Can Treader alert me when a sold-out campsite opens?

Yes, on Discovery, for campgrounds booked through recreation.gov. Add the campground to your trip as a camp stop, press Watch for an opening, and Treader emails you and sends a push notification with the booking link when a night frees up.

Does Treader book the campsite for me?

No. Treader watches availability and tells you first. You book on recreation.gov yourself, which keeps the reservation and the payment in your own account.

How often does Treader check recreation.gov?

Every half hour while the watch is live, and only for the nights you asked about.

Does it work for Parks Canada or state parks?

Not yet. Watches cover the US federal inventory on recreation.gov only. Parks Canada, provincial and state parks use their own reservation systems.

Camping and outdoors Part of Discovery

Sold out? Watch a campground for an opening

Discovery watches recreation.gov for the nights you want at a sold-out US federal campground and sends a push and an email, with the booking link, the moment a site frees up.

3 min read 4 sections 4 questions answered

The campground you want was booked the morning it opened, six months ago. People cancel, though, constantly, and the site that frees up at 11:40 on a Tuesday goes to whoever is looking at that minute. On Discovery, Treader does the looking: it checks recreation.gov for the nights you need and tells you the moment one opens. It never books for you. It gets you there first.

What it covers

Campgrounds booked through recreation.gov: US national forests, national parks, BLM land, Army Corps lakes and the rest of the federal inventory.
Not covered: Parks Canada, provincial and state parks, and private campgrounds. Those run on their own systems.
Up to 14 nights per watch, and up to 5 watches at once across your trips. One watch per camp stop.

Start a watch

1 Give the trip dates. A watch needs to know which nights.
2 Add the campground to a day as a camp stop: search it by name or browse the map's Camping category and add it. The stop gets a tent and a Camp night panel in its detail.
3 In the Camp night panel, press Watch for an opening. Treader finds the campground on recreation.gov, by name and distance from the pin.
4 Check the first and last night. They default to the stop's own night. Optionally name the sites or loops you would accept, for example "044, Loop B"; leave it blank to take any site.
5 Press Start watching. The panel now reads "Watching", and the first check happens within 30 minutes.

Tip

If Treader cannot find the campground on recreation.gov, the stop is probably named after the park or the lake. Rename it after the campground as recreation.gov lists it and try again.

When a night opens

You get an email with the nights that opened and the recreation.gov booking link first in the message.
You get a push notification on any device where you have turned on Treader alerts. The push opens the trip. On iPhone, push needs Treader installed to the Home Screen.
The Camp night panel shows "A night opened" with the time and a Book it on recreation.gov button. Book it there, fast: an opening rarely lasts long.
Trip check adds a row on the stop, so the opening is visible from the Trip Hub too.

Treader checks every half hour and only speaks up for nights it has not already told you about, so one cancellation is one alert. If a night is already open when you start the watch, the first check tells you straight away.

Keep track of your watches

Trip Hub, Overview has a Campground watch card on any trip with a camp stop. It lists every live watch, and every camp stop you are not yet watching with a Watch for an opening row that jumps to the stop.
Trip check folds the rest into one "Watching N campgrounds" line.
Press Stop on the panel or the card to end a watch. A watch ends on its own once its last night has passed.

Book it here

Tip

For the booking windows, the first-come sites and the rest of the game, read How to get a campsite in a popular park. The watch is what you do after the window has closed.

Common questions

Can Treader alert me when a sold-out campsite opens?: Yes, on Discovery, for campgrounds booked through recreation.gov. Add the campground to your trip as a camp stop, press Watch for an opening, and Treader emails you and sends a push notification with the booking link when a night frees up.
Does Treader book the campsite for me?: No. Treader watches availability and tells you first. You book on recreation.gov yourself, which keeps the reservation and the payment in your own account.
How often does Treader check recreation.gov?: Every half hour while the watch is live, and only for the nights you asked about.
Does it work for Parks Canada or state parks?: Not yet. Watches cover the US federal inventory on recreation.gov only. Parks Canada, provincial and state parks use their own reservation systems.