Yes sirree, best deal ever! The sites are all separated by the dunes, so you feel like the only person in the whole desert. Gotta watch the wind storms though. A bad one cropped up just as I took my site down and there were several campers' tents just blowing across the landscape.

I've always wanted to go to White Sands. Was suppose to on my ST ride this year but didn't make it that far. Thanks for the info.

Totally recommend it. Very surreal. Awesome sunsets and pure white lizards everywhere. One of my favorite spots ever.

I've used them a couple times as part of a group camping sites in Michigan, but after seeing them in Iceland, I have become a HUGE fan of just having a grassy area for tents. Pay a smaller fee, pitch wherever you wish in the area, maybe have a couple community picnic tables and campfire pits scattered around the area. Always have room for one more camper, and you can leave the designated spots to the ubiquitous RVs. There really is no downside, nearly every campground I've been to has an area that could be utilized for this quite easily.

Even when car camping, I have no need for a $35 a night site with full hoookups, just a place to pitch a tent and some sort of toilet facilities.

As someone who peruses the Canadian park system once in a while, I'm always confused by how much more of a 'luxury' or niche outdoor activity seems up there despite Canada having a massive reputation for its outdoor beauty. Here in the States we don't even think about it - conservation lands, bike trails, bodies of water all with easy access and amenities (parking lots, bathrooms, etc.). Take the Minuteman National Park here in Lexington, Mass. It's a NP yet totally free (no camping though) - multiple large lots to park in, facilities. Same activities cost money up in CA, and usually much more than here. Some of their bike trails have user fees... yeah, OK. Maybe it's just Quebec, I don't know.

Have you read Bill Bryson's "A Walk In The Woods"? I found his disdain for NPS's mismanagement and incompetence hilarious. The NPS has been understaffed and under-budgeted for quite a long time now, all while NP attendance has skyrocketed throughout the nation. So I don't blame them for trying to make ends meet, but it still leaves a bad taste

[QUOTE
Have you read Bill Bryson's "A Walk In The Woods"? I found his disdain for NPS's mismanagement and incompetence hilarious. The NPS has been understaffed and under-budgeted for quite a long time now, all while NP attendance has skyrocketed throughout the nation. So I don't blame them for trying to make ends meet, but it still leaves a bad taste[/QUOTE]

Alston Chase's "Playing God in Yellowstone" remains, for me, the definitive text on the attitude of NPS administration towards all things - wildlife, visitors, staff, politics. It is a little kingdom to itself. Underfunded? Yes. But also incestuous and often brutal to its seasonal employees. On the one hand you have clueless tourists getting boiled in hot springs even though there are warning signs in 16 languages - and on the other hand you have seasonal rangers living in housing that any city housing authority would condemn as unsafe and unsanitary.

In the crown jewel parks, the RVs rule. Cyclists? Hah!
I mean, if you just dropped $300 grand, you'd expect the parks to open their doors wide, too.

On a trip to Montreal I was surprised that only nearby campground was privately-owned. Would have thought that with all the open space there would have been national/provincial campgrounds. The private campground was pretty nice though with folks respecting quiet time & all the trees were maples heh.

I've never been to Yellowstone - yet - but I've read online and heard from someone who cycled through that it's probably one of the most dangerous places in the US to cycle (within context, given how popular of a cycling route it is). Reason: narrow shoulder, distracted drivers, wildlife, distracted drivers.

For all the above reasons, it's probably one of the most dangerous parks in the US to cycle, especially near the W and S entrances and Old Faithful. Not quite as bad as an urban area rush hour.

I'll take Yellowstone over Denver or Atlanta any day.

Having taken the northern tier across country solo, I decided the following. I would really try and go with someone even if you are not a couple. I stealth camped most of the way, but if you need to stay in a campground, two can camp cheaper by splitting the bill, and I am 99.9999999% sure if a female goes into the camp office, they will get out of there with a cheaper rate than a guy. Not being sexist, just real.

