Hello campers! I’m a longtime camper living in the PNW who started camping a lot more when Covid hit. I quickly found that campsites were booked 6 months out, but figured there were plenty of people canceling at the last minute for various reasons.
I found a couple of existing services that would monitor campgrounds for cancellations and send alerts, but they weren’t quite what I needed. Plus I’m a software developer so I figured why not customize something to my needs. So I wrote some scripts to search for specific campgrounds/dates and email me when it found an opening.
I used it successfully for the past 2 summers and decided to turn it into a legit website where others can use it too. Right now it can scan Recreation.gov, WA state parks, and the 5 campgrounds in Yellowstone that are separate from Recreation.gov. I’m already working on adding the ReserveAmerica and ReserveCalifornia systems so those should be coming soon.
If that sounds like something that would help you plan camping trips, please check it out: https://camperalerts.com
If not, then enjoy this shot of Lower Lewis River Falls in Gifford Pinchot National Forest from my very rainy camping trip last weekend 🙂
Lower Lewis River Falls in Gifford Pinchot National Forest