Want a campsite at a hard-to-book national park? There's an app for that

By Donn Friedman

GO New Mexico

Mike Lee wanted to take his family to scenic spots for quick overnight trips, but often the best campsites near his California home were reserved months in advance. He found an app that helped his quest to snag spots that had canceled reservations, but being a computer programmer, he thought he could improve it.

The result is Campsite Tonight, an app available for download on Google Play or App stores.

Often all reservations for campgrounds in national and state parks located near popular areas are booked months in advance using Recreation.gov. 

Campsite Tonight rescues you from the tedious process of going park-by-park, campground-by-campground and even site-by-site to set up these alerts on your smartphone or browser.

Hopeful visitors can get instant alerts when sold-out campsites open up at most national and some state parks, said Lee, the app’s developer. 

And it worked for me. It snagged a three-day, last-minute reservation at Big Bend National Park in Texas for March 8-11 at Cottonwood Campground. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to use it to see the giant bluebonnet bloom right now, but I plan to use Campsite Tonight to secure trips later in the spring and summer. 

When is the best time to snag a reservation after someone cancels?

“The app is likely to secure a reservation if the user misses the initial release, noting that there is about a 30% cancellation rate 10 days before checking in, even during the summer,” he said. “The best time to successfully book a canceled spot is typically about 10 days in advance of the trip, although securing spots further in advance is also possible.

“Securing sites during seasonal events, such as Big Bend during the flower bloom, is tougher because demand often increases closer to the date, leading to less turnover from people who booked months in advance,” he said.

You can find campsites by state, park name or location, he said.

He also has an interesting blog that helps you plan your trip, blog.campsitetonight.app, that shows data detailing how often sites go unused.

The app’s key feature is its “add to cart” functionality that connects to your Recreation.gov app and account. It works at national parks, national forests and reservable sites at state parks in 11 states, including California, Arizona, Nevada and Florida, as well as some county parks in California. 

Whenever Campsite Tonight finds an open spot, the app can alert you as it holds the campsite on recreation.gov for up to 15 minutes. It currently tracks availability at more than 50 campgrounds in New Mexico at campsitetonight.app/us/nm. 

Lee said he hopes to expand the alert feature to more state parks, but technical challenges prevent, for example, Texas State Parks from being included at this time. Texas uses Reserve America for its listings. New Mexico State Parks have not been added yet to his roadmap. He says he adds state parks in areas where he gets the most paid subscribers. The app also does not show Bureau of Land Management campgrounds or other places that don’t accept reservations.

Campsite Tonight fills the void created as other popular camping reservation apps have gone dormant or are not as useful. Campsite Tonight, with its ability to alert you when a spot comes open, costs $49.99 a year after a short free trial. A month-by-month account with alerts for $19.99 is also available. 

The app is a boon for those whose plans are fluid and a great addition to your toolkit. It is built to do the work of finding a campsite that usually requires many clicks, much screaming and consternation.

It scans multiple websites finding campground availability. If you are doing recon in advance, you can search an area and then set availability alerts to let you know if a site becomes available. Whenever or wherever you have data service, it can help you find last-minute places in real time, often until 4 p.m. the night you are planning to camp. 

Campsite Tonight “comes in clutch when all the campsites are booked up!” said Apple user vivi stein in a review of the app. “Because of this app, I was able to book a few campsites in Yosemite after their release date! I love it so much, I keep it a secret lol.”

Donn Friedman is a roving columnist for The Sunday Journal’s GO New Mexico section. He is the retired asst. managing editor for technology and production for the Albuquerque Journal. His LinkedIn profile is atlinkedin.com/in/donn-friedman-94511a.