Never heard of couchsurfing or warmshowers until I was halfway across country but next trip will definitely sign up with them.

I'd be surprised if that's true. AFAIK state/Fed campgrounds have fixed rates & private campgrounds would seem to have little incentive to offer special discounts to bikers when nearest alternative campground is perhaps 50 km away & females are even less likely to consider stealth option.

You folks are lucky to have dedicated camping grounds and you can just walk/cycle/drive in to camp, even though paying a small fee for the usage of the campground.
In Malaysia, if its a private campground, you may do that but hopefully no one has booked the whole place for a team building or family gathering event. If its a govt campground, you gotta call ahead, book the place and wait for them to reply (which is usually very late). The fee is cheap though.
I usually hike/bike camp solo...so I tend to go the jungles and camp for free, amidst the threats of wild animals. Going solo is okay to camp there, but in a group, the authorities will notice you and chase you out as the big group might damage the area.

Man, I so feel this rant. Was reading a post the other day discussing Reserve America (or w/e it's called) that is most of the reason why you have to reserve two days for cabins, and can't get one on walk in, etc. Cabins that used to be $40 are over $100, primitive camping sites are $25, and to sleep next to a generator is $40.

The wife and I used to love going camping in state and national parks but the cost has gotten so high that it get's harder and harder. It has definitely not made it easier to consider going on a tour. I am too much a worrier to try and stealth camp.

RA is just a reservation service. It doesn't set prices for the use of the facility. Nor does it set minimum number of days required for a reservation. The agency running the facility does. For example, the two night minimum on weekends at New Jersey state parks was the rule before RA took over handling reservations.

I don't know how the fees is arrived at. For state facilities, I have never seen it higher than $5 except when it comes to MT state parks, where it's $10. Just made a reservation at a PA state park 10 min. ago. $5 fee. NJ is the same. I reserved a spot at a federal place for my tour last month. Fee was $9. The charge for the site itself was only $12, so the reservation fee was equal to 75% of the use fee. Ended up having to change the date. I think that was another $10 fee.

Michigan is $8. I end up paying $21 for a $13 site if I am only staying one night. At the primitive sites, they do set aside some for day-of local reservations only, if you wish to risk it.

When my wife and I cycled trough Yellowstone on our cross country ride, we had just the opposite impression. We thought it was a great way to see the park. We could stop anywhere we wanted at anytime to view wildlife or take pictures, and we could keep up with traffic most of the time. We did have an exciting moment with a bison due to some jerk in a loud pickup, but with reasonable precautions wildlife was not an issue. We took an extra day there just to see more of the park. Yellowstone NP also has hiker/biker sites, or at least sites for tents.

+1
We are even thinking of taking our daughters to Yellowstone for a short cycling excursion.

Doug -

The Lamar Valley makes excellent cycling - with lower traffic - moderate grades.
Don't know how old your daughters are - I would think it's fine for 12 years or older in a group.

There is a hiker/biker site at Pebble Creek - very quiet area with zero commercial services.
But you end up riding downhill to start and uphill to get back.

There's also Tower Falls campground near the store and the Roosevelt Lodge.
Big down and up into the Yellowstone Canyon before you reach the Lamar Valley.
Then it's a gradual uphill heading east - gradual downhill returning.

With the sun and prevailing wind direction (southwest) I'd pick Pebble Creek.
That way you'd have the sun behind you in both morning and afternoon.
And your westbound leg would be in the morning with lightest winds.

Thanks for the recommendation. We will definitely consider it. We have already planned this year's tour with our "girls", which starts next Friday. Maybe next year! Daughters are adults and pretty experienced bike tourers. I would not hesitate to take them most places.

Did some bikepacking in the southern section of Green Mt National Forest in VT last week. Some very nice dirt forest service roads, some more like overgrown jeep trails, all good. Hapgood pond was $ 2.00 a night for hike/bike entrance. Nice. Even nicer, electricity in the bathroom to recharge stuff, warm showers an a nice pond to swim in.