Change to reserveamerica.com

[davidmurphy02]

Just a heads up about ReserveAmerica - the reservations for many state parks and other campgrounds goes through them. They updated their security system a couple of days ago and are requiring everyone with an account to change their password and verify their email in order to continue using the account. There's a link on the sign-in page for this - if you have a ReserveAmerica account it would be a good idea to go and do this now rather than wait until the next time you are trying to book a reservation. Their system is a bit slow and doing this can take a few minutes, if done in the process of making a reservation you can wind up losing that reservation and being unable to get back to it....ask me how I know that

On a positive note, if my health can hold together for a while longer we have a fall trip planned that will be our best trip ever - four national parks, five state parks, and after several months of white knuckle clicking on reservation websites we actually managed to get our very favorite campsite at every single park.

[Iowa Dave]

Thanks for the heads up. We use that reservation system frequently, especially for Corps of Engineers campgrounds. We appreciate your post. Best of luck on your next camping trip.
Iowa Dave

[Mike G]

Originally Posted by Iowa Dave

Thanks for the heads up. We use that reservation system frequently, especially for Corps of Engineers campgrounds. We appreciate your post. Best of luck on your next camping trip.
Iowa Dave

COE? Are you sure you aren't thinking of Recreation.gov?

[Iowa Dave]

Originally Posted by Mike G

COE? Are you sure you aren't thinking of Recreation.gov?

Yup you are right. The reserve America we use on the state parks here in iowa. If we get reservations. 25 percent of the sites in Iowa State parks are “walk in”
Sites that can’t be reserved. We like to go on Sunday afternoon, get our pick of sites and stay till Friday morning when the weekend warriors come in. Course when school is in session use is much lighter and most loops don’t fill before Memorial Day and after Labor
Day in our area. Used to go out over the fourth but not any more.
Thanks, I didn’t want to mislead anyone and still appreciate the notification to update.
Iowa Dave

[WillyB]

Originally Posted by davidmurphy02

Just a heads up about ReserveAmerica - the reservations for many state parks and other campgrounds goes through them. They updated their security system a couple of days ago and are requiring everyone with an account to change their password and verify their email in order to continue using the account. There's a link on the sign-in page for this - if you have a ReserveAmerica account it would be a good idea to go and do this now rather than wait until the next time you are trying to book a reservation. Their system is a bit slow and doing this can take a few minutes, if done in the process of making a reservation you can wind up losing that reservation and being unable to get back to it....ask me how I know that

On a positive note, if my health can hold together for a while longer we have a fall trip planned that will be our best trip ever - four national parks, five state parks, and after several months of white knuckle clicking on reservation websites we actually managed to get our very favorite campsite at every single park.

Keep on Rollin’, Rollin’, Rollin’!

[Lorraine Pittsburgh]

David,

We look forward to following your adventures this fall. Please include some cat pictures in your updates as some of us especially look forward to those.

Happy trails!

[diannelgraham]

Originally Posted by davidmurphy02

Just a heads up about ReserveAmerica - the reservations for many state parks and other campgrounds goes through them. They updated their security system a couple of days ago and are requiring everyone with an account to change their password and verify their email in order to continue using the account. There's a link on the sign-in page for this - if you have a ReserveAmerica account it would be a good idea to go and do this now rather than wait until the next time you are trying to book a reservation. Their system is a bit slow and doing this can take a few minutes, if done in the process of making a reservation you can wind up losing that reservation and being unable to get back to it....ask me how I know that

On a positive note, if my health can hold together for a while longer we have a fall trip planned that will be our best trip ever - four national parks, five state parks, and after several months of white knuckle clicking on reservation websites we actually managed to get our very favorite campsite at every single park.

Thanks for the heads up I just did the change. Wishing you and Mary an absolutely wonderful fall adventure. Happy trails.

[TZBrown]

Thanks for the heads up on that.
Usually the cell service is not very good where we travel, we could never get it done remotely.

[YakRV]

Originally Posted by davidmurphy02

On a positive note, if my health can hold together for a while longer we have a fall trip planned that will be our best trip ever - four national parks, five state parks, and after several months of white knuckle clicking on reservation websites we actually managed to get our very favorite campsite at every single park.

Thank you very much for the heads-up on ReserveAmerica. Got our account updated so now we won’t have to do it when we’re in a time crunch. Thanks for looking out for the rest of us.

Getting your favorite campsites for all your travel plans seems like “good things happening to good people!” We hope you have a great trip!

[mfschu]

Thanks for sharing and best wishes on your next trip! Sounds Epic!

[davidmurphy02]

Getting all the reservations for our fall trip was a group effort, I enlisted several friends in what I came to call the "click army" all trying for whatever campsite I was looking for at the same time. Even doing that it took many tries to succeed. And I can tell you one thing - if you ever play cards with Centex, play something like bridge with him on your team...don't play poker against him, he scored two nearly impossible to get campsites in a row...he has a golden finger on the mouse.

