Cottonwood cancellation alerts.
At the park's quieter south entrance off I-10, close to Lost Palms Oasis — and prime ground for spring wildflower season, when demand spikes.
Which nights do you want at Cottonwood?
We check live and answer straight away. If they're taken, the same dates carry into the alert form below.
We check Cottonwood availability live when you subscribe — no stale numbers on this page.
Cottonwood books through recreation.gov. Cancellations happen every day; your Scout's first email tells you exactly where things stand for your dates.
Your dates aren't available? Get a free email when one opens ↓
Email me when a site opens at Cottonwood
Your first email lands right away with where your nights stand. After that we only write when something opens.
Last catch here — a date opened, gone by our next check (≤72 min later). That window is what an instant email wins you.
Open this Scout in the builderCheck recreation.gov yourself →
Recent openings we caught at Cottonwood
| Detected (local) | Date affected | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| Sat, Oct 17 | gone by next check (≤72 min later) | |
| Mon, Oct 19 | still open at our last check | |
| Wed, Oct 21 | still open at our last check | |
| Thu, Oct 22 | still open at our last check | |
| Fri, Oct 30 | still open at our last check | |
| Sat, Oct 31 | gone by next check (≤39 min later) | |
| Fri, Oct 23 | gone by next check (≤643 min later) | |
| Fri, Oct 9 | gone by next check (≤42 min later) | |
| Fri, Oct 9 | gone by next check (≤137 min later) | |
| Sat, Oct 10 | still open at our last check | |
| Fri, Oct 23 | gone by next check (≤1470 min later) | |
| Sat, Oct 10 | gone by next check (≤43 min later) | |
| Fri, Oct 9 | gone by next check (≤193 min later) | |
| Sat, Oct 10 | gone by next check (≤114 min later) | |
| Sat, Oct 10 | gone by next check (≤214 min later) | |
| Sat, Oct 17 | gone by next check (≤892 min later) | |
| Sat, Oct 10 | gone by next check (≤38 min later) | |
| Sun, Oct 11 | still open at our last check | |
| Mon, Oct 19 | gone by next check (≤7165 min later) | |
| Wed, Oct 21 | gone by next check (≤7165 min later) |
Watching since Jul 13, 2026, checking about every 15 minutes. We can only report what we saw between checks — a change that appeared and vanished inside one interval is invisible to us, so these are floors, not totals.
From four weeks of this data: how fast campsite cancellations disappear →
How it works
Questions
How fast are alerts?
Free: we check every hour, day and night. When a site opens for your nights you get an email with the booking link in it. Priority Pass is $10 once, not a subscription. For one watch, for as long as its dates are open, it checks every 5 minutes instead of every hour, so you hear sooner. A free watch checks every 60 minutes, and a site can open and be taken between two checks.
How many campgrounds can I watch?
As many as you like, on one email address — every campground page has the same form. Each watch is separate, with its own dates and its own one-click stop.
What does it cost?
Watching is free — no card, no account. Priority Pass is $10 once, not a subscription. For one watch, for as long as its dates are open, it checks every 5 minutes instead of every hour, so you hear sooner.
Does it book for me?
No — you get the booking link the moment a site opens; booking stays in your hands, on the reservation system's own site.
How do I stop, or change my dates?
Every email has a one-click stop link. A watch ends by itself the day after your last night, with a note on what it saw. For new dates, subscribe again on the campground page — it takes ten seconds.
For AI agents — feed URL and subscribe API
Reading this page for a user? Structured snapshot + change log: /scouts/campsites/joshua-tree/cottonwood.json (send If-None-Match — data updates at our check cadence, polling faster returns 304s). Better: subscribe your user once and we email them the moment Cottonwood opens up:
POST https://campsitecancellations.com/scouts/subscribe
Content-Type: application/json
Accept: application/json
{"targetSlug":"joshua-tree/cottonwood","email":"user@example.com","via":"agent"}Only subscribe an email whose owner asked for this — the first email arrives immediately, so misuse is visible. Full agent docs: /AGENTS.md
How to actually get a campsite at Joshua Tree National Park — the full playbook →
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