How to make your Campsite SelectionCampsite selection is an essential part of a great camping experience. It’s not only important to select the best campground, but also the actual site within the park. The best time to start is weeks or even months in advance - especially for holiday weekends. We have found the best resource is word of mouth…talk to your friends who are seasoned campers and find out their favorite spots. Don’t have any…hang out at the camping & RV supply store, everyone there has an opinion. Most of our campsite selection is within 150 miles of our home. We are very lucky to live an a state with some of the best parks in the nation and our state park campsites have the best facilities we have found so far. We will still venture out and travel from time to time, but we are busy people and most of our trips are on the weekends so we like to keep the mileage at a minimum. Another factor in choosing a campsite is your other interests. For us in the summer it is all about the lake (we take the boat with us). My husband is a big fisherman and we all enjoy swimming and water skiing (make that wakeboarding for the kids). There is one place we like to go that has a campground with a sandy beach. This is great for my little nieces…they can play nearby and we can watch them from the campsite. Some parks also have a swimming pool and playground. We also like to go hiking, especially in the spring and fall when the weather is not so hot. We have found two locations that have fabulous trails with waterfalls and great hilltop vistas that make for great photography. One of these locations is so highly sought after for the Memorial Day weekend that we booked our site in October. Planning ahead is critical. The best resource is probably your own states website. Most all of them have links to the state parks. Another great resource is: www.recreation.gov. Both resources will have a key to let you know what facilities are available to help you with your campsite selection. They will specify what hook-ups are available at each site (water, electric, sewer etc.). Tent only sites can not be accessed with an RV, wilderness sites require you to hike to them. The websites usually have directions and a map of the campground with site numbers for each location. Print a copy of the map and take it with you. If you forget they generally have a copy at the check-in station. When we find a campground that we really like and know we will want to return, we walk around with the map in hand and mark on the map which site numbers we prefer. This is a valuable resource when you book your next camping trip. I have started a camping notebook that I keep all the maps with my notations, brochures from the campground and reservation information. I also keep the phone number of the check-in station for those times when we decide at the last minute to go camping. We have found that sometimes the website will show the campground to be booked but when we call they have a few spots available when someone has canceled a reservation. It is usually on a first come, first served basis but we have been able to get in.
Hope this helps with your campsite selection process. Maybe we’ll see you at the campground!
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