New Website Tracks Pacific Northwest Campsite Openings

Reservations are NOT mandatory if you want to go camping in any Washington State Park, or Oregon for that matter. They’re free, not required, but nothing’s worse than going to your favorite area, and finding there’s no open spots.

Now, there’s a remedy

  New App Tracks Cancellations, and Notifies You About ‘Open’ Campsites

Saw this story on Axios Portland, and gave it a look.  Camp Sage is a brand new app, pioneered by software engineer Daniel Maynard, which allows you to save a lot of time, effort and even money when it comes to camping.  It launched a few months ago.  It is available in the App Store, or the website, still coming for Google Play.

According to the Washington State Park Service, some popular campgrounds have reservations made online six months in advance. Others fill up very quickly. So, instead of guessing and spending hours going from site to site trying to find open spots, Camp Sage will notify you when openings pop up.

    The App is Very Comprehensive.

The app website says it offers a lot of features, including:

• Instant notifications when spots open
• every 2-3 night opening is listed, not just in WA or OR, but the West Coast
• Free alerts–the moment a spot opens up at one of your chosen campgrounds
• group ready–see sites that are next to each other, if you’re planning a large gathering.

 What Led to His Creating This App?

Maynard told Axios Portland he and his wife came up with the idea after recently struggling to find a place to go camping. He says you do need to be willing to travel if you really want to go, some of the sites that open may not be your ultimate favorite. But you select which camping areas you want to monitor, and at least you get an alert if an opening comes up.

He says it’s better than having to constantly check the state park and other websites that track these openings and reservations.

As the Guinness cartoon folks said in those legendary beer commercials: “Brilliant!”