Are there enough campgrounds in the National Park System?/Kurt Repanshek file
How many front-country campgrounds are in the National Park System? How many are needed? If you've struggled with making a campsite reservation on recreation.gov, these questions might have come to mind. Here are some answers.
According to the National Park Service, at the end of Fiscal 2018, there were 1,421 campgrounds in the park system, with 27,513 campsites. Filter that done a bit more, and there are 502 front-country campgrounds with 16,648 sites (another 494 campgrounds don't have front- or backcountry designations), according to the Park Service.
That 16,648 number might explain why it is such a struggle to reserve a campsite. After all, Yellowstone National Park has more than 2,000 front-country campsites alone, Yosemite National Park has nearly 1,500, Glacier National Park has more than 1,000, Grand Teton National Park has more than 1,100, and Sequoia and Kings Canyon combined have just a bit more than 1,200 sites. Do the math and you'll see that those six parks alone hold 40 percent of those 16,648 campsites.
Many other parks that are highly desireable with campers, meanwhile, have considerably fewer sites. Canyonlands National Park has fewer than 40, Arches National Park has 50, Rocky Mountain National Park has around 571, Acadia National Park has a few more than 600, and Shenandoah National Park has 472.
Of course, if you're looking for RV campsites, they are even more scarce.
And some parks don't have any front-country campsites: Saguaro, Petrified Forest, Carlsbad Caverns, and Cuyahoga Valley national parks all fall in that category.
According to the Park Service, "the variety of available NPS campground facilities and amenities is extremely broad, from primitive, unstaffed backcountry campsites to campgrounds that provide hot showers or can accommodate 25’ recreational vehicles. Campgrounds are also managed through multiple models; some campgrounds are operated by the NPS, some by concessioners, and a few by other partners. The range and complexity of these models and amenities, in conjunction with limited financial resources, presents unique management challenges."
Amenities at campgrounds in the National Park System include:
- 1,015 comfort stations at 346 campgrounds
- 12,730 tent pads at 485 campgrounds
- 8,585 RV pads
- 426 campgrounds with water stations
- 130 campgrounds with year-round hot showers
- 1,889 campsites at 36 campgrounds with electrical hook ups
- 130 campgrounds with dumping stations
- 33 campgrounds with Wi-Fi
- 60 amphitheaters at 55 campgrounds
- 3,534 fire rings at 556 campgrounds
- 14 camp stores at 11 parks
Of the 1,421 campgrounds in the park system, as of Fiscal 2018 1,340 were managed by Park Service and 81 were managed through concessions contracts.
According to the Park Service, during Fiscal 2018 these were the top 10 campgrounds in terms of occupancy;
1. Mather Campground, Grand Cayon National Park. 154,069 campers.
2. Upper Pines, Yosemite National Park. 128,113 campers.
3. Watchman Campground, Zion National Park. 92,231 campers.
4. Moraine Park Campground, Rocky Mountain National Park. 53,795 campers.
5. Assateague Island National Seashore Campground. 51,035 campers.
6. Fort Pickens Campground, Gulf Islands National Seasore. 47,708 campers.
7. Pinnacles Campground, Pinnacles National Park. 44,382 campers.
8. Blackwoods Campground, Acadia National Park. 44,289 campers.
9. Point Reyes National Seashore Campground. 43,918 campers.
10. Hodgdon Meadow Campground, Yosemite National Park. 43,440 campers.
Knowing all those numbers, how would you manage the parks and their front-country campgrounds? Would you call for more campgrounds/campsites to be carved into the parks? Would you add more campgrounds/sites to the busiest parks, or would you put campgrounds in those parks that don't have any campgrounds? Would you leave things as they are and suggest those who can't land a reservation look to nearby national forests or other public lands' campgrounds?
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Comments
I agree that there should be walk up only sites. We also travel without an itinerary so we often use NFS.
We have a 30 ft 5th wheel and discovered that very few NPS campsites are accessible to us. Roads too overgrown to navigate. Turns impossible and overheads to overgrown to be passable. State parks and COE don't seem to have this problem.
A great idea. So many day use area sit unused and this would be increased revenue for sure for those that are self contained.
Best camping ever was "overflow" at a provincial park, Newfoundland, Canada. It was a parking lot - right next to the water, behind a low berm. No reservation - I don't travel with an itinerary, and don't need amenities - and I was able to plunk my kayak on the water, paddle until dusk, and drive up to rest rooms/showers in the morning. Yes, to parking lots, pull offs, etc for the self contained. That would also take some of the pressure off tent sites, for those tenting.
Would also love to see how this has changed over time. Each president over the years has added tens of thousands of acres to the national parks system. Did they also add campgrounds? Based upon my experience of hiking through national parks all over this country, it seems that the campground density, number of camp sites per arce of land has decreased dramatically. I don't think our government is doing a good job managing our federal lands.
Three comments.
Creating new campgrounds or sites is extremely difficult with the studies that have to be done on resource impacts and red tape. Nothing in NPS is ever fast.
The park service should create a national campground Standard Operating Procedure to unify how All NPS campgrounds operate. This way you know how it is works and what % of the campground is reservations vs walk up. I would go 100% reservations or 75% with 25% walk-up.
Dump rec.gov and create an inhouse reservation system. Rec.gov gets waay too much $ for the service it provides and going in-house would pay for itself. Simple economics.
Reservable campsites that aren't reserved in advance automatically become 'First Come First Served' and available to those who show up without reservations. The 'empty spots' you report that you are not allowed to occupy are in all likelihood ones that are reserved, but the campers just haven't arrived yet. That is the inherent benefit in making reservations ... you arrive at your leisure since you don't have to worry about fighting off other campers to claim your spot. People always say that reservations take the spontaneity out of camping, but if you set all of the anecdotal emotional arguments aside, you have to aknowledge that making a campground 100% reservable is the single most efficient and cost effective way for the NPS to manage a campground. A completely cahsless model where all of the fees are collected electronically online eliminates significant costs associated with cash collection and handling ... not to mention eliminating the risks of theft and loss associated with cash collections. All public lands have to be managed smarter, and in many cases that means abandoning management practices rooted in the 1950's and implementing modern cost effective strategies. Federal land management agencies should not be implementing wasteful management practices because a handfull of people like to travel without an itinerary.