Grabbing your favorite camping site on the days you want on Reserve California can be notoriously difficult, since demand often exceeds supply, which creates hording behavior in the California camping community, this then exacerbating and perpetuating the supply issue. Here are my tips for tilting the chance of reserving a good spot in your favor.
Understanding The Basics of Reserve California
Create An Account and Log In
This seems like a given, but just know some of the tips I will be explaining below are super time sensitive. Nothing is worse than seeing that perfect spot open, starting the booking process, then getting stuck logging in or registering, which then gives another user the chance to grab it before you’re even in a position to secure your spot. As you’ll see below, it doesn’t take but a few seconds or less to miss out on an open spot. So go ahead and get that done.
Accessing the Calendar For Your Favorite Camping Site Even If It’s Fully Booked
More times than not, if you are trying to book a popular spot, then after you perform your search, you’re going to get the ‘0 sites available’ message card, and a suggested set of cards for other similar sites that do have availabilities. Don’t give up at that point. You want to see exactly why it says there are no sites, by accessing the calendar for those, and examining the legend for the days you want. Sometimes there may be spots, just not on the exact days you entered in the original search, like you may have wanted a Monday through Saturday night, but all they had was Tuesday through Sunday. Some sites might be locked but not reserved, and that can be a good thing, as I’ll elaborate on later. But let’s walk through the steps to get to the calendar.
Go ahead and start from the beginning and pick where you want to go.
I want to go to El Capitan State Beach:
Click on the ‘Select Arrival – End Date’ card then click on your arrival date:
Then click on your date of departure, and it will take you to the ‘site type’ option screen. I usually don’t enter anything here, as I want to cast as wide a net as possible regarding camping options.
Go ahead and click Show Results to get your ‘0 Available Sites’ card:
Now don’t give up here. Click on the card and you’ll see a ‘0 facilities’ message and different camp site loop cards for the place you’re looking for:
Now click on the card of a particular loop you are interested in. I like Anza Group at El Capitan. After doing so you should be at the calendar:
As you see in this particular calendar, there is only one available spot on Sunday, July 17th, at site #48. However at site #49 there is a an unreserved, but locked spot on Saturday the 23rd. Likely if you log in to the calendar at the start of the week of that Saturday, at 8am sharp, that site will unlock and be available to snag for the night. More on how to do that below.
Understanding the Calendar Legend on Reserve California
The lighter green box (legend = Available Dates) means you can book that particular overnight stay.
The darker green box (legend = Add-on Dates) with the equals sign in it means those days are not yet available to choose as arrival days, but if there is an arrival day directly in front of them that is open and available, then they can be booked along with that arrival day. This is most relevant when trying to book exactly 6 months out, at the the furthest day in advance Reserve California will let you book. For example if Monday, six months from now, is the furthest day Reserve California let’s you book in advance and it’s open, and if there are the darker green, equal signs (Add-on Dates) boxes after that Monday for the entire week, then it will let you book Monday through the next Sunday night (seven nights). Most places have a seven day max trip to give other’s a chance at a trip, and to keep people with $200,000 camper trailers from using a park as a permanent residence.
The grey boxes with the lock icon inside of them means the site/date is not reserved, but the park has them locked. These locked boxes will often unlock (turn green and become available) once the week they are inside comes to pass. See my tutorial below on how to grab the locked sites/dates right when they open at exactly 8am PST.
The grey boxes withe the diagonal red slash mean someone has already booked that particular night.
The purple boxes with the walking figure (legend = Walk-in Only) means either the site is designated for thru-hikers and bikers only, or the date for the site is an off-season date, where reservations are not being taken by the park, and it’s first come, first serve at that point.
I haven’t seen an ‘Outside Your Criteria’ box, likely because I don’t answer the ‘What type of site are you looking for?’ question. Likely it pops up when your RV is 20 feet long and needs a hook up, but the site just has parking for a light duty car/truck with no hook up. One of the benefits of Prius Prime Car & Tent Camping.
Understanding the 6 Month Rolling Period for Reservations
Now that you can access the calendar for a particular site, even when no sites are available, and understand the legend, you now much familiarize yourself with Reserve California’s 6 month rolling period for reservations. Basically everything is locked 6 months or more in advance. And every day a new day opens up, six months from now on the calendar. Reserve California says its calendar also adjusts for months that are longer or shorter than 30 days in the following manner:
| If You’re Logged Into Reserve California On This Day | You Can Grab An Arrival Day On This Day |
|---|---|
| May 1, 2018 | November 1, 2018 |
| May 2, 2018 | November 2, 2018 |
| May 3, 2018 | November 3, 2018 |
| February 28, 2018 | August 28, 2018 |
| March 1, 2018 | August 29-31, 2018 |
It’s worth just logging into the calendar several days before the six month rolling window opens up for your desired arrival date, just to gauge how the calendar is advancing. That way you’ll know for sure which morning (at exactly 8am PST) you should be up and ready to lock in your vacation.
