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In this episode, we share some of our top tips for taking an RV on a national park road trip, from finding campsites to passes and discounts.
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Not this year. Thanks for all the info.
Could you sometime feature about campground hosting in national and state parks – the good the bad and the ugly? I am really tempted but I worry I might be biting off more than I can chew… I read bathroom cleanup but what if there is someone who leaves it a hazmat scene that requires more than a basic cleaning?
Recreation.gov i avoid. I will pay a single resavation, only if I stay a week or more. Not a daily reservation. That is what i find daily reservations, and that kills my budget.
thank you for all the great info and perspective. A question please, we are almost at the buy point on a small class c to use for 4 or 5 months a year for 4 or 5 years, as retirees that have traveled the world extensively and have had a travel trailer and a class a for a couple of years each, long ago (just for perspective). We are unsure if there is a significant difference in access, site availability and parking availability from a 24 foot to a 27 foot class c? Thank you for your time, with your experience with sizes and types of rvs i would love your opinion.
Nate Bristow
sigh… someone just tell me what type and size of rig to get lol… couple only.. full time… balance comfort and access to parks…. I'm thinking 33ish ft 5th or TT with f350 with or without dually… would love to do 43ft 5th but i'm guessing that will be really limiting. 25ft TT probably not great for full time… i go back an forth on this all the time!
Checking the site length is gerat, but dont forget to check the access roads. We stay at a state park in WV. My mother wanted to join us with her 33' class C. She called the park before reserving and it was a good thing she did. The sites would have been fine, BUT the access road had two severe hairpin turns.
YES! You showed a truck camper!๐
San Antonio?
I have been making national park reservations this past year- going on a full season trip. I can say that I, with a 25' Airstream and 19' F150 am having a challenge. Some of the parks count the hitched length. I had to get two camping spots in a few parks- one for the truck and one for the camper!
Great info! I couldn't wait to get my NP senior pass. Though I usually boondock, I have taken advantage of the 50% campground discount. However, I was unaware of the discount also being applicable to some tours! Thank you so much!
Oh, poor advice! Always plan for your truck. The people you impact are your neighbors.
I have been wondering how on earth people are booking more than 6 months ahead!! Thank you for leveling that playing field!!
I was considering after I retire into next year eventually purchasing a very small RV and driving out west to these parks. But after watching the complications due to over crowding, reservations, frustrations, potential disappointments etc. โWhy bother?โ Itโs better to avoid the zombie masses. Find other destinations, or donโt even bother with the whole RV bit period. Life is to short.
Does the Seniors pass apply to Canadians? Any of the other passes too?
Hearing Disability with hearing aids and wife was on top of ensuring I got the lifetime access pass.
These parks are owned now by China.
i would like to visit the national parks, just too many social media smooth brain folks acting like they do
Entrance fees to NP's should be waived for actual taxpayers. Ridiculous.
Wow. Weโre very intimidated and overwhelmed by what we thought was going to be a relaxing ,simpler life. You are a god send!
We just learned something interesting about the two week gaming trick. As you said, we've found that to work at parks around the west. But is does not work at Joshua Tree, there you can only book 5 nights into non-released dates. For example, today May 8 you can book a site at Black Rock Campground for November 8-13 but not 8-14 or any further. The two week policy would allow November 8-22. I don't think I mind, it seems like an OK way to make things more fair overall. There is also now written policy at rec.gov that if you book into non-released dates you have to wait 18 days after the original booking to make any changes. Look at Changes and Cancellations under Rules & Cancellations: "If a reservation is made that includes dates beyond the maximum booking window, that reservation cannot be changed until 18 days have passed from the original booking date."
I know people who reserve several state and national forest campsites well in advance. They sell and make a little money off what they don't use but this way they are assured they will geet the weekend they want, with mutliple groups if they choose.
