Obscene Camping Rates
 

I though places charging $30 to $40 were bad.
Check out these rates at Yellowstone Grizzly RV Park - -

https://grizzlyrv.com/rates/

Of course, $89.25 is for RVs only - no tents allowed.
Cyclists would have to opt for a cabin without bath for $109.95.
Cabins with bath go for the low nightly price of $179.95.
(Sales tax and lodging tax not included)

Why do they charge this much?
Because they can.

A year ago I paid $99 USD for a tiny little site in Key West FL. We paid the same as someone with a huge RV, but we got a site so small that we just barely had room for our two small tents and picnic table. Plus of course the dumpster that took up a quarter of the site. Unfortunately I had a dirty lens on the camera so there are some smears in the photo.

https://www.loneoakcampsites.com/campsite-rates

Minimum of $63 for full hookups. Max of $95.

No hookups range from $46 to $77.

Stayed there in 2016. The cool thing is that there is an unadvertised special of $20 or $25 for cyclists. (The place is on ACA's Atlantic Coast route.) And there is a hot tub and bar!

I think the most I ever paid in France was around €30 (say $40) at a commercial campsite near St. Emilion. Normally it averages around €10 between municipal and commercial sites.

Riding the GAP/C@O last summer we opted to stay in hotels because it was just a few dollars more than camping. Dragging all the camping equipment from south Texas to PA would have been a pain. I like camping in national parks and state parks the rates are reasonable.

Not sure where you were looking at camping. Most of the GAP / C&0 is free camping. The KOA in Connelsville used to be very reasonable though there is free camping there too. Husky Haven in Rockdale has decent prices. YMCA in Cumberland is only $20 a person.

Lots of free camping on the C&O though the mosquitoes are a good reason to take a hotel along that stretch. ;)

Yea, I really miss the old days when hiker/ biker sites cost .50c per person around California. Just has me doing more wild camping.

I remember Oregon hiker/bikers at $1.
You must be waaaay older than me. ;-)

The rates have jumped around some. As stated, they started at 50c/person-night (not .50c). Then they went up to $3/person-night by around '94. Then there was a big drop back to only $1/person-night until the state started running out of money and threatened to close parks. That led to a rate of $5/person-night which has remained pretty steady until now although a few parks have increased it by a dollar or two. Still plenty of places to camp on BLM land where it's free but I do enjoy some of the amenities at the State Parks.

Are these public or commercial sites.

I've always avoided places like "KOA".

But, it does look like a few of the local public campgrounds have come up to the $30 range. :P Others are still in the $5 to $10 range.

Most of the truly outrageous rates are private campgrounds.
But in the past 20 years, the national parks, national forests, & many state parks have switched from park management to subcontractors - cheesy Camps "R" Us firms that bid to "manage" public campgrounds then double the fees right off.

When I rode the Pacific Coast, we stayed at a lot of state park hiker biker sites in Oregon and California. One California park, I think it was Manchester Beach was almost an embarrasement as campgrounds go, but we stayed there for one night. Had planned to take an off-day and stay for two nights, but the next morning I checked out the KOA that was less than a mile away. They offered a hiker biker rate that was higher than the state parks but much lower than motor vehicle rates, so we moved next door to the KOA. But that was only the second time I stayed at a KOA in several decades.

I took the photo at a California state park campground in Summer 2014, hiker biker site at that park was $5, but sometimes was $6 or $7. I think the California showers were coin op, for about $0.75 or $1.00. Oregon showers were free.

***

On the topic of great camping sites, I have nothing but good things to say about the campgrounds in Iceland. Almost every community has one, plus a few commercial ones too. Fee was per person, during Summer 2016 I think I paid in the range of $8 to $12 USD but one place I paid about $15. (At that time, currency conversion was at $1 USD to 123 ISK, fees of course were in local currency.) All of those included showers, sometimes had community sinks for washing things, etc. I do not think they ever turn anyone away, which is important to a cyclist. If you could find a place to pitch a tent, you could stay there.

I was run out of Wolf Creek Campground (highway 35 in Utah) for refusing to pay a day use fee of $7.

