The hardest reservations in America, measured
"Impossible to book" is usually a vibe. We made it a number. Our scouts have been checking 58 of the most contested reservation targets in the country every 15 minutes — around the clock, for up to 52 days, ≈243,691 checks — recording every time a reserved date flipped open and how long it survived. This page recomputes from the live log on every visit, so it sharpens as the data grows.
The shutouts: never open, not once
Every campground below has been fully booked on every single check since we started watching it. No cancellation we could catch, no momentary opening wider than our 15-minute net. This is the measured shape of "you can't get this site."
| Campground | Watched | Checks | Openings seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dorst Creek Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks | 52 days | ≈4,992 | 0 |
Caught openings — and how fast they died
These campgrounds do open. The catch: the median opening is gone by our very next look. Lifetimes are bounds between our own observations — an opening "gone within ≤15 min" may have lasted seconds.
| Campground | Openings | Rate | Typical lifetime |
|---|---|---|---|
| Camp 4 Yosemite National Park | 22 since Sep 2 | 86/wk | gone within ≤15 min (median) |
| Many Glacier Glacier National Park | 37 since Sep 2 | 255/wk | gone within ≤16 min (median) |
| Crane Flat Yosemite National Park | 27 since Sep 1 | 77/wk | gone within ≤16 min (median) |
| Assateague Oceanside Assateague Island National Seashore | 25 since Sep 2 | 128/wk | gone within ≤16 min (median) |
| Lodgepole Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks | 25 since Sep 2 | 95/wk | gone within ≤16 min (median) |
| Lower Pines Yosemite National Park | 23 since Sep 1 | 73/wk | gone within ≤16 min (median) |
| Fish Creek Glacier National Park | 57 since Aug 28 | 58/wk | gone within ≤17 min (median) |
| Indian Cove Joshua Tree National Park | 51 since Jul 14 | 6.9/wk | gone within ≤17 min (median) |
| Slough Creek Yellowstone National Park | 33 since Aug 22 | 19/wk | gone within ≤17 min (median) |
| Kalaloch Olympic National Park | 30 since Sep 2 | 148/wk | gone within ≤19 min (median) |
| North Pines Yosemite National Park | 27 since Sep 2 | 105/wk | gone within ≤29 min (median) |
| Ryan Joshua Tree National Park | 51 since Jul 14 | 6.9/wk | gone within ≤30 min (median) |
| Upper Pines Yosemite National Park | 36 since Sep 3 | 337/wk | gone within ≤30 min (median) |
| Moraine Park Rocky Mountain National Park | 32 since Sep 3 | 255/wk | gone within ≤30 min (median) |
| St. Mary Glacier National Park | 31 since Aug 13 | 10/wk | gone within ≤30 min (median) |
| Jumbo Rocks Joshua Tree National Park | 56 since Jul 24 | 9.4/wk | gone within ≤31 min (median) |
| Cougar Rock Mount Rainier National Park | 31 since Sep 2 | 205/wk | gone within ≤31 min (median) |
| Tuolumne Meadows Yosemite National Park | 28 since Sep 3 | 265/wk | gone within ≤31 min (median) |
| San Onofre Bluffs California State Parks | 25 since Aug 18 | 11/wk | gone within ≤32 min (median) |
| Sol Duc Olympic National Park | 23 since Sep 2 | 84/wk | gone within ≤45 min (median) |
| Schoodic Woods Acadia National Park | 42 since Aug 28 | 43/wk | gone within ≤46 min (median) |
| Jenny Lake Grand Teton National Park | 33 since Sep 1 | 104/wk | gone within ≤46 min (median) |
| Blackwoods Acadia National Park | 31 since Sep 2 | 141/wk | gone within ≤46 min (median) |
| Platte River Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore | 30 since Sep 1 | 72/wk | gone within ≤46 min (median) |
| Seawall Acadia National Park | 25 since Sep 1 | 74/wk | gone within ≤46 min (median) |
| Carpinteria State Beach California State Parks | 45 since Aug 18 | 19/wk | gone within ≤47 min (median) |
| Leo Carrillo California State Parks | 38 since Aug 25 | 29/wk | gone within ≤47 min (median) |
