We made a tool for nabbing sold-out campsites

[karj]

Hi everyone!

Last summer, my friend and I made a tiny site that scans for cancelled campsite reservations. It worked so well that we made it available to anyone: Campnab helps you nab that sold-out campsite!

A number of folks in B.C. used it, so we expanded to Ontario, National Parks (in Canada), Washington State, and now California. We’re now looking at adding it to other regions, but we need to eek out a bit more time for that.

I’m here for a couple of reasons. First is to just let you know about this thing—because it’s kind of handy. Second is to get a bit of a sense for whether sold-out campsites are a problem in your region. We’re asking folks this on a few forums, to get a sense for what areas we should add next.

I hope it’s OK that I’m talking about our project, here—and asking these questions. If not, please say so.

 

[campforums]

Nice service, I really like you design and branding. As a fellow developer I can understand how hard that can be sometimes. I also like that it is camping specific which sets it apart from some of the other harder to use generic bots out there.

I might just give it a try sometime!

 

[karj]

Thanks—glad you like it! We just (yesterday) added all of the sites managed by recreation.gov, so, it’s a little more useful. We’re still working on state parks (other than California and Washington, which are already there).

We’re also exploring creating some kind of affiliate program, to help spread the word. (We like making stuff, but aren’t as keen on marketing it.) We figure it might help if others had an added incentive for telling their friends.