Recreation.gov Cancellation Alerts That Add the Campsite to Your Cart
Campsite Tonight is the only Recreation.gov cancellation alert that adds the open campsite to your cart for you. The moment a cancellation appears at a campground you've targeted, the site lands in your Recreation.gov cart — so all you have to do is checkout. You complete the actual purchase yourself; we will never auto-purchase it.
Is Campsite Tonight auto-booking the site?
No, you the user need to complete the checkout process and purchase. Recreation.gov prohibits services that complete the purchase on a user's behalf — fully automated checkout bots. Campsite Tonight does not do that.
Our Auto Add to Cart feature scans for openings and, when a target campsite becomes available, places it in your Recreation.gov cart. You receive a notification, open the app, and tap to complete checkout yourself. The actual booking commitment is always made by you.
This is the same behavior as if you were refreshing the Recreation.gov page non-stop and clicking “Add to Cart” the second a site appeared. We just do the watching for you.
How Auto Add to Cart works
- Set up an Auto Add to Cart Alert. Pick a Recreation.gov campground, your dates, and the kind of site you want (tent, RV, accessible, group size).
- We watch the calendar. Our scanners check Recreation.gov for matching openings up to every minute.
- When it's your turn and a match appears, Campsite Tonight puts the campsite into your Recreation.gov cart, then pings your phone.
- You complete checkout. Open Recreation.gov, confirm details and payment, and you're booked — usually within seconds of the opening appearing.
What time of day do most cancellations happen?
Example: distinct openings at Upper Pines Campground in Yosemite by hour of day (Pacific Time), across . Each site counts once per hour per day, so repeated detections of the same opening aren't double-counted.
At Upper Pines, the single busiest hour is around 7 AM PT, but openings spread throughout the day. Roughly 61% happen during waking hours (8 AM–8 PM PT) — not in a midnight rush.
How early before check-in do cancellations happen?
Example: Upper Pines Campground in Yosemite — one of the hardest US campgrounds to book — across , with each site counted once per hour per date:
| Lead time from detection to stay date | Share of distinct openings |
|---|---|
| 0–3 days out | 40% |
| 4–7 days out | 19% |
| 8–14 days out | 15% |
| 15+ days out | 27% |
In we've detected 1,954 raw openings at Upper Pines — about 65 per day before dedup.
Which campgrounds are covered
- Recreation.gov — every federal campground, including Yosemite, Zion, Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree, Glacier, Yellowstone, Olympic, Sequoia, Acadia, and more.
- US state parks — Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.
- Canada — British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Parks Canada national parks.
Auto Add to Cart runs on Recreation.gov, the 26 US state park systems above, and Canada. We also send cancellation alerts across additional state and county systems. See full add-to-cart coverage.
Frequently asked questions
Can you auto book it for me?
No, Recreation.gov does not allow third parties to complete a purchase on your behalf. Also, your plans could have changed since most cancellations happen last minute — you may not want the site by the time it opens.
How is Campsite Tonight different from other services?
Most camping alerts send you a notification when a cancellation appears, then you race to open the site and re-find the campsite manually. Campsite Tonight goes a step further: for Recreation.gov campgrounds, it adds the site to your cart for you, so by the time you open the app you are one tap from checkout.
Do cancellations occur at a specific time?
For Recreation.gov, most cancellations are released back to inventory immediately. But this differs for other booking sites — for example, California State Parks release cancellations at 8 AM PT the following day.
How often does Campsite Tonight check for new availability?
Incredibly fast — which is why the service is expensive. Scanning frequency is one of the biggest levers for reservation success.
Is Campsite Tonight free?
The free plan lets you search for available campsites but doesn't include alerts or other new / beta features.
Related reading
- When does Recreation.gov release campsites?
- How first-come, first-served camping works
- Best year-round campgrounds open all seasons
Stop racing the page-refresh button
Set up an Auto Add to Cart Alert for the campsite you want and let Campsite Tonight do the watching. When a cancellation appears, the site is in your cart before you can pick up your phone.
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