The rules for reserving campsites at Big Bend National Park are changing/NPS file
Staff at Big Bend National Park in Texas don't want you to make a long drive in vain. If you're planning to camp in the park's campgrounds, reserve your site before you hit the road, they say.
To that point, the staff will be increasing the number of Big Bend campsites available for advanced reservations online. Come November 1, approximately two-thirds of the campsites at Rio Grande Village and Chisos Basin campgrounds will remain reservable up to six months in advance. The remaining third of the campsites will be reservable, but only up to 14 days in advance.
In addition, all campsites at Cottonwood Campground will now be reservable up to 14 days in advance. Adding these sites to the reservation system with a shorter booking window will allow those visitors who thrive on the flexibility of last-minute travel to still plan a visit to Big Bend and secure a campsite.
“We’ve heard loud and clear that people want us to expand the park’s reservation system, and I’m excited that we’re able to respond,” said Superintendent Bob Krumenaker. “The reservation system will allow more visitors to plan their Big Bend adventure well ahead of time and guarantee they have a campsite when they arrive. I’m happy that these changes will now also provide a reservation option for the more spontaneous traveler who finds it difficult to plan six months ahead.”
Campground reservations are available online via www.recreation.gov, or through the help center at 1-877-6777. Campsites are $16 per night, and $8 per night for holders of the Interagency Senior (US citizens aged 62+) or Access Pass (permanently disabled US citizens).
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Comments
I think I like the idea of holding 1/3 of the sites for short term reservations, 14 days ahead. If it works out for Big Bend then hopefully the practice will spread.
This is absolutely absurd! NPS's Recreation. Gov is only catering to those who will use "BOTS" to secure their reservations up to 6mos in advance and now making the 14days for the remaining 1/3rd. This does nothing for the "wandering" lifestyle campers. ALL NPS campgrounds should be 50% reservable and 50% FCFS. State parks have implemented this concept to the delight of campers on both sides of the argument.
I was just there in BIG BEND in Feb. I was able to secure a site for two nights out of sheer luck. When I got there the park was almost completely empty of campers. Out of 100 sites at Rio Grande Village 15 were occupied and Rec.gov showed all sites reserved. The campground host was livid! He had no control over the sites.
Rec.gov is by far the worst reservation system in use. So many errors! Mather campground at South Rim Grand Canyon with over 480 camping sites in Oct 2020 showed fully booked on rec.gov but was completely empty save for FOUR campers! Park Ranger was so embarrassed she could not do anything about it. We had to stay at Trailer Village.
That is BS. Visited Big bend three weeks ago. There is impossible to make reservations from its web site.
When we arrived there over 70% camp sites were empty. These idiots just make people to have hard time
Open a shower house and THEN you can have opinions. The camping options there are subpar for tents. Their campground is a last resort. No wonder they can't get reservations.
When we were there this past June, we saw the same thing. We were lucky to get the reservation we did, because there were only a couple sites listed as available online and we grabbed those (booked in March I think). Then when we were actually camping, noticed there were surprisingly a lot of campsites unoccupied. It was weird, beause June is definitely peak time to camp in the Chisos Basin Campground! I felt bad that those campsites were unoccupied, knowing there are plenty of folks who probably wanted to be camping there that couldn't get a reservation.