This place was recently taken over by a private contractor from the Forest Service. He told me that the use fees and camping fees were being strictly enforced because of the cost involved in sending a guy with a truck up there to collect trash and clean the toilet seat. This place was miles from anywhere and I was taking a break on one of the picnic benches. I wasn't stopping for the night.

The site had no running water and a pit toilet. It was at the top of a mountain pass, basically in the middle of nowhere.

He went on to explain how the Forrest Service was a black hole (money wise) that had no accounting for what came in and what went out. The move to private contractors was an attempt to rectify the situation.

I've had a similar experience.

When I stopped at a National Forest campground to get water - water from a pump installed by the forest service on forest service property - the campground host said I would have to pay a day use fee.

I told him where he could put his water and that I would report his actions. Down the road, I stopped in at the nearest ranger station. The USFS employee apologized and said that they had lots of problems with contractors and campground hosts - because they did not know USFS policies or chose to ignore them.

My pleas to get rid of campground contractors and go back to USFS management probably fell on deaf ears.

Examples?

Most expensive along the GAP is $25.

https://gaptrail.org/system/resource...guide_2018.pdf

Don't know why Husky Haven is not listed, but it was $10/night will free firewood and showers in 2012. Web site still shows $10.

Husky Haven Campground: [Reservations & Campground Map]

Have you seen this handy guide?:

https://gaptrail.org/system/resource...guide_2018.pdf

Don't know why Husky Haven isn't listed. It was $10/night with free firewood when I stayed there in 2012.

Across Western Canada I find private campgrounds to be in the 25-30 range, sometimes with free showers, sometimes with pay showers. Small towns in the prairies almost all have a sort of civic campground site with varying services. I think these serve baseball tournaments, get together's and reunions. Most were 10-15. I actually like the Federal campgrounds in Banff/Jasper which are a little steep 27ish but have good maintained sites, services and free showers/firewood.

The most I ever paid was around $60 to camp in Big Sur under the redwoods at a private campground. Flat ground and a picnic table only. Want a shower? Extra. Firewood? Extra. Average rate in Florida state parks is $20-30 for an upcoming trip, which is not too bad, considering the prime locations. Beats hotel prices by quite a bit.

I doubt it fell on deaf ears. Even if you talked to the head of that particular forest, they would have had no ability to go out and hire more staff.

They should have told you to contact your congressman and/or senator. That is where changes are made.

First night out of Yorktown VA on a westbound TransAm found us at a commercial campground along the Virginia Capital Trail near Charles City and it cost us $26 for a site with no water or power. I was shocked. That amount is what I expect to pay when I roll up in my VW camper, not on a bike.

Some of the campground fees are getting so high that I started using hostels. They're sometimes competitive with campgrounds (especially when you're charged $50/night to set up a tent), you get to sleep indoors on a bed, have a shower, and a clean bathroom. I've done a few simple credit card tours here on the West Coast last year using hostels and it was quite nice not to have to carry all the camping gear. The only odd thing I found was that some don't have linens on the beds (bring your own sleeping bag or you get charged for linens), and I tended to be the oldest person staying there (59 y.o., most others were 20-somethings). Overall its a great way to travel and I'll definitely do it in the future. Booking.com lists hostels (a lot, not all of them) so they're easy to locate.

Last fall I stayed nearby at Chickahominy State Park, ~$33 for a tent +elec site, non-elec was only a bit cheaper. OTOH they gave me the best site with a 1/2 acre to myself & right next to a spectacular river view. Well the only consolation is that it's still a lot cheaper than motels.

All the camping sites at Lake Garda in Italy were full. We managed to get a tiny spot for our tiny tent for 40 euros a night when the manager of one of the sites saw us bumbling around. Ended up staying for two nights since the spot was actually pretty awesome. We were 30m from the lake shore, temperatures were in the 30C region and we just had a straight up beach vacation then and there.

The thing I like about paying campsites is the ability to wash clothes and take a shower. Both do wonders for my skin which has a tendency to not appreciate cycling

I wouldn't stay on a campground even if it was free. Wild camping: no people, no noise.

Some do not provide towels, add that to your bring list.

Indoors where a sleeping bag can be too warm, also having a sleeping bag liner can be pretty nice.

Before I go somewhere, I like to look up all the HI hostels in the area that I will be going through, and adding their locations to my GPS in case I would rather stay indoors than camp for a night.