How to Snag a Campsite Near a National Park

Find the perfect nearby campground for a scenic stay

two people sitting on foldable chairs at a campsite in the wilderness

If scoring a campsite in a national park is a challenge, consider a national park-adjacent venue such as land managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Check out some additional options listed below.

Nathan Bilow/Getty Images

Melanie Haiken,

AARP

Published July 09, 2025

It was a Sunday night in October when my friend Katie, looking ahead to a milestone birthday, told me that what she’d really like to do was realize a long-held dream of camping in Zion National Park.

The problem? Her birthday was a week away, October is peak season for Utah’s national parks, and the last-minute nature of our inspiration meant we lacked a reservation. That posed a serious challenge, given that 56 percent of campers reported experiencing difficulty finding a campsite in 2024, up from 10.6 percent in 2019, according to data compiled by the Dyrt, a camping app.

That knowledge didn’t stop us, though, and after a few hours of poring over maps and researching nearby options, we’d hatched a strategy we thought would work. And sure enough, one week later we were toasting Katie’s next decade over a crackling fire in one of the handful of free, highly coveted U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) sites tucked into the cliffs along North Creek, just a 20-minute drive from Zion’s west entrance.

Since then, I’ve camped with Katie, my daughters and my fiancé (and our dogs!) in serene landscapes within an hour’s drive of Arches, Yosemite, Glacier, Lassen and many other national parks. And we’re in good company among those of our age group: 79.1 percent of campers over 55 plan to camp in or near a national park, according to the Dyrt.

But with national park visitation at record levels — 2024 visitation topped 331 million — those campsites are harder to get every year, inspiring more of us to seek out campsites near, rather than within, national parks.

Here are my top tips for finding national park-adjacent campsites on short notice.

Look for national forest campgrounds near national parks

Most national parks are surrounded by adjacent national forests, which protect additional resources such as watersheds, wildlife corridors and wilderness areas. This makes U.S. Forest Service campgrounds an ideal alternative to those within national park boundaries, especially as many are not on the government reservation system and operate on a first-come, first-served basis.

The writer has found many alternatives to camping inside a national park, including this lakeside campsite in the Sierra National Forest.

Melanie Haiken

Some national parks make information on these campgrounds readily available to visitors. For example, Mount Rainier National Park provides a list of 17 Forest Service campgrounds surrounding the park, while the Custer Gallatin National Forest has 14 campgrounds within 35 miles of the north, northeast or west park entrances of Yellowstone National Park.

Note that Forest Service websites and maps may not be up to date, and it’s always best to double-check with the nearest Forest Service ranger station before finalizing your plans.

Secret tip for claiming first-come, first-served campsites: Arrive at the campground before noon, the hour when departing campers are most often required to vacate.

Take advantage of dispersed camping

Also called boondocking or dry camping, dispersed camping is the practice of camping on public lands, most typically national forests and land managed by the BLM, in areas without developed campgrounds.

The term “dry camping” refers to the fact that dispersed campers don’t have access to amenities such as water, toilets or garbage pickup. This puts a premium on preparation, particularly for tent campers. You’ll need to carry your own water (and plenty of it!) and bring a portable camping toilet or tools for proper disposal of waste.

Because dispersed campsites aren’t equipped with picnic tables, fireplaces or bear-proof cupboards, tent campers will be most comfortable bringing equipment such as portable tables, camp chairs and a grill if they plan to cook over a campfire.

Many national forest and BLM websites include information on areas where dispersed camping is permitted, but the best option is to call the ranger station or BLM office for the area you intend to visit. Some popular dispersed camping areas are listed on apps such as Campendium, the Dyrt, iOverlander and US Public Lands, which is available as an iPhone or Android phone-based app.

foldable chairs near a river in the woods

Camp chairs sit by the Hood River in a forest service campground in Oregon.

Melanie Haiken

Find your own private Idaho — or Montana, Utah, Maine or West Virginia

Over the past decade, there’s been a movement toward creating camping opportunities on private land either on a fee or membership basis. You can find private campsites listed on websites and apps like Campendium, Hipcamp and Vanly, which function much like home-sharing sites. Some hosts welcome tent campers and provide portable toilets, tables and firepits, while others can accommodate only self-contained van and RV campers.

For an annual membership fee, Harvest Hosts links members with a roster of RV campsites on farm, ranch, winery and brewery properties. Boondockers Welcome, now owned by Harvest Hosts, lists RV parking options on residential properties hosted by fellow members, many of whom provide access to hookups.

Discover hotels with on-property campsites or RV parking

When the Field Station hotel in Moab, Utah, opened in 2023, the accommodations included an unusual option: van life posts featuring hookups, hot showers and access to the hotel’s pool and Wi-Fi.

The hotel joins a trend in which hotels and lodges add not only van sites but even tent sites to their property grounds. A-Lodge in Boulder, Colorado, and the LOGE Westport in Westport, Washington, are other examples.

Stay overnight in a store, hotel parking lot or rest stop — in a pinch

While this is no one’s favorite option, it can come in handy if your vehicle is equipped for sleeping and you just need an overnight stop. Promoted by RV owners’ groups through a long-standing tradition known as the Good Neighbor Policy, some hotels and chain stores like Walmart, Cabela’s and Cracker Barrel allow RV parking in their lots.

Policies vary from business to business, so it’s always best to call ahead and ask the manager. Campers taking advantage of this good neighborliness are asked to stay one night only, be self-contained and maintain a pristine environment.

For road safety reasons, many states allow sleeping in cars at rest stops, with some, like California, Montana and Oregon, limiting stays to eight to 12 hours and more generous states, like Texas, permitting stays of up to 24 hours. Because of this variability, check state regulations before you consider this option.

Jump on last-minute cancellations

While you can still search for campsite cancellations on a per-campground basis, the recent advent of alert systems has improved this laborious process.

In 2024, recreation.gov, the platform that handles all bookable campgrounds within the national park system, added an availability alert feature that notifies you by email of cancellations in a specific campground.

For text alerts, the Campflare app monitors all campgrounds on recreation.gov and a growing number of state parks on a 24-hour basis. The Dyrt offers a fee-based alert service that monitors 4,000 sold-out campsites. Membership-based Canadian app Campnab monitors many American as well as Canadian parks, while Schnerp is specific to Canadian parks.

And when you get that text of an opening in Yellowstone’s Mammoth Campground or fall asleep dazzled by stars below the craggy silhouette of Lassen Peak, you can feel proud that you didn’t give up on your national park summer camping dream.

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San Francisco-based journalist Melanie Haiken writes about travel, science, health and the environment for dozens of publications including National Geographic, BBC, Condé Nast Traveler, CNN, Sierra and AARP. She shares her adventures and travel tips at Health-Conscious.Travel.com.

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