CampNab-great results

[creativepart]

We're heading out next Sunday for 4 nights of camping to celebrate a birthday. We wanted to go to the Texas Gulf but it's spring break and everything everywhere we wanted to go was booked up (we're picky about where we camp).

We have another state park we really like and we visit regularly because it's not too far away (107 mi). They had sites so we reserved the 4-nights.

I had heard about online services that will scan campgrounds on reserveamerica and recreation.gov for cancellations. So, why not give 'em a try?

For $15 the CampNab app offered to search every 20 mins for available water front sites at Goose Island State Park in Rockport, TX. We've stayed there many times and it was our second choice for a Gulf vacation. They text and email you if something becomes available and sure enough today, one week before leaving, I got a text to "HURRY" and grab a newly available Bayfront campsite. Which I did.

I'd call that a pretty decent result for this new kind of service.

They only can work with campgrounds on national online reservation systems like reserveamerica and recreation.gov. But that covers a lot of state park systems and national forest, national recreation, national monument, and national park campgrounds.

If you're interested to giving them a try - they have one-time use accounts (which is what I used) and monthly/yearly accounts, too.

https://campnab.com/r/zjnwtp

[creativepart]

I looked further into their FAQ to find out what campgrounds they can provide service for. Here's the result of that:

We started with parks in British Columbia, as we live here—and initially made this service so we could find campsite openings for our families. We added Ontario Parks, shortly after as we have family members out that way. Since then, we also added Canada’s National Parks (because how could we not?).

Our campsite availability checker scans areas managed by recreation.gov (America) and Reserve America. We’re able to scan National Parks in the United States for canceled reservations.

We also monitor availabilities at state parks in Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

More recently, we added service for Tacoma Public Utilities, Nova Scotia Parks, and Alberta’s Provincial Parks. As we add jurisdictions, we’ll note them in our newsfeed.

[DavidM]

Interesting, but how can they know which sites are waterfront? With some minimal exceptions, neither Reserve America or Recreation.gov directly indicates sites that are water front.

Here in the NE we almost exclusively camp at water front campsites, but that is a result of previously visiting those campgrounds, driving through the campground and noting which sites are nice water front and marking up a paper campground map.

I suppose the app could look at the online campground map and determine if it was waterfront by the geometry. But it isn't easy when you are eyeballing the map so I have a hard time seeing how a computer can do it better. Also does the app accept RV length criteria? Edit: Yes the website says it does.

And if the app finds one that meets your criterion, but when you go to the booking site it isn't what you want, will they keep looking?

But if it really works, I am all for it, just skeptical.

David

[creativepart]

The campground has multiple named sections. One section is named "Bayfront" So, that's how they do it.

You have a choice when you set up your "scan" for this campground: Bayfront, Wooded Area or Anywhere in the Campground.

If you think about it, most campgrounds have named sections and they set up the scan to look for those sections. Sure, they can't know what the view is from each site. But they can get you the area you want and if you don't want to take that spot, then don't.

With the "pay as you go" service that I used you only get one shot, one text. If I wanted them to keep looking I would have had to pay another $15 and set up another scan. They actually have 3-levels of pay as you go: $10 to search every hour, $15 to search every 20 min and $20 to search every 5 min.

Here's the setup there are other choices I did not add to the images below:

[DavidM]

Well, if the only waterfront selection is Bayfront or not, then I don't think it will work for NE campgrounds. There are no bays (except maybe on Lake Champlain and the Atlantic Coast) and even if there were, the campgrounds don't designate camping that way.

I have never, ever been not able to find a campable campsite for me but finding one of a few nice water front sites is tough. One campground in the Catskills, N-S Lake, has all of its waterfront sites except for a random few, pretty well booked up from opening day until after Labor Day. But there are lots of interior, wooded sites available.

So, I think I will pass on Campnab.

David

[creativepart]

You understand that the reason it says "Bayfront" is because that is the name of that campground within the park? It's not like the app will only look for the term Bayfront. The choices are simply whatever the Park calls their separate named camping areas.

If you search for a site in a Park that has, say, a named campground that is called "River Campground" and another named camping area named "Mountain View campground" or whatever the names of the campgrounds those will be the choices.

But if you don't have problems getting sites where you want them then it's of no use to you.

This is why I tried the pay-as-you-go plan and just wanted to try it.

Recently, we were in Tucson and some friends had reservations at Catalina State Park. We wanted to join them for a couple of days. But when I checked the campground they were in it was all booked up. So, every day after 1pm I would check their online reservation service to see if there were any cancellations. On day four of checking every day, multiple times a day, I got a spot in their campground. I didn't know of this app then. Had I known I could have saved myself a lot of work checking every day.

