voyaguers campsite reservation system

[JRnation1]

Hello all,

Its been awhile since I have visited this site and of course have forgotten all my log in info... Just curious if anyone has any info on when the new reservation system will be up and running and what campsites may be involved? From what I last saw it looked like February but I have not heard much lately. Looking forward to spring and just starting to think about getting up to Kab. I would like to stay on the west side of Kab in early June and have been looking at campsites but would prefer not to do the reservation system. Any info is much appreciated!

thanks

[h8go4s]

Nothing new that I know of except the start date in the first page below is April, and the second page says February. I'm sure the Park Service knows which campsites they are designating for reservations, but they haven't chosen to announce that. I plan to check the reservation site on Feb 1 to see if I can make a reservation. I'm pretty annoyed that the VNP website has so little info on this, but they apparently don't think much of my suggestion that they should be more communicative.

http://www.nps.gov/voya/planyourvisit/feesandreservations.htm

http://www.nps.gov/voya/parknews/voyageu...ees-in-2014.htm

Just ran across this; it was kind of buried at Plan Your Visit>Camping.

http://www.nps.gov/voya/planyourvisit/reservation-camping.htm

[Xplorer]

I have stayed in touch with Tawnya Schoewe in the park headquarters this winter, and this is what i received on December 26th in response to my asking if the "go-live" date was still Feb. 1 and what 30 sites had been selected on the lakes.

"At this time we have not finalized the sites. We are now targeting April as the reservation start time. Once we have them finalized we will send out a notice. Feel free to check back as well. Tawnya"

[JRnation1]

Thank you both for the info. This will be the first trip up there for my wife and I. I may look to do the reservation system after all if some of the sites I have been looking at end up being apart of that. We will just have to wait and see I guess.

We are planning to go in mid June and getting up there on a Wednesday morning. Any idea from past experience if there are generally open spots that time of week? From what I have read previously it looks like there should be some open areas but then again it will be one of the first weeks the kids are out of school.

thanks again for the info.

[Drail1313]

THAT BLOWS!!!

"At this time we have not finalized the sites. We are now targeting April as the reservation start time. Once we have them finalized we will send out a notice. Feel free to check back as well. Tawnya"

Why does it take everything in the government so long to get done!!! (If it was to give themselves a raise or raise our taxes it would have been done already!!!) They say Jan. then Feb. NOW APRIL............really sucks when trying to get work to approve these stays up there and now this. The park system has know for how long and STILL the drag their feet.

JUST VENTING!!!!

The trips up to the VNP area are the main things that keep me from going nuts down here in the cities!!!!

Thanks for listening. LOL

[happycamper]

With so few sites that one could reserve, I would not go to the trouble of trying to reserve a site at this stage of the system unless one had a large group and it were important to have a large campsite.

[Xplorer]

I have always had my choice of sites on Wed. mid-morning. But it depends on what part of the lakes you are trying to stay at, at that part of the year. June is usually busy in Kab and Crane. It is a good time for fishing tho.

[magnum mike]

What is wrong with first come, first served?

[h8go4s]

What is wrong with first come, first served?

Beating a dead horse. We lost that battle. http://www.hotspotoutdoors.com/forum/ubb...tem#Post2898894

[JBMasterAngler]

Nothing wrong with first come first serve. I like chief wooden frog campgrounds, which is first come first serve. And I'd like to visit kab on 4th of july, but that's a long risky drive in hopes to find a camping spot

[Xplorer]

OK, so here we are on the cusp of March 1, and still no news release from the NPS on this.......and the reservation's are supposed to go live April 1

I am starting to think that on April 1 they will send out an "April Fools" release, and say that they are not able to make this work until 2015 or something. The official announcement was made on Sept. 11th last year and we are now over 5.5 months later, and still no word on what these 30 mysterious main lake reservable campsites will be.

Just venting a bit as I do have for sure one, and possibly two, of my 5 summer trips up there where I will be doing a reserved site.