Nice tips Miles! I do a lot of camping, mostly in NP campgrounds in a 21 foot no-slide travel trailer and mid-size truck. I can get in 95% of places with this rig. In terms of reserving a site and picking one that will fit an RV, I'll add a couple of things that Miles did not mention: (1) The trick/loophole to reserve 14 days ahead of your actual desired date DOES NOT allow you to cancel 5 minutes later like was mentioned. Sometimes it can be weeks until you are able to make the adjustment for the dates you actually plan to use the site. You do have to pay for all the 14 days at the time of reservation, and then get a refund when you make the adjustment. Not everyone can afford this on their credit card, but people do it… (2) In addition to the site length, also pay close attention to width if you have a slide on your RV, and also how level the site is. Since many older NPS sites were designed for parking cars and tent camping, it is quite frequent for the sites be relatively narrow or have side obstructions (trees, rocks) that do not allow you to open a slide. Also, leveling an RV (front-to-back) is a lot easier for a shorter rig than for a longer one (it's a matter of geometry). SO, a 30 ft site may allow you to park a 30 ft trailer in it, but you may not be able to level it and you may not be able to open your slides. So my advice for NP campgrounds is to have the shortest RV that suits your needs, and hopefully without slides. Recreation.Gov has excellent and insightful notes on each site, and people have increasingly reviewed the sites and add note about level and obstructions, so do check those out in addition to the aerial images.
Thank you Jason. Very helpful video and content.
Really great video with soo much good information! Also thank you for sharing your personal experiences. I'm 62 years old and just started really traveling three years ago, mostly snowbirding to get away from Wisconsin winters. I use pop-up truck camper and tow an enclosed trailer with a UTV for trail riding and just returned from a 105 day and 6,429 mile trip to the SW USA. Thank you for sharing all latest & greatest RV news along with your knowledge & experiences.
Thanks for this information! You managed to include a whole bunch of good stuff in one video and I appreciate it.
Add Red Rock Canyon in Nevada to the timed entry parks
This sums up all the lessons we learned after planning two RV Road Trips to the SW of the USA (2019 and 2023). We are from the Netherlands and had to find out all these things our self. Extra difficulty was that we had to plan 5 week trips for two families with kids in the midsummer high season and we wanted to stay in the NP's preferable at sites next to each other. For both trips we managed to book all the sites that we wanted. It took so much preparation. If would have had the information in this video then, that would have saved us a lot of time. For us the preparation was part of the holiday experience. I fondly remember the session in which we sat ready with 5 people ,each with 30 browser tabs prepared with the preferred sites, watching the world clock turn 16:00 (local time here in NL) to book sites at Upper Pines in Yosemite. And then like crazy run through the tabs and hit the reserve button. And then check if we had the sites we wanted. And that worked. We created photo's of that session that went into the photo book of the trip. My brother has taken on the strategy of booking earlier with the extra days and then returning the unused days on his trip last year. Another tip for people booking from outside the USA: take notice of daylight saving times. For one of our bookings the booking opened a few days after daylight savings went into effect (don't remember if that was at our side or in the state of the NP) and we almost missed the booking opening.
Great information. My husband has an lifetime pass. He was recently disabled. Is there any advantage to getting a forever access pass?
I wasn't able to find an alert function on the recreation.gov app — maybe it's only on the website?
Thank you so much Jason this great information to know. Itโs so helpful. Glad they have websites that will you find a campground that would fit your Rv.
We visited Arches last October. Waited till 6pm the night before each day to book the reservation for the next day. Never had any issues getting a pass. They were usually 10:00am or later passes but they were available and, at that time of day, the line to go through the entrance wasnโt very long.
Help! I have a question about National Park reservations. They are very confusing to me. I am looking at a site in Madison Campground, Yellowstone. I says "RV SITE UP TO 30-FT WITH EXTRA VEHICLE PLUS TENT UP TO 12 X 12 Sleeps up to 6. These sites may be used as RV only, tent only, or a combination of RV and tent. If RV or trailer/tow only, maximum combined length of vehicles is 30 feet, plus one additional vehicle is allowed (maximum length of 20 feet for extra vehicle). The picture shows a Class C (large) and an SUV. I know our 23" TT and HD pickup will easily fit in this site, however per the wording it looks like we would not be allowed to reserve it. How does this work?
This content is gold. Just finishing up a 19 national park trip and much of what Jason discussed is spot on. Planning and more planning will help. While the concessionaire might be expensive, if your trip is dates are set, then spend the money as their reservations can be up to 12 months in advance. Practice and become proficient at dry camping. It expands your options greatly.