[CLH]

Hi David. Not criticizing I’m fairly new to trying to reserve campsites, so far only in Florida State Parks. I was under the impression that you can not give or sell your reservations to someone else. I also thought you couldn’t have more than one person in your household booking a site. For example my husband trying to book at the same time. Would he have a different account or be logging into my account.? So if one of your friends get a site, do you just show up instead? I do know at all the state parks I went to, not one asked for ID,
I have 4 daughters so I’m very interested in how you do it. I could definitely get them to help. Also thank you for the info on changing PW.
Thank you again,

[davidmurphy02]

Originally Posted by CLH

Hi David. Not criticizing I’m fairly new to trying to reserve campsites, so far only in Florida State Parks. I was under the impression that you can not give or sell your reservations to someone else. I also thought you couldn’t have more than one person in your household booking a site. For example my husband trying to book at the same time. Would he have a different account or be logging into my account.? So if one of your friends get a site, do you just show up instead? I do know at all the state parks I went to, not one asked for ID,
I have 4 daughters so I’m very interested in how you do it. I could definitely get them to help. Also thank you for the info on changing PW.
Thank you again,

Every state park system is different, although most go through ReserveAmerica. I don't know about the rules in every state, but for national parks and Utah, New Mexico and Texas state parks once you have made a reservation you can transfer it to another person by going in and changing the "primary occupant" to someone else. You could actually make a reservation for another person using your own account by just putting them in as the primary occupant when you make the reservation.

You can also go in online and change the dates (generally to a shorter period) of a reservation. This is useful in state parks that allow a 14 day stay. If you want to book a 4 night stay, instead of waiting until the first day of your desired stay becomes available you can start trying 14 days from the last date of your desired stay. If you get lucky and get the reservation, you can go in later and shorten it to 4 days and it will refund the difference. If you don't get lucky on the first try, you'll still have plenty of days to try again, this greatly increases your chances. This works better in state parks that allow long stays, most of the popular national parks have a maximum stay in one reservation of 7 days or less.

The national park reservation system is more sophisticated and will not let you be signed into the same account on more than one device. My wife and I each have an account (which is fine) so we can both try for national park reservations at the same time. The state parks I mentioned above don't seem to have that rule in place, we've had no problem both being signed in on the same account when trying to book state park reservations.

Since reservations can be transferred, there's no problem with having friends or family members all trying for a hard to get reservation at the same time. If they use their own account, they will have to pay for it at booking and then get reimbursement from you but I have never encountered any restrictions against this. There are plenty of valid reasons why you might need to make a reservation for someone else - once when I was hospitalized I asked a friend to make a reservation for me, no problem.

[CLH]

Thank you David for all the info.
Navigating the booking process has been quite the eye opener. I’ve so far had success with the ReserveFlorida state park system which is the only one I’ve used. But boy you have to be fast. I appreciate your tips because you mentioned you managed to get the sites you want. I’ve booked for the last few years but just feel very lucky if I get any site. Lol They go so fast.
We plan on going to the national Parks in the future and appreciate any help in getting a site,
Thank you again
Cynthia

[davidmurphy02]

If you ever want to talk in more detail just send me a PM, I'd be happy to set up a phone call...just can't promise not to talk your ear off

[Mike G]

If memory isn't letting me down, I think I recall Michigan state parks checking my driver's license upon arrival. Just providing one data point.

[Mike G]

Originally Posted by davidmurphy02

You can also go in online and change the dates (generally to a shorter period) of a reservation. This is useful in state parks that allow a 14 day stay. If you want to book a 4 night stay, instead of waiting until the first day of your desired stay becomes available you can start trying 14 days from the last date of your desired stay. If you get lucky and get the reservation, you can go in later and shorten it to 4 days and it will refund the difference.

One sad thing about doing this is how it affects the folks who really want the actual first day. So if you are trying for, say, July 10-14 but you book July 1-14 to get it and then cancel July 1-9 sometime later, it's that much harder for the people who waited until the window opened for their July 1 date to find an opening. There are some campers who think the states should make it more difficult to do this workaround or should increase the financial penalty associated with the subsequent cancellation of those earlier days.

[davidmurphy02]

Originally Posted by Mike G

One sad thing about doing this is how it affects the folks who really want the actual first day. So if you are trying for, say, July 10-14 but you book July 1-14 to get it and then cancel July 1-9 sometime later, it's that much harder for the people who waited until the window opened for their July 1 date to find an opening. There are some campers who think the states should make it more difficult to do this workaround or should increase the financial penalty associated with the subsequent cancellation of those earlier days.

You make a good point, Mike. This is a little like income taxes...most people, regardless of what they think of all the tax rules and laws, will use them to pay as little tax as possible. When there are a gazillion people all trying to click and win a limited number of campsites, at the popular parks most people are going to be disappointed and if there is a way to work within the system and their rules that helps me to get a campsite I will do that. In my case our fall trip will almost certainly be my last big trip so I don't feel bad about that. And I have seen a lot of friends have great difficulty getting a reservation so I have been willing to share my tips with them to help them navigate the system.

[YakRV]

On the topic of hard to reserve campsites, there are more and more apps out there that will alert you of openings to book. You can set search parameters such as date and type campsite (i.e., full hookups). When a cancellation occurs within your search window some apps will notify you by text (you’ve got to be quick though), while at least one of them is capable of booking the site for you (CampSpot is the name, I think). We’ve been quite successful with these type apps.

[CLH]

Hi David
I will take you up on that. We have visitors now, so will pm you most likely next week.
Thank you again