Campers in the US had more difficulty than ever finding a campsite last year, according to a new report – but there are ways to secure your spot for this year.
According to The Dyrt’s 2025 Camping Report, 56.1% of campers reported difficulty finding a campsite to book in 2024. That number is almost back to the post-pandemic peak of 2022 and up from 45.5% in 2023. Pre-pandemic, the number of campers reporting issues was just 10.6%, suggesting that the current interest in camping spurred by lockdown shows no signs of abating.
The report – which the camping app compiled by surveying thousands of members of The Dyrt camper community, a representative sample of US residents, and camping property managers across all 50 states – also shows a big drop in cancellations and no shows. Only 58.9% of campers said they used all their reservations in 2023, and that number rose to 70.7% last year, something The Dyrt founder Sarah Smith says "means there was less wasted campsite inventory and more people enjoying the great outdoors.”
It also means that showing up without a reservation and hoping for a last-minute cancellation might not work as well as it used to. That said, it's not all bad news.
For starters, The Dyrt CEO Kevin Long says the issue appears to be worse at certain popular spots and isn't representative of the country as a whole.
“I think the difficulty in finding sites these days is more concentrated in the highly competitive public campgrounds and at certain sought-after properties and parks that have gained a level of fame in recent years.”
It's worth focusing your efforts on less-renowned sites and parks and not getting too attached to beauty spots like Nevada Beach Campground, which last year was the hardest-to-book campsite in the country. Long also adds that campsites are being added at private campgrounds all over the country to accommodate the growing number of campers, so 2025 may bring more inventory.
Dyrt camper Jon C says that after failing to get any campsites in Utah's National Parks last year, he discovered the joys of camping at State parks instead.
"As it turns out, we were much happier with the state parks and glad that things worked out that way."
If you're trying and failing to secure campsites at National Parks this summer, finding surrounding parks, National Forests and other public lands is a technique that was recommended to us by outdoor travel expert Alex Schnee in our article on navigating the National Parks reservations system. Often these areas will be quieter and have similar scenery to your intended destination.
Meanwhile, glamping has the most availability of all types of camping, with 34.4% less difficulty in finding an available campsite to book. Glamping is more comfortable, but also more expensive, so if you don't mind roughing it, consider camping on BLM land, or loading up your backpack and heading into the backcountry to find your spot. Just check out our simple rules for where not to camp to make sure you stay safe and respect nature.
