The cost of camping at Cataloochee in Great Smoky Mountains National Park is going up next year, but you'll also be able to reserve a spot, rather than risk being the odd one out under the previous first-come, first-served approach.

Under the system that's to take effect next March, sites will cost $20, up from the $17 charged this year. While the fine print at recreation.gov says there's a $9 service charge for on-line reservations, officials at Great Smoky say that does not apply to Park Service campground reservations.

However, there is a non-refundable $10 fee if you cancel or try to change your reservation more than 24 hours out from your arrival, though you would be refunded the $20 per night campsite fee, according to park officials.

Park Superintendent Dale A. Ditmanson said the decision to move to a reservation system for the 27-site campground stems from its remote location. He says the first-come, first-served approach did not provide prospective campers any way of knowing whether they would be able to get a site until after they arrived at the campground.

“Cataloochee Campground offers one of the park’s most sought-after camping experiences, but getting there involves a 30 to 40 minute, 11-mile, drive off I-40, with much of that along a very-narrow and circuitous gravel road," noted the superintendent. “There is no cell or land-line phone service and no regularly-assigned staff assigned at the campground, so there is no way for anybody to check to see if sites are available. The reservation system will eliminate the frustration of finding no campsites left after having made the difficult drive to the campground.”

The reservation system also will even the playing field, so to speak, in that folks traveling to Great Smoky from afar and hoping to stay in the Cataloochee Campground will be on the same footing as visitors who live close to the park and can more quickly reach it as the locals will have to turn to the reservations system as well instead of taking the first-come, first-served approach.

The park, however, could actually lose money on the reservation system, as the $9 service charge for on-line reservations comes out of the $20 site fee, not from campers, said Ranger Bob Wightman.

Under the current system, the park took in about $50,000 a year from campers at Cataloochee, he said. Under the reservation system, "We pay the vendor $9 a reservation. My estimate is that would take off 20 percent from the top," the ranger said.

Once it's fully operational, the reservation system will allow campers to reserve spots in the campground six months in advance of their visit. However, park officials say the reservation database for Cataloochee is not expected to be active until February 1, 2011. On that date, reservations for sites from the March 11 campground opening date through August 1 will be reservable at once.

Going forward, each day after February 1, 2011, a new date, six months ahead, will become available. Reservations will be made either online at: www.recreation.gov or toll-free at 1-877-444-6777.