You are here

You can see the site before you book it!

What do you use the internet for?
Until about five or six years ago when I wanted to book a campsite I picked up the phone and called a toll-free number or the park itself.
Often the person helping me on the other end of the line could help me pick out a site to meet our needs.
Then came internet booking. At first it would show you a map of the campgrounds and which sites were available on the dates you were interested in.
But in the past few years the information shown on the internet has grown to the point where you can, in many cases, see the actually campsite before you choose to book it.
On the Sunday we sipped on a cup of coffee, laying in bed, using our smart phone and a computer tablet, we looked at several loops in Custer State Park in South Dakota. On one device we had the map showing which sites were available and on the other we pulled up a page that had specs on each site and when you clicked a specific site a photo of it would come up.
While it spoils the surprise factor of booking blind, it also avoids disappointment if the site was not condusive to our needs.
Many government run parks offer this feature on their booking sites now. However, if you can not find the park you are looking for there are other ones out there like www.campsitephotos.com. I even rode my bike from site to site and took photos of a park for that site so others could see what I saw.
–Until then, Ken