Booking

2022-06-21
PA

Booking gets a separate entry just because it was so bizarre to me. I started booking this trip in February, and at that time I was able to book all the lodging. There were some campgrounds where I got the last site, and others that I was unable to get a spot so I was forced to find alternatives. I know that I am going to popular places and that National Parks are even more popular than ever so I was ok with having to book early and/or having to take a second or third choice.

Then it was time to book some of the other stuff. Mammoth Cave had tours readily available. Wind Cave had their July tours up in the middle of April. Jewel Cave for some reason didn't list their July tours until the last day of May. That wouldn't have been as annoying if they had just said that up front, but instead it was a process of checking every few days. Similarly the bus to the Maroon Bells trailhead is another one that didn't appear until mid-April with no warning. It's almost like they didn't want everyone flooding their web site on a specific day. On the bright side, my vigilance paid off and I did manage to score tickets for all of my first-choice tours. Caves are a pleasant 50 degrees, even in July.

However, the biggest gamble of all was the Rocky Mountain National Park entry passes. Here was a chance for things to go horribly wrong. I had booked lodging at the park with a non-refundable deposit, but I didn't know if I'd be able to get into the park when I was there. On June 1st at 10:00 AM Mountain Time I was ready to pounce on the web site. I already had my recreation.gov account because of all the other camping and tour reservations I had made, so I was logged in and primed, ready to elbow my way through the (virtual) crowd. I quickly put three of the 6AM-8AM entries into my cart for the three days at the park and checked out in about two minutes. What a rush. I think this must be what it's like when you score concert tickets or a PS5, but since I've never done either I can't say for sure. I checked at ten minutes after the hour and all the entry slots before noon for those three days were gone (and probably for the whole month).

It took a lot of conscientious effort and calendar reminders, but I got the whole trip booked out more or less as I envisioned it. This was way harder than 2018 when I started eight weeks before leaving and just booked about two weeks and figured I'd decide where I wanted to go after that. Many of the things I booked weren't even things back then, like the RMNP entry pass.

And some obligatory pictures. The bobwhite visited my house, and the falls are from the Delaware Water Gap.