RVing The Parks | Top Tips For National Parks With RV Hookup Campsites

Outstanding information ...thank you!!

This article is very confusing. According to the Yellowstone website, Fishing Bridge campground is closed until 2020 for renovations. Under the "where can I camp" it does not give any info on where to find electric sites at the parks, just what kind of camping you want to do. You also show a picture of Shenandoah and there are no sites available there with hook ups. 

I would like to make a correction regarding the Bandy Creek Campgrounds in Big South Fork National Forest. Those sites with hook ups have both electric and water.

Mesa Verde National Park, Morefield Campground has 15 full hookup RV sites that require reservations.  I even got Wi-Fi there.

No, I disagree. It's not unfortunate that only 13 National Parks have hook ups. It's a blessing. The National Parks are their for the enjoyment of nature and all its glory. Not where's the 50 amp service and my cable connection. Enough already. Just camp outside the park, as you have seemed to have missed the whole point anyway. 

It's great that folks who want all the comforts of home have them on the road.  The parks generally can't accomodate your needs but commercial operations nearby are eager to.  Please stay there. The Park Service has enough maintenance backlog that available money should be spent on maintenance needs.   I think new capitol construction for huge campgrounds is unwarrented.

The biggest problem with national parks is not the lack of hookups since we can do without that if the weather is cool. The big problems are the sites haven't been updated since the 1960s.  We have a 30 ft 5th wheel even when they say there is a space available it is impossible to access due do low hanging limbs on the roads and tight overgrown corners preventing turns.  There is no organization in renting sites and usually the sites a small towed rv would fit in have a single tiny dome tent sitting in the middle of the site when plenty of tent sites are available.  In Olympic NP sites that would be workable have a curb placed across the site leaving too little room to get a trailer in.  Whenever we visit a NP we visit the campgrounds in our tow vehicle hoping for accessible sites but have not found one we ould get to if we did fit or large enough to fit in if we could tow to it.

If you have to tote your house with you when you travel then perhaps the "national park experience" (whatever that is) is not for you, and you should be staying outside the parks.  As I recall, vehicles with trailers or longer than 21 ft are not allowed on the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier.  I think that would be a good policy in all our national parks, both in the camp grounds and on the roads (some of these BIG rigs take up 3, 4 parking spots.).  Small RV's, vans, campers, sure, but not these monstrosities the size of a Grayhound bus.  As for me, I camp/sleep in my Honda Element (roof top tents are now a real option, too) for 2 to 5 nights and then get a motel room for a night.  

It's interesting that despite the reasons listed in the article (and the tons that weren't) that there are some people who have commented who just don't want campers - or very much of a camper - in the NPS. I've noticed this sentiment shared on other websites I've looked at recently too. My parents camped in tents when they were kids. We were in pop-ups when I was a kid. These days when the family group camps we're all in hard-sided campers. It makes a difference when you're grandmother is 94 to have a place to go when the rains and wind come. Or the heat. Or the bitter cold. Many of them will camp 2 weeks at a time at the COE campground nearby because they love sitting outside and being in nature. I don't mind taking a good ribbing from my friends that my family is "glamping". It's done in good humor and quite honestly it's the only way I can get my wife to come along when I try to expose the kids to the fun I had as a kid. There are ways to have primitive, water/electrical tent spots, and water/electrical/full hookup spots for RVs in the same park and still preserve the tent camping experience for those that want it, while at the same time allowing those that need/want a camper to experience the park too (I couldn't care less about cable/WiFi, etc. because the kids leave the electronics behind and we're outside unless the weather turns). We know families with 8 kids because they adopt. So we shouldn't allow their 35 foot RV in to experience the park? Are their tax dollars not good enough? Only those with 2-4 people that can fit into a tent or pop-up perhaps then? I'm all for preserving the natural experience of the parks. But tent camping in a park doesn't make you a good steward of the land anymore than owning an RV doesn't make me a good steward. It doesn't even get you that much closer to nature when we both could look at each other from our lawn chairs or go hiking down the same trails. Bringing the existing RV spots up to current specs for RVs, clearing out low-hanging branches, and adding some spots won't be the end of the NPS. I guess the point of this long comment is to ask that those opposed to the idea to try to stop thinking of RVs as invading the NPS (my term), and to start thinking more along the lines of welcoming your neighbors. That's what I think of when I think of my camping trips as a kid. That's what I want my kids to get out of it.

An item of equipment that every RV camper should have would be leveling blocks. I volunteer at a state park in Texas. Our RV sites are fairly level but not perfect. You would be surprised at how many people show up without any way to level their rig and then complain that the sites aren't perfect.

Hasn't it changed now, where everyone has to wait in line for a site at the ranger check-in station for each campground?

2 comments - I'm sitting in my RV in Zion National Park plugged into their electric, so this is another park with partial hook ups.

Secondly, most, if not all, of the full hook up sites are run by concessioners. This means that Access Passes, or other passea that give 50% off camping, may or may not be accepted. It also means you may have extra person fees and taxes on top of the camping rate. This is certainly true at Big Bend. 

I'm with the majority here, these nasty comments toward RV campers is just unnecessary and frankly hateful! Like others have said, those parks are for every citizen of this great nation, and NOT just tent campers. How rude and arrogant to even suggest that RV campers aren't entitled to the same enjoyment as everyone else! They pay taxes just like everyone else, which goes to support the NPS. Yet somehow, many here, are suggesting they aren't entitled to enjoy the same as tent campers. As others have suggested, there are many reasonable reasons for people to choose and RV over a tent or car camping. Some are medical reasons, some are due to age or simply preference. However, none of those matter, since regardless of what some snobby and arrogant people would like, EVERYONE is entitled to enjoy the NP's that every citizen owns and pays for through their tax dollars and fees! Don't like that, then camp in your backyard, and leave the rest of us to enjoy the beautiful NP's as we see fit. 

I'm a senior. I understand that for one flat fee a lifetime pass to all national parks can be aquired. Is this true? Who do i contact if so.

The desire for electricity is so that some of us have devices that have to be plugged in can still enjoy the outdoors.  I use a ventilator at night and I have an electric wheelchair.  

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just adding 20 amp service could eliminate need for generators and provide for basics, rates could be raised to provide more funds

If you take a camper to the parks just for the day can you park in the general parking area to see them? Or do you just have to drive through?

To Jim R.

The answer is genrally yes for the day, but not for overnight. Make sure you check ahead-some parks have very limited parking and may have tighter rules, other parks have designated parking areas for campers/RVs. I don't know of any parks which allow overnight parking if you don't have a campsite.

I adamately disagree with the opinion that National Park Service should discontinue building and operating RV campgrounds in National Parks.  National Parks are for everyone to enjoy, including RV campers.  There are 80 million+ campers in the US, including 50.9% camping in a RV, that support National Park recreational facilities with fees, concession purchases and donations that reduce the operational cost of the parks.  While there may be commerical campgrounds available, they are usually very expensive if convenient to a National Park.  That money is better spent supporting National Parks than going to commerical profits.