National Parks Now Let Visitors Set Alerts for Online Reservations

Visiting a U.S. national park isn’t always a relaxing experience. The most popular parks in the system, including Yosemite, Arches, Rocky Mountain, and others, require timed-entry tickets. Spaces at some popular campgrounds and backcountry permits are offered only by lottery. The entry fee to iconic properties like Bryce Canyon, Everglades, and Glacier national parks is up to $35 per vehicle (but that’s still a bargain, and the fees pay for parks’ maintenance). 

In addition to packing the appropriate hiking gear, camping equipment, and bear spray, travelers have to wrestle with the government’s public lands reservation website, Recreation.gov, weeks or months in advance of their visit. It can turn the hunt for timed tickets and concessions into a full-time gig.

But future visitors are in luck. Finally, Recreation.gov has introduced a feature that will make the process of scoring reservations a little easier. Park aficionados can now sign up for Availability Alerts that will notify them when tickets or reservations for park entry, tours, vehicle permits, campgrounds, and more become available.

The alerts system, which has just emerged from a test phase that started last summer, initially concerned campground reservations, but has since expanded to include tours and timed-entry tickets as well. After its successful trial, the site announced that this tool is now a permanent feature.

Here’s how it works. First, you select the type of service you’re interested in reserving, be that a camping spot or admission to a particular park or section of a park. Next, you enter the dates you’re interested in visiting, followed by the number of tickets you’ll require. If you aren’t sure when you’d like to visit a park, you can opt for flexible dates with a three-day variability. You will receive email notifications when those reservations become available.

There are some caveats. The system stresses that setting up availability alerts “does not guarantee you a reservation,” as other people who signed up for the same alerts may beat you to it when reservations become available. If you set up an alert, it’s therefore helpful to keep your phone at hand if you’re waiting on a hot-ticket item.

Also worth noting is that, while you receive availability alerts when another ticket holder cancels their reservation, you won’t get alerted to regularly scheduled ticket releases. 

Through the alert system, people will be able to access reservations for services as disparate as parking at Sandy Hook Beach in New Jersey, Glacier National Park vehicle reservations, Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge entry tickets, and Joshua Tree National Park tours.

Not every park or historical site is available in the alert system yet. If making reservations for getting into Yosemite just got a little easier, camping under the watchful gaze of the Grand Tetons—a park not included in the list provided on lists available online—remains challenging even for the most rugged outdoorsy types. 

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