This is a little about reservations services, a little about online info, and also about trip planning, I've stuck it here in the "General" section.
My suggestion is to keep tabs on all the current conditions at campgrounds you plan to use, whether you have reservations or not. The websites aren't perfect, but are a start. Once in a while, I've phoned in advance if we've had questions, but it's been a long time since I've resorted to that.
Last year, on our May trip, we arrived at a US Forest Service campground, where the water had not yet been turned on for the season. We hadn't received any notice, even in the last reminder email, and the website had indicated water would be available. With our on-board fresh tank, and a habit of taking extra water, we were good - just barely. This year, the campground listing on recreation.gov has been updated to say water "June to September".
This year, the water system at our next destination is still not finished; I think this is season 3, at least, that they've worked on it, or planned to work on it. It seems like it was delayed in starting, too. When I made the reservation, no notice about not having water. A while later, I was working on trip stuff, and found a notice that no water would be available, so we bought 2 new 7-gallon Aquatainers (we needed them anyway). Then, the notice disappeared. Yesterday, I looked at our reservations, trying to amend that one to leave a day early, and the notice is back. We received the 1-month in advance reminder yesterday, and no word about lack of water. It will be interesting to see if we receive any notice about that, as we have about fire restrictions in the past. BTW, I couldn't figure out how to remove the extra night reservation, so gave up. I'll let the camp hosts know that we're leaving a night early when I check in.
My suggestion is to keep tabs on all the current conditions at campgrounds you plan to use, whether you have reservations or not. The websites aren't perfect, but are a start. Once in a while, I've phoned in advance if we've had questions, but it's been a long time since I've resorted to that.
Last year, on our May trip, we arrived at a US Forest Service campground, where the water had not yet been turned on for the season. We hadn't received any notice, even in the last reminder email, and the website had indicated water would be available. With our on-board fresh tank, and a habit of taking extra water, we were good - just barely. This year, the campground listing on recreation.gov has been updated to say water "June to September".
This year, the water system at our next destination is still not finished; I think this is season 3, at least, that they've worked on it, or planned to work on it. It seems like it was delayed in starting, too. When I made the reservation, no notice about not having water. A while later, I was working on trip stuff, and found a notice that no water would be available, so we bought 2 new 7-gallon Aquatainers (we needed them anyway). Then, the notice disappeared. Yesterday, I looked at our reservations, trying to amend that one to leave a day early, and the notice is back. We received the 1-month in advance reminder yesterday, and no word about lack of water. It will be interesting to see if we receive any notice about that, as we have about fire restrictions in the past. BTW, I couldn't figure out how to remove the extra night reservation, so gave up. I'll let the camp hosts know that we're leaving a night early when I check in.
