Campground Popularity Reaches New Heights
Streamlined reservations and maintenance should top to-do lists as visitor numbers skyrocket
By Jefferey Spivey
As with other outdoor activities, camping’s peak months tend to fall when the weather is warm, school is out, and free time is plentiful. However, recent years have given rise to a new pattern—full capacity year-round.
New Hampshire State Parks
“Camping season is far less defined now, compared to 15 to 20 years ago,” says Nancy S. Heltman, Visitor Services Director for Virginia State Parks. In those times, a normal season lasted from mid-April to September, with the biggest crowds amassing in the summer months.
Now, Heltman says, even a March weekend with nice weather can attract campers, and reservations continue through early December. In March 2021, Virginia State Parks saw nearly 60,000 campers, and numbers stayed north of 100,000 from April to October. Demand has been so high that camping—one of the system’s “big three” revenue generators—has surpassed cabin rentals as the top draw, bringing in more than $8.3 million last year.
And it’s not just Virginia State Parks experiencing the uptick.
At half of New Hampshire State Parks’ campsites, occupancy between Memorial Day and Fourth of July was already at 100 percent by early March, and most of its other campsites had occupancy rates above 80 percent. Public Information and Marketing Officer Brent Wucher says the fervid public interest was somewhat normal. What struck him as unusual were the requests coming from nearby businesses.
“You talk to anybody in the RV industry, campground associations, everybody, it’s just been a dramatic uptick,” Wucher says. He noticed more frequent calls from nearby RV sales centers, where owners were desperate to share campsite information with an influx of new RV owners.
In Orange County, Fla., Kelly and Moss Parks have also seen a shift toward busy years, as opposed to busy seasons. Kelly Park, home to popular Rock Springs, hosted nearly the same number of campers in January 2022 as it did in July of the previous year.
Several factors are driving renewed interest in the nation’s campgrounds. From rising gas prices and market-wide inflation to international travel restrictions, state parks have emerged as an ideal destination that’s close to home.
“I think people are rediscovering parks,” Wucher says. New Hampshire is home to 23 campgrounds across 93 park locations, with 1,382 campsites within, so he’s seeing this trend on a mass scale. Many of the people rediscovering these sites are residents of the Northeast, spanning the Boston metro area to New York City, and in some instances, tourists even venture from Europe and Asia.
Regardless of who shows up, the steady stream of campers—and the less-rigid boundaries of the so-called “busy” season—means park managers have less time to prepare.
Staying On Top Of Maintenance
Within New Hampshire State Parks is a world-renowned ski resort at Cannon Mountain, and many of its ski-lift operators pull double duty as park managers once the resort closes to the public. The last day of skiing fell on April 15, leaving those park managers mere weeks to scan campgrounds, get staff members in motion, and ensure sites are ready for tourists. It’s a great deal of work to complete in a limited amount of time.
“You go around and figure out how many picnic tables you have and how many boats, canoes,” Wucher says. Managers are also “going around and cleaning off all the picnic tables, getting the grime from winter off them, and then painting them.”
Virginia State Parks
And that’s just at the start of the season. Maintenance remains a top concern throughout the calendar year, including when there aren’t any campers. Virginia State Parks remain open even when campsites are closed, requiring constant upkeep.
“This winter, for example, we had serious winter storms that brought trees down that impacted our trails,” Heltman says. “So, we work all the time to keep the parks ready for visitors.”
She says the parks system receives a major boost through its camp host program, where volunteers live in the parks for one to two months and perform light maintenance and assist campers.
Still, campers themselves play a major role in keeping sites clean, which has become more challenging with newer visitors on the grounds. Virginia State Parks has noticed campers leaving trash behind more often. Heltman says this may be attributed to these campers’ lack of familiarity with the system’s “Leave No Trace and Recreate Responsibly” policy.
“We are stepping up educational efforts to improve those results,” Heltman says.
At Moss Park, where sites remain at or near capacity much of the year, Site Supervisor III Eric Neff says maintenance happens whenever the team can squeeze it in. “During slower camping times, we try to do additional work, such as painting the grills, pressure-washing the concrete aprons around the parking slab on the site, and tree trimming,” he says.
Also, as camping seasons extend for longer periods, new issues can arise. Wucher notes that winter camping has become more common, and even the regular season has pushed through Columbus Day—a time when freezing temperatures are possible. Thus, burst water pipes and bathroom or bathhouse repairs can show up without warning.
Innovative Ways To Handle Crowds
Despite the ever-present need for park maintenance, departments must also keep an eye on innovation in order to handle this year’s camping crowds. Reservation policies and systems are ripe for reimagining.
New Hampshire State Parks piloted its reservation system a year before the pandemic, and as the number of campers ballooned, the approach shifted to ensure everyone could take advantage of all the system had to offer. Once it became clear that the same people often reserved the park’s most popular spots (on the sea coast and at Lake Winnipesaukee), Wucher says the department instituted a lottery system. Winners could camp out on their first, second, or third dates, and the system gave more people the opportunity to experience the area’s natural wonders.
“We try to do a lot of things that are beneficial to help give people alternatives,” Wucher says. He adds that the department has changed its policy to require a minimum reservation of three nights for bookings after April 1. Several campers were booking only for Saturday nights, denying others the chance to have a full-weekend stay.
Elsewhere, Orange County campgrounds accept reservations up to 45 days in advance, with spots often filling on the first day of that advance window. And Virginia State Parks campers can book same-day reservations until 2 p.m. These policies exist to best serve customers in their respective areas, though both parks systems suggest that visitors reserve as soon as possible. For campgrounds that are seeing massive camper influxes for the first time, it’s worth assessing if the current reservation approach is the most effective one.
Virginia State Parks
Beyond reservations, Wucher suggests that parks leaders focus on what customers need most.
“You have to think about how you can work efficiently, but also still provide great services to your customer,” he says. For New Hampshire State Parks, this meant offering curbside pickup or campsite deliveries for beginner-camping packages, which consisted of essential camping equipment, marshmallow sticks, and more. After hearing multiple requests, the department launched an online store that offered campers’ favorite park merchandise. And, as remote employees searched for more peaceful places to work, Wucher says the department brainstormed ways to appeal to these campers (e.g., expanding Wi-Fi service) without sacrificing the elements of its primitive campsites that regular visitors love.
In Orange County, leaders at Kelly and Moss Parks focus most on providing a great experience. Jonathon Dunn, Site Supervisor III at Kelly Park, warns parks leaders to be prepared for the unexpected.
“We always have what we call a 911 site available, so that if anything goes so wrong that we just cannot use a site, we have a place to move someone,” Dunn says.
Neff, who oversees Moss Park, places special emphasis on simply doing the job well. “Take your time to make sure things are done correctly. Don’t rush to get ahead, or you will miss things.”
The details matter, something Wucher echoes when describing the great care that park managers use at New Hampshire’s parks. As the pandemic eases, managers still disinfect picnic tabletops. They also rake sand around gravel areas, clean out fire pits, and maintain an overall sense of cleanliness.
“When you go to all these sites,” Wucher says, “you’re like, ‘Wow, a lot of care is really going into making sure this looks good.’”
Jefferey Spivey is a writer based in Urbandale, Iowa. Reach him at jeffereyspivey@gmail.com.