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Experience our incomparable national parks Record number of visitors these dayswhich makes planning your trip as early as possible more important than ever. Fortunately, there are useful online tools to help you.

You have probably already done the obvious and checked National Park Service (NPS) website. There you will find links to the official website for each of the 63 parks. Most offer a lot of useful information, but they’re especially handy for finding the latest COVID-19 logs, road closures, and other warnings from each park.

And here are “other helpful resources that many travelers may not be aware of”.

Recovery.gov

This easy to use website – and accompanying App – Allows you to reserve campsites and other facilities and services in many parks and public areas, such as cabins at the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska and permits for outdoor camping in the wild in Yosemite National Park.

You can also use the website to book many activities that require a reservation (driving to the top of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park in Maine) and to obtain fishing permits.

Note that reservations for most accommodations in the national parks must be made directly through the private companies that manage them, including the iconic lodges in Yellowstone National Parkoperated by Xanterra.

To get started, simply register on the website by entering your name, email address and phone number. They’ll send you an email with a link to create your password. Then log in and start planning.

For example, let’s say you want to reserve a campsite for two nights in Acadia (a good choice!). Use the search function to enter the keyword “Acadia”; The website responds with a list of everything that can be reserved in the park, with information about each. Select a campsite (we like Blackwoods), fill in the dates you want and any other information to help filter your results, and the website will respond with an “availability grid” and campsite map Campsites are open. Then it’s all about buying.

If you have any questions throughout the process, take advantage of the site’s chat feature and phone number which will allow you to speak to a real person.