Camping out should be a spontaneous activity. The mood strikes, you pack the car with tents and loved ones (or fuel up the RV), and head out.
But during the pandemic, a very old truism took on new life. People all over North America and beyond discovered that getting out into nature is a balm for the soul. RV and tent sales went through the roof, campgrounds started getting booked up months in advance, and the days of last-minute camping seemed to be a thing of the past.
Well, not entirely. The truth is, you can still do last-minute camping trips, though you will need to follow more of a plan than in the old days. Here are the strategies that work best.
Camp where and when there are smaller crowds
Reservations are easier to come by when you travel when others aren’t. So if your schedule allows, opt for the middle of the week instead of weekends, and choose a time when kids will be back in school—usually starting in the second half of August—rather than peak periods such as June and July.
You might also pick a less-visited state or national park to improve your chances of getting a reservation. Instead of California's Yosemite National Park (pictured above), maybe you could go for the relatively nearby Kings Canyon National Park or, farther afield, Lassen Volcanic National Park.
Other natural gems with smaller crowds include Custer State Park in South Dakota, Great Sand Dunes and Black Canyon of the Gunnison national parks in Colorado, and Great Basin National Park in Nevada.
Sign up for alerts on reservation cancellations at campgrounds
A good number of the organized folks who make reservations 6 months to a year in advance don’t actually get to take their planned vacations (life happens, after all).
Those cancellations open up last-minute spaces pretty much everywhere. In fact, your best chances for snagging a canceled reservation are at marquee national parks like Yellowstone, Yosemite, Great Smoky Mountains, Joshua Tree, and Acadia, according to Ryan Fliss, head of growth for the camping website The Dyrt.
Those big parks simply have more camping spots than others—ergo more opportunities for cancellations.
The Dyrt has an app to help campers nab last-minute bookings. So do platforms such as Campnab, CampsitePhotos.com, CampScanner, and Hipcamp.
All surveil reservations at thousands of campgrounds across the United States, and will alert you when a reservation opens up in an area you find interesting. Usually, the fee for this service costs between $10 and $25, depending on the frequency of the cancellation scans you request (some, but not all, of the above companies require an annual membership fee as well). Because a really popular park like Yellowstone has a rebooking rate of less than a minute in summer, more frequent scans and alerts can be a good investment.
Additionally, you can set up free alerts at official and park concessionaire sites like Recreation.gov (good for U.S. national parks), Reserve America (a top site for state parks), and Parks Canada. But these options usually won't be as speedy as the commercial services listed above.
Tip: If you are able to snag a canceled reservation but it's for a shorter period of time than you wanted, book it anyway. It's often easier to work with the staff at campgrounds to extend a stay than it is to nab a new reservation. Just realize that you might be expected to move spots at the campground.
Remember that you don’t have to camp inside a famous park to enjoy that park
Many campgrounds are set just outside the boundaries of state and national parks. That can be an excellent alternative when campgrounds inside are full.
Some of these campsites are even on private lands, with facilities intended for just one or two campers. The apps listed above are good places to search. KOA, a large chain of campgrounds across the United States, may have some promising options, too.
Head to the parks that are first come, first served for camping
Almost all Bureau of Land Management and national forest campgrounds have a first come, first served policy for camping. Many state parks do as well.
Whoever shows up first in the morning gets a spot, though at many campgrounds you will need a permit sticker for your car, showing that it is allowed to stay overnight on government lands. These permits are available at REI stores and many other shops that sell outdoor gear. Some national parks, like North Cascades National Park in Washington State and Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, offer walk-up backcountry camping permits.
The downside to walk-up campgrounds is they're usually pretty basic.
"I'd say these lands are primitive at best," Fliss told me. "You may not get a fire ring, there likely won't be bathroom facilities, and sometimes there won't even be assigned spots, so you'll need to know the rules of the park in question. Usually you aren't allowed to be within 100 feet of moving water or roads. But each national forest, BLM site, and state park will have a different set of restrictions, so go online before setting out your gear".
Have a backup plan if you decide to just show up
If you decide to try your luck at one of the campgrounds that don't take reservations—or at the campgrounds that do—make sure you have a backup plan. Most of the apps mentioned above will have resources for finding nice, reviewed campgrounds within a several-mile radius of where you are.
The bottom line? Fliss seemed pretty upbeat about campers' ability to land last-minute spots this summer. As a matter of fact, he said the effort of packing was often more of a blocker than reservations.
"The biggest hurdle to going camping is stressing over whether you have everything you need," he said. "Having a bin that’s all packed and can be tossed in the back of your car easily and quickly can be the difference between actually going camping and just thinking about going camping."