Story at a glance
- “Camping’s popularity is at an all-time high,” the camping website The Dyrt says.
- “More than 80 million Americans went camping last year, and 58.4 percent of campers surveyed in the 2023 Camping Report said they had difficulty finding a campsite to book because all reservations were taken.”
- The top two spots both go to campgrounds located in America’s first national park: Yellowstone.
(KTLA) – With so many national parks and natural beauty, camping is a great way to spend a weekend or a vacation in the U.S. But for the very best views, you’ll have to plan ahead.
Camping website The Dyrt looked into the most hard-to-book campgrounds in America and found that some of the most sought-after campgrounds are fully booked around the clock.
“Camping’s popularity is at an all-time high,” the website says. “More than 80 million Americans went camping last year, and 58.4 percent of campers surveyed in the 2023 Camping Report said they had difficulty finding a campsite to book because all reservations were taken.”
The top two spots both go to campgrounds located in America’s first national park: Yellowstone.
The Slough Creek Campground in Yellowstone is the hardest campground to book in the nation. The National Park Services says the campground offers some of the best wildlife-watching opportunities in the park, beautiful clear views of the night sky and the chance to hear some howling wolves. There are only 16 campsites available at Slough Creek.
In second place is Mammoth Campground, the only campground at Yellowstone that is open year-round. Located just five miles south of the park’s North Entrance near Mammoth Hot Springs, the campground is close to fishing and hiking trails and offers great opportunities to view some of the park’s famous bison and elk.
Both Slough Creek and Mammoth campgrounds are fully booked 100% of the year, the website says.
Six states are represented on the list of hardest-to-book campgrounds.
The complete top 10 list is below:
| Rank | Campground | No. of campsites | Percentage of year fully booked |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Slough Creek Campground, Wyoming | 16 | 100% |
| 2. | Mammoth Campground, Wyoming | 82 | 100% |
| 3. | Seven Points, Tennessee | 61 | 99.1% |
| 4. | Fruita Campground, Utah | 65 | 97.9% |
| 5. | South Campground, Utah | 120 | 97.8% |
| 6. | Piñon Flats Campground, Colorado | 90 | 97.6% |
| 7. | Upper Coffee Pot, Idaho | 14 | 97.6% |
| 8. | Cages Bend, Tennessee | 42 | 97.3% |
| 9. | Twin Lakes Campground, California | 94 | 97.2% |
| 10. | Signal Mountain Campground, Wyoming | 79 | 97.1% |
For more on each campsite, click here.
And if you want to try your luck and hope for a cancellation to book one of these highly sought campsites, The Dyrt offers alerts to let you know when a campground is available.
Happy camping.