Travel & Day Trips

When Do California Park Camping Reservations Open?

Campgrounds at state parks and national parks in California can be highly competitive. Often, camping fees are minimal, and campsites are well situated and well stock.

California hotels–especially in popular destinations–can be exorbitantly expensive. That makes it hard to find an inexpensive place to stay while you visit California’s popular tourist destinations, from the Golden Gate Bridge to Legoland or the San Diego Zoo.

Likewise, many of California’s most beautiful scenic areas are very remote and rugged. There may not be traditional accommodations nearby to these pristine, national locations.

That’s certainly true of places like Death Valley and many locations towards the southern portions of California. But it’s also true of popular destinations like Big Sur.

Often, the sane undeveloped beauty that makes California special also means you won’t find hotels–or even AirBNBs–nearby.

Why is it so hard to find campsites in California?

All these factors combine to make campsites a popular alternative for California travel.

It’s so hard to find campsites in California because there’s a large amount of competition for a limited number of sites, the campsites are an inexpensive alternative to traditional hotels and vacation rentals, and many rugged locations only have campsites, with no other nearby lodging options.

tent near cliff
Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh on Pexels.com

When do California Campsite Reservations Open?

Complicating things further is that different parks in California are managed by different agencies. Some are National Parks, which are managed by the Federal government. Yosemite National Park is a perfect example. Others are state parks, managed by California itself.

This means that each park’s campsites have different requirements, and open registration dates at different times.

To simplify the process of finding campsites in California and nationwide, camping website the Dyrt recently compiled a detailed list of National and State parks in California with campsites, as well as the number of months in advance that those campsites open for reservations.

It’s a little silly that you need to sit at a computer, waiting to reserve a campsite as if you’re purchasing Taylor Swift tickets! But with the Dyrt reporting that demand for campsites has increased 500% over the last year, that’s the world we live in!

California Campsite Reservation Opening Dates

National Parks:
Joshua Tree National Park6 months in advance
Lassen Volcanic National Park6 months in advance
Pinnacles National Park6 months in advance
Redwood National Park6 months in advance
Yosemite National Park5 months in advance on the 15th
State Parks:
Ahjumawi Lava Springs State ParkNo reservations
Andrew Molera State Park6 months in advance
Angel Island State Park6 months in advance
Anza-Borrego Desert State ParkNo reservations
Bolsa Chica Beach State ParkFirst come, first served
Bothe Napa Valley State Park6 months in advance
Butano State Park6 months in advance
Calaveras Big Trees State Park6 months in advance
Castle Crags State Park6 months in advance
Castle Rock State Park6 months in advance
Caswell Memorial State Park6 months in advance
Chino Hills State Park6 months in advance
Clear Lake State Park6 months in advance
Crystal Cove State Park6 months in advance
Cuyamaca State Park6 months in advance
D L Bliss State Park6 months in advance
Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park6 months in advance
Donner Memorial State Park6 months in advance
El Capitan Beach State Park6 months in advance
Emerald Bay State Park6 months in advance
Fremont Ford State Park6 months in advance
Fremont Peak State Park6 months in advance
Gaviota State Park6 months in advance
George J Hatfield State Park6 months in advance
Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park6 months in advance
Grover Hot Springs State Park6 months in advance
Heart Bar State Park6 months in advance
Hendy Woods State Park6 months in advance
Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park6 months in advance
Henry Willard Coe State Park6 months in advance
Humboldt Lagoons State ParkFirst come, first served
Humboldt Redwoods State Park6 months in advance
Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park6 months in advance
Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park6 months in advance
Kern River State Park6 months in advance
Leo Carrillo State Park6 months in advance
Limekiln State Park6 months in advance
MacKerricher State Park6 months in advance
Malibu Creek State Park6 months in advance
Manchester Beach State Park6 months in advance
McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park6 months in advance
McConnell State Park6 months in advance
Mendocino Woodlands State ParkGroup camping only
Mitchell Caverns State Park6 months in advance
Montana De Oro State Park6 months in advance
Morro Bay State Park6 months in advance
Mount Diablo State Park6 months in advance
Mount San Jacinto State Park6 months in advance
Mount Tamalpais State Park6 months in advance
Navarro River Redwoods State ParkFirst come, first served
Negro Bar State ParkGroup camping only
Palomar Mountain State Park6 months in advance
Patrick’s Point State Park6 months in advance
Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park6 months in advance
Plumas Eureka State Park6 months in advance
Portola State Park6 months in advance
Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park6 months in advance
Refugio Beach State Park6 months in advance
Richardson Grove State Park6 months in advance
Russian Gulch State Park6 months in advance
Saddleback Butte State ParkFirst come, first served
Salt Point State Park6 months in advance
Samuel P Taylor State Park6 months in advance
San Simeon Beach State Park6 months in advance
Sinkyone Wilderness State ParkFirst come, first served
Sugar Pine Point State Park6 months in advance
Sugarloaf Ridge State Park6 months in advance
Tahoe State Park6 months in advance
Turlock Lake State Park6 months in advance
Van Damme State Park6 months in advance

Thomas Smith

Thomas Smith is a food and travel photographer and writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. His photographic work routinely appears in publications including Food and Wine, Conde Nast Traveler, and the New York Times and his writing appears in IEEE Spectrum, SFGate, the Bold Italic and more. Smith holds a degree in Cognitive Science (Neuroscience) and Anthropology from the Johns Hopkins University.

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