So, to me this is a great find - but we all camp and RV our own ways.

[karj]

Hi all,

I hope it’s OK that I post here. I just saw a couple of points I could speak to (I’m one of the people working on Campnab) and thought I’d make some notes.

First off, I’m glad to hear that the app helped you find some campsites. We love hearing that!

Pay-per-use (PPU) scans don’t send just one alert. A PPU scan will keep monitoring the park you’re interested in and sending alerts whenever there’s a match for your search criteria.

If you’re alerted to a site that you want, go ahead and book it. If it’s already gone, or not suitable, just disregard it. You’ll receive alerts for any new ones that come up.

Pay-per-use scans run right up to the day you set as your preferred arrival date. Scans on a membership keep running until your arrival date, or until you cancel your plan. If you no longer want a scan to run, you can pause/delete it from your Scans page.

Our system doesn’t offer filtering for only waterfront campsites. That said, site-specific filtering does allow you to identify the exact campsites you’re interested in. To set one up, create a scan from our homepage as you normally would. When you get to campground selection, click “Specific sites” to choose the campsites you wish to monitor.

I hope the above is helpful. All the best!

Eric

[creativepart]

Hey Eric,
I just today found out that my "scan" was continuing to work.

When I got my first scan notice I quickly booked the site - but we were not thrilled with the site that was available. I figured, "oh well, better than nothing."

Then just an hour ago this morning I got another notice of a terrific spot just became available. So, I grabbed that one. Funny thing. To reserve the 2nd spot I had to cancel the first reservation - the State Park's reservation system wouldn't allow two reservations with the same Park Pass number.

And, then sure enough, a few minutes after reserving the new site I got a message that another site was now open... but it was the site I had just cancelled.

I'm liking this service and can see myself using it frequently. We've just started planning our May trip - a 5-week trip. We were going to go to Michigan again but decided to save miles and gas to check out Arkansas around the "mountains" in the Northwest part of the state. We visited Hot Springs last year and wanted to see more of the area north of there.

We've selected a handful of the best State Parks in the area and I'll be surprised if we don't have a tough time getting a reservation at these parks because they are super popular.

[karj]

Nice! Glad that you’ve found another couple of campsites since the first alert!

It’s a good thing that the park asks you to cancel your first reservation before booking another for the same dates. This helps ensure that others have a chance at booking those campsites—which helps get more people out camping. :-)

Your 5-week trip sounds awesome! We’re busiest with Campnab during the spring and summer, so, we find it hard to get away for that long. As such, most of our trips end up being little weekend getaways. That said, I’d love to take a longer trip like you are!

If you ever find yourself not getting alerts, feel free to reach out to us through the chat tool on our site. I’m happy to look over scans and offer tips on how to get the most out of them.

Have fun out there!

[DavidM]

"Our system doesn’t offer filtering for only waterfront campsites. That said, site-specific filtering does allow you to identify the exact campsites you’re interested in. To set one up, create a scan from our homepage as you normally would. When you get to campground selection, click “Specific sites” to choose the campsites you wish to monitor."

Well, that is helpful and probably as good as you can do. I will try it on one of the campgrounds we visit with maybe a half dozen water front sites that I can identify from my previous visits and the campground map.

Thanks, David

[karj]

Hey David,

One quick tip: If you like to stay at the same park, the Copy Scan function can be useful. Just create the scan you want with the specific campsites selected.

Later, you can go to the Scans panel, find that scan, and click Copy Scan. This’ll duplicate the scan with the campsites you previously selected preloaded. You can then just change the date to the new one you want to scan for.

It’s not a big deal, but it might save you a few steps.

:-)

[Marine359]

So when does spring break start and end? We were originally planning to camp Galveston beach area on our homeward leg to NC from CA next week. I’m guessing that won’t be possible.

[karj]

I think spring break varies based on location. My kids are in grade school (in Canada) and they have March 12 – 27 off. Meanwhile my wife teaches at a Canadian university and their reading break was back in February.

A quick search for spring break in the US seems to indicate dates ranging from March 12 – 26 for most colleges. That said, this varies based on the school.

[creativepart]

The South has what is known as a "rolling spring break." All along the Gulf Coast different schools schedule different weeks for Spring Break and this takes about a month to roll through.

In Texas, it officially starts this week and generally ends around mid-April or Easter depending on when Easter falls. Which this year is the more common mid-April time frame.

Also, this is still prime time for Snowbirds or Winter Texans. They usually arrive after Thanksgiving and leave after Easter.

As will camping everywhere - weekends are the worst.