CAMPSITE AND TOUR RESERVATIONS
For the 1998 camping season, the National Park Reservation Service (NPRS) successfully handled more than 500,000 camping and tour reservations by phone and by mail for 1.3 million visitors worldwide. Beginning in January of 1999, the NPRS system was expanded to allow camping and tour reservations to be made through a secure Internet site (http://reservations.nps.gov/). The web site was also intended to provide valuable park information, including camping and tour availability, cost, directions, and information on facilities and regulations. In order to ensure that all park visitors have equal access to the NPRS, the hours for making Internet reservations are the same as established call center hours--10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. (EST).
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The Need for a Reservations System
The National Park Service centralized reservation system was originally introduced in 1979, at which time it only handled bookings for Yosemite National Park. As camping at national parks became a more and more popular activity, other parks were added to the system. By the mid 1980's, 16 parks were on-line, and another four were added in 1997. Due to a termination of its contract with DESTINET in late 1997, the National Park Service temporarily suspended its camping reservations system, before launching a new camping reservations system in March of 1998 with Biospherics Inc.
In October of 1998, the NPRS announced two changes to become effective on January 1st of 1999: 1) reservations for camping and tours at the national park sites could be made up to five months in advance; and 2) staggered start dates would be used in an effort to provide sufficient access to reservation lines. In late1998, the National Park Service also initiated a three-month pilot program, offering Internet reservations at two of the NPRS parks -- Everglades National Park in Florida and Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky.
At present, the National Park Service contract with Biospherics includes a total of
26 sites. Campground
reservation for Yosemite can be made on the 15th of each month, while campground reservations for all
other parks can be made on 5th of each month. Reservations for tours only
(Mammoth Cave NP, Carlsbad Caverns NP, and Frederick Douglas NHS) can be made on
the 25th of each
month. The following parks are included in the reservation system:
- Acadia National Park (Maine)
- Assateague Island National Seashore (Maryland/Virginia)
- Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area (Tennessee)
- Cape Hatteras National Seashore (North Carolina)
- Carlsbad Caverns National Park (New Mexico)*
- Channel Islands National Park (California)
- Death Valley National Park (California)
- Everglades National Park (Florida)
- Fort Hunt National Park (Virginia)
- Frederick Douglass National Historic Site (Washington, DC)*
- Glacier National Park (Montana)
- Grand Canyon National Park (Arizona)
- Great Smoky Mountains National Park (North Carolina/Tennessee)
- Greenbelt National Park (Maryland)
- Gulf Islands National Seashore (Florida)
- Joshua Tree National Park (California)
- Katmai National Park and Preserve (Alaska)
- Mammoth Cave National Park (Kentucky)*
- Mount Rainier National Park (Washington)
- Rocky Mountain National Park (Colorado)
- Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (California)
- Shenandoah National Park (Virginia)
- Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (Michigan)
- Whiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area (California)
- Yosemite National Park (California)**
- Zion National Park (Utah)
The call center for Biospherics, Inc. includes the following numbers:
800-365-CAMP - general reservation line
800-436-PARK - Yosemite reservations
800-967-CAVE - tour reservations
800-388-2733 - customer service
888-530-9796 - TDD
301-722-1257 - international callers
Reservations at Other Federal Campsites
Advance reservations for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and USDA Forest Service facilities nationwide can be made through the National Recreation Reservation Service (NRRS). As the nation's largest recreation reservation service in North America, the NRRS™ makes available 49,500 campsites in more than 1,700 federal campgrounds. It is managed by Park.Net Inc, a call center operation based in upstate New York. In addition to campsites, users of the system can reserve cabins, lookout towers, group shelters and other federal facilities. Phone reservations began in October 1998 and a web-based reservation system is planned for the Spring of 1999.
To reserve a federal campsite, call toll-free 1-877-444-6777, any day of the week, between 10:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. (EST). Reservations for individual campsites can be made up to 240 days in advance; groups can book up to 360 days in advance, and Alaskan cabins can be reserved 180 days in advance.
The National Recreation Reservation Service contact phone numbers are listed
below:
877-444-6777 - main number
877-833-6777 - TDD
518-885-3639 - international callers