Tourist attractions and places worth visiting
Campsites in the USA and Canada
It is illegal in most American states and Canadian provinces to camp
with a tent, RV (recreational vehicle, i.e. a motorhome) or any other means
anywhere other than in officially designated campsites.
Campsites in the USA and Canada mostly fall into two categories, namely
public and private.
Public Campsites
Public campsites are the campsites in the National
Parks, the National Monuments
and other National Park Service areas, State
Parks, Provincial Parks and similar areas.
Public campsites tend to be simple, with only limited facilities. Some
but not all have a small camp shop. Some only cater for tent campers, some
also take RV's (recreational vehicles, i.e. motorhomes).
There are about 310,000 public campsites in the USA according to the
1995 edition of Encarta, not counting backcountry campsites.
Backcountry campsites in National Parks (etc) are located well away
from roads and usually have no facilities at all and only cater for backpackers
pitching tents, who carry in all they need and carry out all their rubbish,
in accordance with the "take only pictures, leave only footprints" ethos.
Public campsites tend to become full during the summer holiday period.
Private Campsites
Private campsites are those set up as commercial ventures.
Some private campsites are located near towns, while many are out in
the country, sometimes near National Parks and other similar scenic areas.
There are about 800,000 private campsites in the USA according to the 1995
edition of Encarta.
Private campsites tend to offer far more facilities than public campsites.
These facilities include electrical, water and sewage hookups for RV's
(recreational vehicles, i.e. motorhomes), small restaurants, etc.
Some private campsites also offer camping cabins.
Two of the best known chains of private campsites in the USA and Canada
are KOA (Kampgrounds of America) and Good Samparks.
Contact Information
KOA is represented in the UK by Project, P.O. Box 9, Burgess Hill, West
Sussex RH15 8YJ, tel (UK) 0990-143610 fax (UK) 0990-168309. They can supply
a copy of the current KOA directory/road atlas for 5 Pounds, which includes
full information. This comes with a very informative guide to KOA, camping
in general and RV rental in the USA for UK customers.
KOA's UK fax number for campsite reservations is 0800-895024 (toll-free).
External Links
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US National Park Service Includes information
about campsites in US National Parks and other US National Park Service
areas.
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Parks Canada (Canadian National
Park Service) Includes information about campsites in Canadian National
Parks.
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The individual web sites for the state parks in each American state and
the provincial parks in each Canadian province usually have useful information
about campsites in these parks. Refer to the External
Links page for the addresses of some of these web sites (under the
name of each state).
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L.L. Bean Parksearch L.L.
Bean is a sporting equipment and clothing supplier. This site contains
a lot of useful information on the US and Canadian National Parks and other
scenic areas.
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CampNet America
When I visited this site in Nov-97 it had a good overall structure but
unfortunately the database of campsites etc didn't have many entries in
it.
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Good Sam Club When I visited this
site in Nov-97 it didn't have much information.
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GORP (Great Outdoors Recreation Pages)
This site has a great deal of useful information about the US and Canadian
National Parks and other scenic areas.
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KOA (Kampgrounds Of America)
This site includes a description of what KOA has to offer, plus a campsite
directory with maps, photographs and other details.
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North American Roads Travel Network This
site is about travel by RV (recreational vehicle, motorhome). It appears
to be connected with Good Samparks.
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Trailer Life - Campground and RV Park Directory
Camping
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