by ben174 on 11/25/19, 4:40 AM
I worked in the bot defense space for quite some time, and it’s insane how much of the bot efforts were dedicated to getting camping spots. I’m happy to see this being recognized because I had many summers ruined because I couldn’t just get my old favorite camp spot.
by throwaway5752 on 11/25/19, 4:28 AM
Recreation.gov has been around for years and it doesn't seem to have been updated substantially recently. It's a great resource and I hope people use it to visit US wildlife areas, but I am curious why it has been submitted.
by packetlag on 11/25/19, 12:15 PM
Former SRE for the ground up rebuild of Recreation.gov - I gave a talk at Datastax's Accelerate conference this summer about how we built this site, and briefly covered how we combated bots for a while. Enjoy!
https://youtu.be/gGDWkkj-UDg
by mceoin on 11/25/19, 5:59 AM
So excited to see this on Hacker News!
Brief Shoutout for anyone who would like to see a better online experience for our National Parks System:
1. write into rec.gov asking for a booking API!
2. join accessland.org
3. build apps using Rec.gov's availability API
(disclaimer: I'm involved with accessland.org)
by leggomylibro on 11/25/19, 5:00 AM
The NPS and BLM sites are also good resources for finding information about different areas and activities:
https://www.nps.gov/findapark/index.htm
https://www.blm.gov/programs/recreation/
As for campsite reservations, peak seasons will always be terribly crowded at major campsites. It's too bad that people are gaming the system, but if you need to rush to get a spot in line, you're probably not going to feel like you're out in the wilderness when you get there anyways. So if you aren't a huge fan of crowds and noise, try going during the off-season (like right now!) Also, consider checking out smaller state forests and parks during the summer months. And many forests and parks allow 'dispersed camping' in certain areas; you can usually find plenty of semi-maintained campsites along roads in those places when the maintained campgrounds are full or closed.
And if you go to these areas regularly, an annual parks pass might save you money, even if they usually only get you discounts on federal land:
https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/passes.htm
by dankohn1 on 11/25/19, 12:34 PM
by kylebarron on 11/25/19, 4:37 AM
by droidno9 on 11/25/19, 8:38 AM
Front and center of any website to outdoor activities should include some education about Leave No Trace (
https://lnt.org/). It's an absolutely laudable effort to get more people outdoors. However, people new to the outdoors aren't very cognizant of the kind of footprint they leave behind, not to mention the *holes who intentionally throw trash at public parks like they're in their own backyards. For the former type, educational efforts should be enough to get them to pick up after themselves. For the latter, hopefully seeing more people speaking out about LNT would make them think twice about throwing trash around.
by 3fe9a03ccd14ca5 on 11/25/19, 4:26 AM
They REALLY need recaptcha on park reservations, or some sort of other automation. I'm 90% sure that botting is the only realistic way to get campsites in some high demand areas (such as lower and upper pines of Yosemite).
I'm convinced the only reason there's not MORE scripts around to do it is because their API/web framework is impossibly ugly and not intuitive.
by abhiminator on 11/25/19, 4:20 AM
This is fantastic. The search RP displays parks and sites in the increasing order of distance as well as the price from the input zip code, and pulls together places from different government agencies like Fish and Wildlife Service, NPS, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, etc.
They also seem to have a nice collection of KB articles under the 'Help' link [0] in the header.
[0] https://recreationonestopprod.service-now.com/external
by bsimpson on 11/25/19, 8:48 AM
It pisses me off when I see "All rights reserved" on a federal government page. The copyright for publicly-funded works should reside with the public, free for use by all.
by miquong on 11/25/19, 5:18 PM
Exactly 6 months from today is last day of US Memorial Day holiday weekend. Lots of camping areas in the US require reservations within 6 months, making the today and the next few months the best days to get a reservation for popular summer US camping areas. Also note, recreation.gov is only for US Federal parks, many state and local parks will their own websites, apps or other systems for making reservations.
by sargram01 on 11/25/19, 10:00 AM
Has anyone ever been able to make a reservation on that site? Anytime I look at locations they’re either closed, or booked, or you have to plan a half year in advance.
by xxpor on 11/25/19, 5:39 AM
Lol at the copyright notice at the bottom.
I notice the app is made by Booz Allen Hamilton. It's a shame we have to farm this stuff out to contractors and not use the USDS or 18F.
by gigatexal on 11/25/19, 9:11 AM
Government websites are improving steadily, this website is top quality.
by heelix on 11/26/19, 3:41 AM
The launch this year was a bit rough for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) permits here in Minnesota. They limit permits to lakes, and the holiday weekends go fast, so I'm one of those who makes the Labor day plans (etc) in January.
Mine worked. Lovely site, knew exactly what I was headed to, and got my permits. Seems others had issues if they had to search around. Entire thing sounds like it shook apart later that morning. They canceled the reservations and did a second 'launch', which was the right thing to do. I don't know of anyone who thought they had booked, canceled, and could not get a permit later. Successfully turned a terrible kickoff into something OK.
by xur17 on 11/25/19, 4:09 AM
Are the maps failing to load for anyone else?
by Dowwie on 11/25/19, 10:47 AM
I've used this site many times without any issues, which is all I can ask for from a government funded service. I've even had a good experience resolving a refund. The campground maps are valuable for booking tent camp sites. It helps to know where sites are relative to bathrooms and other common areas.
by a3n on 11/25/19, 5:35 AM
What agency are they under? Couldn't find it on site, just who they partner with. But who are they?
by sealthedeal on 11/25/19, 3:09 PM
So these camp spots, is this just like a general area where RVs can hook up to power? I don’t quite understand why camping spots are so desired that people are writing web scrapers and even selling on a secondary market? Sounds like a whole new world I’ve never heard of.
by jangid on 11/25/19, 7:45 AM
But why the government have to do it? Isn't it a profitable business in itself?
by morganric on 11/25/19, 1:16 PM
which country is this for?
by rbritton on 11/25/19, 4:39 AM
Not reCAPTCHA, please. It’s horrendous in any environment that blocks any real amount of tracking. Rate limiting would solve the bot issue without inconveniencing regular users.
by ForFreedom on 11/25/19, 10:05 AM
Why was this submitted here and how did this even get to the top?