Keep in mind that once your arrival day is newly opened, you’ll also be able to grab up to 6 more days after that, even though those particular days are not yet open; those days will be notated with the ‘Add-on’ icons as explained in the legend section of this article. You’ll need to let that sink in to strategize how to grab partial weeks, which I’ll detail below.
8am Sharp Is When Locked Sites/Dates Unlock
You have to be prepared at exactly 8am PST to grab your site, as that’s exactly when the locked sites/dates unlock. As mentioned above, you can tell a site/date is locked by either 1) the lock icon published inside its grey square on the calendar, or 2) the dark green, equals sign, add-on day is printed there. Here’s an example of what locked days look like right before they unlock at 8am (I’ve clicked on Monday, July 11th, at site #79, and selected the 4 nights option on the site card on the right, to match the number of locked days; that’s why they are highlighted red):
In order to grab these dates, you have to have your calendar pulled up and wait until 7:59:59am, that is 7:59am and 59 seconds, then hit ‘refresh’ (the button with the two green circular arrows above the campsite card, as shown below). You should have an online digital clock open in another window so you know exactly when to hit refresh.
Once you hit the refresh button at 7:59:59am, Reserve California will reload the calendar, and those locked sites should now just be a solid green color, as shown below:
Go ahead and click the first day you want, for example, click Monday July 11th at site #79, then on the site card on the right, use the ‘nights’ drop down menu to pick all the subsequent nights you want. In my example I still have 4 nights selected for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Then click ‘book now’ and go through the booking process. Have your credit card ready. If you forgot to sign in to Reserve California, it will make you sign in at the point you hit the booking button, which is a time eating step, so before attempting this entire process make sure you are registered and signed in.
Stick Around After 8am
If you weren’t able to grab your site at 8am PST, then hang out until 8:15 or 8:30am. That’s when sites which had been snatched up at 8am, fall back out of those snatchers’ carts, if their carts are ultimately abandoned. Other Reserve California users may have grabbed your coveted site as a back up plan, then were able to execute their first choice, leaving your site temporarily in their possession, until the 15 minute timer runs out on them. Or maybe they grabbed your site then accidentally closed their browser, or got distracted, or their boss showed up at the wrong time at their cubical; the possibilities are endless.
Book The Week to Grab the Weekend
If you’re just looking for a weekend trip, you’re best bet is to wait for the exact day, on the 6-month rolling window, that the Monday before you’re weekend opens up, then book that 7-day period to grab your weekend. Then later on, cancel the Monday through Thursday leg of your trip, leaving only your weekend days that you really wanted. This also works if you just want a few weekdays in the middle of the week as well.
Some State Parks Are Using Real-Time Cancellations
If you missed the 8am, 8:15am, and 8:30am windows, it might be worth checking in here and there, throughout the day, as some state parks are using real-time cancellations.
Use the Buddy System
If you’re camping with family or friends, its worth having multiple campers logged in on their individual computers or cell phones/tablets at 8am, to help grab your favorite site(s). You can even plan to grab multiple areas (Refugio, El Capitan, Carpenteria, etc.), and then once a certain desirable site is secure, release the others back into the wild.
Last Minute Bookings in Southern California
If you’re less set upon a particular site and just want to get out there, anywhere, then join the Facebook group SoCal Campsite Cancellations & Reservations (SCCR), which covers all sites south of Bakersfield. Every few hours, members will post their cancellations and cancellation details (campground, site number, and dates), so that you can be ready at 8am the next day to grab them. They’re not necessarily all last minute cancellations either. You’ll have people posting for the upcoming week, or upcoming month. But the point is, that you may score a campsite in the vacation season without having to take a time machine back six months to play the 8am click refresh and pray game (you’ll still have to play that game, just not six months in advance for a sweet spot).
Thanks for reading! I have other camping articles related to Prius Prime Plus Tent Camping:
Maximizing Fuel Efficiency When Car Camping with the Prius Prime
How To: Prius Prime Car Camping at Reserved Campgrounds
Toyota Prius Prime Battery Discharge Rate When Sleeping In Car With AC Running