.
Battle Bots & Sister Agency Sites
Oh and then there’s the bots programmed to snatch up campsites the nanosecond they hit the market, only to hawk them back to us real humans at eye-watering markups. It’s true, when that coveted Yosemite spot drops online at the crack of dawn, six months ahead of time, not only are you competing against hordes of other campers, but you’re also racing a against an army of bots that are almost assured to beat you to the punch. Add in the proliferation of scams in secondary markets and a simple camping trip starts to look like an awfully fraught task.
Those that would offer up BLM and Forest Service sites as alternatives to booked out park campsites are a day late and a dollar short I’m afraid. That horse left the proverbial barn years ago and is still running. Sites anywhere near parks are nearly as overrun and reservation-bound as the parks themselves these days.
Campsite Powerball
There’s another so-called solution getting rave reviews in think pieces and already rolling out in parks across the country: the advance lottery system. This latest brainchild is pitched as the fairest way to divvy up those golden campsite tickets. Of course one look under the hood and it’s plain to see this does nothing to solve the actual problem – it just dresses it up with a Vegas twist.
These lotteries, held months in advance, come with a catch: pay-to-play fees that won't be seen again, win or lose. It's a game tilted in favor of those who can afford to gamble away their green on the maybe of a future getaway. Mimicking the very reservation system it claims to resolve, this system doesn't just squeeze wallets for a vanishing chance at a campsite—it turns what should be a universally accessible heritage into something befitting a sports betting app.
We all appreciate knowing there's a spot for us after a day of adventures, but at what price? This shift toward reservation-only camping and the illusion of fairness with advance lotteries isn't just changing the game—it's threatening to end it. The quintessential national parks road trip, long seen as an American right of passage, is inching closer to becoming an exclusive affair. It's hard not to feel like we're losing our grip on an experience that should be within every American's reach, not just those with the luxury to plan half a year in advance.
What’s The Solution?
So, what’s the endgame here? Do we just surrender our tents and resign ourselves to viewing nature through a screen because we didn’t have the means, luck, and foresight to book a campsite when there was still snow on the ground?
Personally I think a return to first-come-first-serve being the predominant way to get a campsite is the fairest solution. Sure it’s far from perfect, but at least it gives everyone a fighting chance, not just those with the deepest pockets and the fastest internet connection.
And for the international tour operators wringing their hands? Allow me to direct them to the pricey national park lodges and easy-to-reserve area hotels that cater perfectly to their advance booking desires.
Day-of lotteries being implemented at some parks are a step in the right direction as well. This approach maintains the accessibility of public lands campsites, allowing access based on present availability rather than financial readiness or the ability to commit to future non-refundable dates.
We also need safeguards to protect our campsites from becoming commodities traded on a digital marketplace. Fortunately captcha and verification processes are already being implemented to help combat the issue of bots, but continued vigilance will be required to ensure it’s people who are getting the campsites that are available to reserve in advance.
As America’s Best Idea grows in popularity, it's crucial these sites remain accessible to the very folks they were set aside for: ordinary Americans.
Thoughtful deliberation on where new campgrounds can be built to add more overnight opportunities for American families should also take place, but never at the expense of future generations.
My concern is that at the rate we’re currently going our kids and/or their kids won’t have anything resembling the same opportunities we had to sleep beneath the stars surrounded by the natural wonders that belong to all of us. I think we can do better.
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My Closing Thoughts
Feel free to light up the comments and tell me how wrong I am! More Than Just Parks is all about being a place to learn about and discuss our public lands so I hope you’ll contribute!
– Jim
Thanks for your commentary Jim. Having completed a two-month cross-country trip last fall, the reservation system was pretty much essential to making such a trip even feasible-- otherwise we no doubt would have been left stranded many times (even in the desert!). We'd likely have ended up sleeping in the truck on the side of the road somewhere, even as tent campers just looking for a patch of ground.
Also, based on our experience at Yosemite just as one example-- crowded even midweek in October-- I can only imagine the chaos of situating thousands of campers per day on a first-come first-serve basis. (Although at other parks like Black Canyon of the Gunnison, set up camp wherever you like and enjoy the solitude. Loved this!) Perhaps a compromise solution could be reached, such as increasing the number of first-come first-served spots in the more popular parks, which I know are still available at some of the more remote campgrounds.
So how can we start back to 1st come 1st serve & not just talk/write about it? What seems to be reflected is our nation wants/needs to return back to simple basics of life. I don't want to leave one busy place to replace it with another.