Anyone local hear of anything lately in regards to the reservation system??

Thanks, I feel a bit better LOL

[Xplorer]

News release due out today.......

[Drail1313]

Got the list today.

Shows that you will have to reserve any campsite by 2015, including houseboat sites.

Still do not see how that is going to work for houseboats. Lots of people move from site to site with the houseboat. See this as a dangerous thing to being moving your houseboat during bad weather. A new person thinking that they have to move because they can not stay in that spot is going to lead to more problems. My2cents.

[happycamper]

I agree with Drail in regard to houseboats. Also, will houseboats be allowed to use non-houseboat sites? If not, are there enough official sites to serve all of the houseboats? Under the reservation system, can one be refunded fees if one has to depart early either due to the weather or a personal matter? This does not seem to me to be a very visitor friendly way to encourage camping in the park.

[Xplorer]

Houseboats are not allowed to dock overnight at tenting/day-use sites. However, they can overnight anywhere in the park (within park rules) and not only at designated houseboat sites.

I am anxious to see if this stays in effect for 2015. The language of the park rules say that non-designated site camping will end when the maximum number of developed sites is reached. That number is around 250 off the top of my head. And they are well short of that right now.

[Drail1313]

Xplorer looks like big changes are coming.

From the email I got today. Looks like they are changing the wording for the park.

Phase 4:

May 15, 2015 through September 15 each year

* No camping, houseboating, boat rentals without a reservation

* Reservations will be available on April 1, 2015 for houseboating

I did send them a email to verify this today. Will update when I get a response.

[Drail1313]

My reply I got yesterday for the 2015 "No Camping without Reservations and only at Mark Sites." is that they need to see how this year goes with the new system to see get more $$ to put more sites in. Still plan on close non-site camping off in 2015.

Think this will hurt the local economy around there as folks that have some extra time off will not just "BUZZ" on up to stay if they need to reserve a spot. (AKA got the week/week end off... lets go up. look no sites close to be able to get up there and get set up by dark.... spend money closer to home I guess.)

Good for the resorts for the ones that stay there, how many extra people stop in at those resorts that spend money that are just camping?? I run around buying gas, bait, eating at the resorts with food.

Like I said before I have no problem paying to camp. I will go back again and again. Just need to plan better. The times of just "BUZZING" up there might come to the end.

Hope it all works out.

[Xplorer]

My question would be is that for just designated camping/houseboat sites, and if that statement effectively ends non designated site use all-together. I think it was h8go4s that last fall quoted the park laws stating that non designated camping sites could be used until the max number of developed sites was reached.

But maybe these rules changes over-ride that????

[h8go4s]

My question would be is that for just designated camping/houseboat sites, and if that statement effectively ends non designated site use all-together. I think it was h8go4s that last fall quoted the park laws stating that non designated camping sites could be used until the max number of developed sites was reached.

But maybe these rules changes over-ride that????

Yeah, that was me. I found it somewhere on the VNP website, but can't find it now. I believe it was in the "Park Planning" section at the "Final General Management Plan" link, which is dead now, but I'm not sure. According to the news release yesterday:

"Phase 2:

September 16, 2014 through May 14, 2015

·All campsites

·All rental canoes and rowboats on interior lakes

·Free

·Reservation required with www.recreation.gov

·The park will no longer have self-registration permit stations"

So if you have to make a reservation, it probably has to be a designated campsite. The only bright spot is that reservations should be easy to get from ice-out until the fishing opener and again after Labor Day weekend. I hope.

[fishwater]

[fishwater]

Here's a pdf with the sites that are reserveable:

http://www.recreation.gov/nrso/mn/voya/VOYA.pdf

I had to bump one first choice a couple days ahead to get it, but otherwise everything was OK. I just paid over $300 for three trips that was previously free, but piece of mind heading up with too much gear and the fact that I was able to put two trips squarely over the weekend hopefully helps a bunch. Now, if only the weather will cooperate!

