Hipcamp Alerts

Snag reservations at sold-out campgrounds.

We look out for availability at national and state parks and alert you the instant campsites become available—for free, for everyone, forever.

How Hipcamp Alerts works

Graphic of an owl with a magnifying glass (the owl is a metaphor for you the camper looking for a campsite)
Set up a free alertCreate unlimited free availability alerts for all your favorite national and state park campgrounds.
Graphic of an owl handing a carrier pigeon a note in front of a mountain (the carrier pigeon is a metaphor for hipcamp and the mail is a metaphor for a request to camp)
Wait for a notificationSit back as Campflare scans top campgrounds for cancels every 15 seconds.
Graphic a carrier pigeon flying with an envelope. The pigeon flying in represents Hipcamp delivering the alert in an urgent and timely manner. (P.S. Birds aren't real)
Snag the openingYou’ll get alerted the instant a campsite becomes available so you can snag the spot.

Frequently asked questions

To sign up for alerts, search for a park, and select your chosen campground and dates. This can be done on the Hipcamp website and is coming soon to the Hipcamp iOS and Android mobile apps. Campflare will then continuously scan the campground’s reservation system until a campsite becomes available for your dates. Once it does, you’ll get alerted via push notification from the Hipcamp app and email so you can try to snag the newly available campsite.
Hipcamp and Campflare’s free alert service works very similarly to other paid services you may have used before. In fact, Campflare scans the most sought-after campgrounds as often as every 15 seconds or so, up to 200x more frequently than other paid services, to give you the absolute best chance of reserving any newly available campsite. It’s our mission to get more people outside, and we believe deeply in the importance of unlocking access to both public and private lands. For 10 years, Hipcamp has advocated for open data in public campsite reservation systems, and providing this availability alert system for free is the latest in our work toward an equitable outdoors. You may see other brands charging for this same service, but we’re committed to keeping public data free for everyone.
Currently, you can create alerts for any US campground reservable through Recreation.gov, including all national park and national forest campgrounds, plus some state parks. Alerts are also available for California state parks available via ReserveCalifornia. We will continue to add new campgrounds over time!
Yes! You can set up alerts for as many campgrounds as you wish to get the best chance at securing a spot.
Yosemite campsite reservations open 5 months in advance at 7am PT. This method is incredibly competitive, however, and campsites fill up quickly. To skip the craze (and early wake-up call), try getting a Yosemite campsite reservation by setting up a free Hipcamp alert for any Yosemite campground, such as Upper Pines or Lower Pines. We’ll monitor campground availability, and you’ll get instantly notified of any openings that come up for your dates so you can jump on it to reserve the newly open site. Still having a hard time? Consider showing up early for a chance at one of Yosemite’s first-come, first-served campgrounds, or opt for a Hipcamp campsite right outside the park. Hipcamps are likely to have last-minute availability and often offer less crowded spaces with more privacy.
Hipcamp and Campflare partnered to unlock and expand access to public lands availability data. Hipcamp Alerts, available via an API integration with Campflare, are free to use for everyone and solve a top pain point for campers: finding an available campsite in our national parks.
Founded in 2020, Campflare offers free public land campsite alerts with the aim of increasing America’s access to public lands. To date, Campflare has sent more than 3 million notifications, helping campers secure coveted sold-out campsites across America’s most popular national parks, state parks, and national forests.
Founded in 2013, Hipcamp is the leading international campsite booking platform. It opens more than 5 million acres of the world’s most beautiful private land to create brand new places for people to camp, and gives a growing community of good-natured people the opportunity to list, discover, and book magical RV sites, treehouses, tent campsites, and cabins around the world. The fully remote company operates in the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, and to date has helped people spend more than 10 million nights under the stars. When listing on Hipcamp, farmers, ranchers, vintners, and other landowners generate new revenue streams to steward their land and keep working lands working. By making it simple to get outside, Hipcamp protects habitat and supports a growing love for the land.
For more information about Hipcamp Alerts, visit our support page
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