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[Yosemite]

Online Reservations Advice Needed

Discussion of camping and road-accessible campgrounds in and near Yosemite National Park

Moderators: Wickett, dan

Online Reservations Advice Needed

Postby mountainmama » Sat Feb 19, 2011 9:44 pm

How do I get an online campground reservation?! Any tips out there? I tried last Feb 15th and was shut out within seconds. I had my mouse on Book It! and it was full, so was my second and third choice and by 7:01 when I went to look at everything, the entire valley floor was booked! Argh! So my only hope is March 15th, and then no hope! I have a walk-in site at Hodgen Meadows. My problem is that I'm with my two small children, or else I would be backpacking! So I need something more solid than a FCFS.
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Re: Online Reservations Advice Needed

Postby dan » Sun Feb 20, 2011 12:06 am

Don't know what to say about the quick shutouts. April 15th allows reservations for August 15-September 15th and it's still nice. In Sept. it's less crowded, although Yosemite Falls is pretty dry by then.
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Postby Wickett » Sun Feb 20, 2011 7:14 pm

You have to start hitting book before they are released. I start about a minute out and click it constantly, that is what everyone else is doing.
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Postby mountainmama » Mon Feb 21, 2011 12:41 am

so you don't have to refresh the page first? maybe refresh was our problem...my husband's idea! ugh!
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Postby hotrod4x5 » Mon Feb 21, 2011 9:52 am

You also need to try again at like 7:07 because when a person starts the reservation process, the site is held for 7 or 8 minutes, so I have been told that at about 7 or 8 minutes after 7, some sites will open as people change their minds or their partner gets sites and they don't need to, etc.
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Postby Wickett » Mon Feb 21, 2011 4:36 pm

mountainmama wrote:so you don't have to refresh the page first? maybe refresh was our problem...my husband's idea! ugh!


No refresh, just keep hitting book. Even if you are doing it right it is still the luck of the draw as to who gets it.
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Postby Nacci » Tue Mar 01, 2011 8:15 am

Set up multiple computers. You're on one and your husband is on one. If one of you is successful, stop. If one encounters trouble, the other keeps trying.
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Postby Wickett » Fri Mar 04, 2011 9:41 am

Oh yeah one other thing that just got me, if you have previously booked with your profile already in the last year, you will not be able to book again, it doesn't tell you until the sites are gone!
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Postby hotrod4x5 » Fri Mar 04, 2011 3:18 pm

Wickett wrote:Oh yeah one other thing that just got me, if you have previously booked with your profile already in the last year, you will not be able to book again, it doesn't tell you until the sites are gone!
What? you can't make additional reservations?
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Postby Wickett » Sat Mar 05, 2011 11:16 am

One week per year... I was not happy. And they wait to inform you until after the sites are released... So that is why I did not get one. My wife and kids are flying out for our last Yosemite hurrah for a while, military transfer, and I didn't get a site... I am watching recreation.gov like a hawk but I don't think that it is going to happen.
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Postby fluxfluxa » Sun Mar 06, 2011 10:11 pm

Wickett wrote:Oh yeah one other thing that just got me, if you have previously booked with your profile already in the last year, you will not be able to book again, it doesn't tell you until the sites are gone!


Yeah, there is a 7 day camping limit in Yosemite Valley from May 1-September 14. If you booked the previous summer, you are ok.
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Postby justin_ruch1180 » Thu Mar 10, 2011 5:56 pm

Never ever click refresh!! Learned that the hard way!!!
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Any luck yesterday?

Postby JFK1965 » Wed Mar 16, 2011 8:28 am

Hoping that you got a spot with yesterday's onsale. We almost always get shut out from our first choice at 7AM but then get ones that dropped out up to 15 minutes later.
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Postby mountainmama » Wed Mar 16, 2011 9:34 pm

I did get a site, my first choice too. My first choice was something I thought looked 'gettable', inside loop, Upper Pines. But I was SO excited! My husband was at work on his high speed connection and didn't get anything.

Can't wait!
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Postby Nacci » Thu Mar 17, 2011 7:04 am

Congratulations! Have a wonderful time. Yosemite is so much fun with kids (and with adults as well!)
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