Frommer's National Parks of the American West - Don Laine [11]
In some parks (Yellowstone and Grand Teton, for example), you will need a special permit to go boating. In others, you may need a permit for cross-country skiing. Check the individual park chapters for details on these and other required permits.
Getting a Campsite
Although a growing number of national park campgrounds accept campsite reservations, many still do not. If you plan to camp and are heading to a first-come, first-served campground, the first thing to do upon arrival is to make sure a site is available. Campsites at major park campgrounds fill up early in summer, on weekends, and during other peak times, such as school holidays. A reservation or an early morning arrival (sometimes as early as 7 or 8am) is the best defense against disappointment. In each chapter, we've indicated whether a campground tends to fill up especially early, and whether reservations are accepted.
The National Park Service Reservation Center (☎ 800/365-2267; http:// reservations.nps.gov) provides reservations for National Park Service campgrounds at many popular parks,
including Channel Islands, Death Valley, Glacier, Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree, Mount Rainier, Rocky Mountain, Sequoia–Kings Canyon, Yosemite, and Zion. Campground reservations for another group of parks, including Arches, Big Bend, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Bryce Canyon, and Lassen Volcanic, are available through the National Recreation Reservation Service (☎ 887/444-6777; www.reserveusa.com), which also takes reservations for many national forests.
Maps
When you arrive at a national park site, you'll receive a large, four-color brochure that has a good map of the park on it; of course, you also have the maps in this book. If you plan to do some serious hiking, especially into backcountry and wilderness areas, these won't be enough. What you'll really need are detailed topographical maps.
Topographical maps can usually be ordered in advance from the individual park bookstores, which are discussed in the following chapters. The especially useful maps published by National Geographic Maps/Trails Illustrated can be ordered directly from the publisher (☎ 800/962-1643; http://national geographic.com/trails). Most topographical maps retail for about $10.
Tips for RVers
Many people prefer to explore the national parks in an RV—a motor home, truck camper, or camper trailer—especially in the warm months. One advantage to this type of travel is that early morning and early evening are among the best times to be in the parks if you want to avoid crowds and see wildlife. Needless to say, it's a lot more convenient to experience the parks at these times if you're already there, staying in one of the park campgrounds.
Carrying your house with you also lets you stop for meals anytime and anywhere you choose, and makes it easy to take care of individual dietary needs. RVing also means you don't have to worry about sleeping on a lumpy mattress, and you won't need to spend time searching for a restroom—almost all RVs have some sort of bathroom facilities, from a full bathroom with tub/ shower combination to a Porta Potty hidden under a seat.
There are disadvantages, of course. If you already own an RV, you know what you had to pay for it. And even if you rent, you probably won't save a lot of money. Renting a motor home will probably end up costing almost as much as renting a compact car, staying in moderately priced motels, and eating in family-style restaurants and cafes. That's because the motor home will go only one-third as far on a gallon of fuel as your compact car will, and it's expensive to rent. Some of the fancier private campgrounds now charge as much for an RV site with utility hookups as you'd expect to pay in a cheap motel.
Other disadvantages include the limited facilities in national park campgrounds (although they are being upgraded to the point where camping purists are starting to complain). Even in most commercial campgrounds, the facilities are less than you'd