National Park Permits and Reservations

Booking your National Park camping reservations and other permits can be a very challenging endeavour. As a general rule, group campsite are available 12 months prior to your arrival date on a rolling basis, and individual sites are available 6 months prior. However there are numerous exceptions to this, and with some campgrounds filling up within minutes (or seconds!) of becoming available, it's important to know when things become available.

Special permits, such as the Half Dome Cables, Grand Canyon rafting, and Wonderland trail, are often run as a lottery. You have a specific window to get your request in, and if you miss that time it can be very challenging (or impossible) to secure your spot.

This guide is intended to help you navigate the muck of reservations for our National Parks. Parks are categorized by state. Within each park you will find information for any necessary reservations and permits found there. If nothing is listed, that means it is first-come first served.

There is a lot of information to keep updated here. If you happen to come across something that is incorrect or out of date please leave a comment or send me a tweet to help me keep everything correct.

Happy reserving!