| Potwisha Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks | 45 since Aug 18 | 19/wk | gone within ≤60 min (median) |
| Hodgdon Meadow Yosemite National Park | 27 since Sep 2 | 108/wk | gone within ≤60 min (median) |
| Hoh Rainforest Olympic National Park | 24 since Aug 31 | 46/wk | gone within ≤60 min (median) |
| Apgar Glacier National Park | 48 since Sep 2 | 341/wk | gone within ≤61 min (median) |
| Fruita Capitol Reef National Park | 37 since Sep 1 | 113/wk | gone within ≤61 min (median) |
| Mammoth Yellowstone National Park | 30 since Sep 2 | 171/wk | gone within ≤61 min (median) |
| San Elijo State Beach California State Parks | 40 since Aug 23 | 25/wk | gone within ≤62 min (median) |
| New Brighton State Beach California State Parks | 32 since Aug 18 | 14/wk | gone within ≤62 min (median) |
| Wawona Yosemite National Park | 28 since Sep 2 | 180/wk | gone within ≤76 min (median) |
| El Capitán State Beach California State Parks | 40 since Aug 9 | 11/wk | gone within ≤77 min (median) |
| South Zion National Park | 55 since Jul 26 | 9.7/wk | gone within ≤86 min (median) |
| Cottonwood Joshua Tree National Park | 59 since Aug 7 | 15/wk | gone within ≤91 min (median) |
| Refugio State Beach California State Parks | 40 since Aug 21 | 21/wk | gone within ≤94 min (median) |
| Cades Cove Great Smoky Mountains National Park | 23 since Sep 1 | 68/wk | gone within ≤104 min (median) |
| Watchman Zion National Park | 23 since Sep 1 | 78/wk | gone within ≤106 min (median) |
| Black Rock Joshua Tree National Park | 45 since Jul 14 | 6.1/wk | gone within ≤107 min (median) |
| Doheny State Beach California State Parks | 34 since Aug 28 | 39/wk | gone within ≤113 min (median) |
| South Carlsbad State Beach California State Parks | 35 since Aug 27 | 34/wk | gone within ≤123 min (median) |
| Moro (Crystal Cove) California State Parks | 52 since Jul 24 | 8.7/wk | gone within ≤128 min (median) |
| Steep Ravine (Mount Tamalpais) California State Parks | 20 since Aug 16 | 7.7/wk | gone within ≤139 min (median) |
| Signal Mountain Grand Teton National Park | 33 since Sep 1 | 104/wk | gone within ≤150 min (median) |
| Kirby Cove Golden Gate National Recreation Area | 23 since Aug 17 | 9.4/wk | gone within ≤196 min (median) |
| Bodega Dunes (Sonoma Coast) California State Parks | 31 since Aug 20 | 15/wk | gone within ≤200 min (median) |
| Devils Garden Arches National Park | 27 since Sep 1 | 67/wk | gone within ≤210 min (median) |
| Pfeiffer Big Sur California State Parks | 35 since Aug 14 | 12/wk | gone within ≤401 min (median) |
| Wright's Beach (Sonoma Coast) California State Parks | 28 since Aug 16 | 11/wk | gone within ≤415 min (median) |
| Julia Pfeiffer Burns California State Parks | 3 since Jul 23 | 0.5/wk | gone within ≤983 min (median) |
| Desert View Grand Canyon National Park | 42 since Jul 14 | 5.7/wk | gone within ≤3916 min (median) |
| Mather Grand Canyon National Park | 40 since Jul 14 | 5.4/wk | still open at last check |
| North Rim Grand Canyon National Park | 40 since Jul 14 | 5.4/wk | still open at last check |
How these numbers are made
One shared checker per target polls the venue's own reservation system about every 15 minutes and stores a snapshot. A "opening" is a date that was unavailable on one check and available on the next; its lifetime is bounded by when a later check saw it gone. We can only report what happened between our looks — anything that appeared and vanished inside one interval is invisible to us, so every count here is a floor, not a total. Openings-per-week rates are computed over each target's retained observation window (shown per row). California state-park targets are checked through an on-the-ground relay and have a shorter history than the rest.
Want the next opening at any of these? Each target page has a scout that emails you the moment it happens — campsites.