Strategic Reservations

There are many camping options when traveling in your own Cabin on Wheels – including state or national parks, RV resorts, Harvest Hosts, driveways and parking lots. We have camped in most of these, but we prefer county/state/national parks and Army Corps of Engineers campgrounds.

Reservations are required for most of the public campgrounds. These fill up months in advance and have different booking windows. That’s when you need to do your research and be strategic.

For example, if you know you want to camp at one of Virginia’s state parks in April 2022, the earliest you could make reservations is 11 months in advance. That means reservations for April opened up in May of this year. Most national parks take campground reservations six months in advance. If there’s a place you really want to visit, search online to find the booking window and mark your calendar for the earliest possible time get online and make a reservation. Set your alarm for midnight for the best odds of getting a reservation where you want.

Reservations for most public campgrounds can be made online through Reserve America and Recreation.gov. I’ve also found that some states have abandoned Reserve America for their own systems. And I found a few city/county parks with campgrounds that only take reservations over the phone. As with everything, you’ll need to do your research.

I discovered that because of COVID, some established booking windows went out the window (ha ha). For example, Maine State Parks’ booking window traditionally opens in early February for the following year, but this year, all sites are now first come, first served.

I expect 2022 to be back to normal, so start marking your calendars for those booking windows.