Re: Yosemite campground reservation site this morning

When I saw a couple of months ago that the reservation site that does most Federal campgrounds in the U.S. was re-doing their site I said to myself, "Oh no". And I was right. What a mess. Sites that were already taken were still listed as available. If you wanted to refresh the available sites page it took you back about 4 pages and you had to re-enter your dates. By that time you could kiss goodbye to the chance of landing the better sites. Then 45 minutes after the page opened (pretty much after everything was taken) all of a sudden all the Lower Pines were listed as available. After about 5 minutes that was fixed. I grabbed a site for three nights and when it went to the page to finalize it showed one night. 41 and 38 showed available for about the first 1/2 hour but they actually were already taken. Oh, please bring back the previous site; it was so much more user friendly and easier to navigate!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/2018 04:19PM by mtn man.

Oh man. If the older site was easier, this is a real mess. Recreation.gov simply isn't set up to help people get a campsite near where they want to be...

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It sucked

Actually I think 41 and 38 were still available. The message at the top was different than the others. It was like so many people clicked on those sites that they were put out of action. The message said try again later. I did keep clicking on them. First 41 finally got reserved and the regular message appeared, then 10-15 minutes later 38 got reserved.

45 popped up briefly later but got reserved by the next refresh.

What is bad is that you can not go look back and forth at the other campgrounds easily

The map is useless now, also. Before, it was easy to set the available sites because they were marked blue. Now, they're all the same. I also noticed that listing the campsites according to availability did not actually list them according to availability. I can't believe they've made the difficult process of getting a campsite in Yosemite even much more difficult now.

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this is ominous news

The new reservation site is absolutely terrible. They have so many mistakes and omissions that it is ridiculous. Most of the campgrounds no longer have campsite photos and the maps suck. It was by shear luck that I was able to get a week long site in Lower Pines in May. The new contractor for Recreation.gov has a Facebook page and the list of complaints posted there is long. If we hope for any improvement folks need to post specific, detailed points for fixing the website reservations.

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shaunsmomo
The new reservation site is absolutely terrible. They have so many mistakes and omissions that it is ridiculous. Most of the campgrounds no longer have campsite photos and the maps suck. It was by shear luck that I was able to get a week long site in Lower Pines in May. The new contractor for Recreation.gov has a Facebook page and the list of complaints posted there is long. If we hope for any improvement folks need to post specific, detailed points for fixing the website reservations.

I have been trying to book a campsite for the past several days and it says there are some available but you cannot book. It is like the button is broken... So annoying.
Perhaps there are not any available anyway... but it is frustrating when they show available and then you can't book it. This is for late March.

Did you get as far as entering your credit card information or did the failure happen before that point?

Before the credit card---

Assuming you are attempting an Upper Pines reservation (all sites in Lower and North Pines are temporarily unavailable), there are sites available for late March. I was able to get all the way to the final button push (Authorize payment) for a 3 night stay. Perhaps try a different browser. Another option...Call the reservation in - 877-444-6777. Depending on the time of day, the wait time can be atrocious.

i'm surprised you have to get online this time of year to get a campsite, in years past i just drove up and got one real easy, few people there, has it changed THAT much?

Upper Pines sites are readily available this time of year (Gov't shutdown notwithstanding). lilagray is looking for a late March visit when sites become less available and online reservations are advised.

i don't expect you to know a perfect guess, but what would be the chances of me getting a site this week (one car, one person). i only live 3 hrs away, so it wouldn't be the end of the world if i got there and not spots left. what i am worried about though is if there are no restrooms.

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lilagray
I have been trying to book a campsite for the past several days and it says there are some available but you cannot book. It is like the button is broken... So annoying.
Perhaps there are not any available anyway... but it is frustrating when they show available and then you can't book it. This is for late March.

Which campground?

in the Valley, i would expect only Upper Pines open during the winter.

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forrestranger
in the Valley, i would expect only Upper Pines open during the winter.

Camp 4 is also open in the winter.

Upper Pines.

It will show several sites available (late March, not now) and when you try to book... nothing. Buttons do not work. I will try to call but not sure with shutdown. It is very frustrating.

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lilagray
Upper Pines.

It will show several sites available (late March, not now) and when you try to book... nothing. Buttons do not work. I will try to call but not sure with shutdown. It is very frustrating.

Interesting. I am able to reserve any available site at any time. Specifically, site 40, 4days, March 19th-23rd. Have you tried a different browser?

has anyone been up there very recently? i just saw on TV how there is human waste big time. why in the world would they leave the park open, but not the restrooms? ridiculous!