[Drail1313]

fishwater, did you call in your res.? The reservation site does not seem to work.

thanks

[Barbelboy]

I see "kingpin" is on the reservation system. I guess that is good. We had the cabin on the island in that bay for 23 years before the park system kicked us out and burnt it down. Now I can reserve that site, be guarenteed to not have to rely on luck to get it and at least my kids get to experience the area like I did as a kid. The dock on the island (which is now a day use area) is one that my Dad, brothers and I built. So many awesome memories of summers up there.

[Xplorer]

fishwater,

You posted at 7:54am, the news release said that the sites would be reservable starting at 10:00 (was eastern, so 9:00 central. the news release didnt bother to mention it was eastern time LOL).

Did it let you reserve before then?

Drail, I was able to make the two reservations I needed right at 9am. One for a long 4th of July weekend and another for the guys trip in August. I didnt have any troubles with it.

[fishwater]

I had an earlier question that I resolved myself, the site didn't let me purchase until 9am, though it appears you can go stake out a claim well before that time..

The recreation.gov site is a little confusing, it has multiple voyageurs listings. Only the one listed for Voyageurs National Park Permits allows you to reserve the Overnight Frontcountry permits - that is what the campsites on the lakes are listed as.

[fishwater]

I see "kingpin" is on the reservation system. I guess that is good. We had the cabin on the island in that bay for 23 years before the park system kicked us out and burnt it down. Now I can reserve that site, be guarenteed to not have to rely on luck to get it and at least my kids get to experience the area like I did as a kid. The dock on the island (which is now a day use area) is one that my Dad, brothers and I built. So many awesome memories of summers up there.

That's kinda sad getting booted in the name of progress; Kingpin is a great camp site and the day use area was obviously an awesome cabin site..

[Xplorer]

I wondered about that too since I could click on the individual sites "days" before 9am.

[Voyageur]

Question: What if I have a reservation and upon arrival at the park I find that there is a more desirable non-reservable site available.... now what? I've got my permit printed, I don't really care that I paid a fee to camp and now am using a free site cuz I had a guaranteed reservation.... but now noone else can camp in my spot? Can I sell it for maybe half price to someone whose looking for a free site? That's kind of an awkward situation, but I can see how it can and will happen. I'm not trying to manipulate the system, but I don't want to 1. be penalized by playing by the rules and 2. I don't want to screw up someone elses plans that wants to camp for free by taking "their" site.

P.S. I can see where this reservation system, while helping people feel more comfortable upon arrival, may just lead to less days used in the park overall. ie, there will be 1 and 2 day gaps that would have been filled by first come first served campers. Change may not be good in this case. We'll see.

-Voyageur

[Minnow Slinger]

You can do whatever you like without a fine.

But, you do NOT get a refund.

The spot you reserved will open back up after 24 hours of a "no show".

This spot is also non-transferable, you cannot sell it to your buddy or a stranger at the boat landing.

[h8go4s]

Voyageur, here's a quote from the VNP website:

http://www.nps.gov/voya/planyourvisit/reservation-camping.htm

Permit holders will have 24 hours from 3:00 pm the date of arrival to get to their reserved site

If permit holder fails to arrive within 24 hours, the permit is void and no refunds will be given and the site will be available for others to reserve

Permits are non transferable

If you want to use a different campsite, you apparently can forfeit your reservation and eat the fee. But for someone to discover that you have done that and be able to use that campsite seems unlikely, so that campsite will probably go unused. And you might "screw up someone elses plans that wants to camp for free by taking "their" site." That's only for this year, when there are very few reserveable sites. Next year all sites will be by reservation only.

This should be interesting. The park rangers are going to be busy patrolling the campsites on a daily basis. I wonder how many more rangers will be hired to do so. How much of the fee money that is supposed to go to campsite improvements and new campsites will go to hiring rangers and boats and gas for them to patrol campsites? I don't think I've ever had a ranger stop at my campsite, just the latrine/campfire cleaning crews and I doubt they will be doing enforcement.