The restrooms in Upper Pines are open and serviced, thanks to cooperation within the NPS, concessionaire, vendors, volunteers etc. Likewise in Camp 4 and most Aramark facilities. Not the case at most other YNP locations that would otherwise be accessible.
Also, an official NPS announcement:
"Wawona Road (Highway 41) Restrictions
Park rangers will screen incoming vehicles at South Entrance from 9 am to 6 pm, allowing only those with a reservation for lodging or camping inside the park to proceed. All others will be asked to enter Yosemite via Highway 140. Local residents and guests staying in Yosemite Valley, Yosemite West, and Wawona will be allowed to enter via South Entrance.

Visitors planning to visit the Yosemite Ski and Snowboard Area will be asked to enter the park via Highway 140."
https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/shutdown.htm



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/2019 10:23AM by troutwild.

Was just as bad yesterday 1/15. Sites showing available weren't. Strange error messages like " your request timed out" after 5 seconds after hitting the book bu
tton. Some sites showed available for over an hour and then were changed to "x" instead of "r" for reserved. Then there were the error messages saying could not complete your reservation because the fee amount was not available.

I just saw this thread and don't know what to say. Prior to Dec 15 I logged into Rec.gov in preparation for some May reservations in Upper Pines. I noticed the change in format and spent some time learning how it worked. I didn't run into any problems at all while practicing. On the morning of Dec 15 I logged in early, prepared for my attempt, and closely watched the time. The second 7:00 hit, I pounced and immediately got my requested site for May 5-10. I paid the fees and finished the process with no trouble whatsoever. Even had not trouble getting my senior discount.

I don't quite understand how I got through it so easily given the obvious problems noted here. [Insert head scratching emoji here.]

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JohnC
I don't quite understand how I got through it so easily given the obvious problems noted here. [Insert head scratching emoji here.]

Perhaps it was luck.

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eeek

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JohnC
I don't quite understand how I got through it so easily given the obvious problems noted here. [Insert head scratching emoji here.]

Perhaps it was luck.

Well, I had my site picked out for the exact dates I wanted. Right on time I hit enter and immediately got confirmation I had the site. Other than paying, I did nothing else. So I guess it could have been luck. But a few days before, I tried all kinds of things to prepare for not getting my site. I selected a lot of different sites and dates in April that were available and had no issue with any of them although I obviously did not complete any of those transactions. FWIW, I just double checked that my reservation is still confirmed in the system.

Hopefully the bugs get fixed. I know the anxiety of trying to book a site under duress. Not fun at all.

mtn man...exactly as you described! There were also messages that there were 0 requests for a site (?)

John C...some one has to be lucky! (My sister...two of her sons...got two side by side sites for a different date than I was trying for. She was panicky the night before when so many sites were x'd out after May 28.)

My biggest problem Dec 15 was that the computer clock was two seconds faster than the phone. Jan 15 I went by the phone time, but still no luck

I did get reservations for Pinnacles and Smoky Mountain successfully though

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hikerchick395
mtn man...exactly as you described! There were also messages that there were 0 requests for a site (?)

John C...some one has to be lucky! (My sister...two of her sons...got two side by side sites for a different date than I was trying for. She was panicky the night before when so many sites were x'd out after May 28.)

My biggest problem Dec 15 was that the computer clock was two seconds faster than the phone. Jan 15 I went by the phone time, but still no luck

I did get reservations for Pinnacles and Smoky Mountain successfully though

Well, my PC clock was 3 seconds faster than the rec.gov clock. So, I had to do my own count without getting too anxious and going early. Fortunately, it worked out well. :-)

recreation.gov has a clock?

Recreation.gov uses this clock:

https://time.gov/widget/widget.html



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/2019 01:28PM by troutwild.

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hikerchick395
recreation.gov has a clock?

Yes, as noted above. it's also linked somewhere in the instructions on how to make a reservation. It helps very much to click in within a second or two of them going live.

Does anyone know for sure what time the sites become available? For example, I called recreation.gov to ask about Whitney exit permits, and was told 10:00 a.m. eastern time. But when I logged on before that time, one spot was already taken, and I was able to obtain the rest -before 10:00 a.m. eastern time!

A lot of the problems could be fixed if the NPS actually did something to stop that dude from booking up 100s of reservations at a time and then selling them on the secondary market.

(Yes, he's still doing this. No, the ID requirements haven't helped.)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/2019 12:19PM by abetterpitchfork.