How to Set Up Email Alerts for National Park Reservations

It's now easier to score a reservation at a national park thanks to a newly introduced email alert system.

Through recreation.gov, the ticket and reservation site for parks and campgrounds, visitors can set up "Availability Alerts" to get notified via email if someone else cancels their reservation and an entry time becomes available. 

The feature is especially helpful as reservations parks like Yosemite often sell out as soon as the tickets are released.

“Remember, setting an alert does not guarantee a reservation; alerts simply let you know when inventory becomes available that meets your criteria,” Recreation.gov shared on social media.

There are forty different locations that offer Availability Alerts including:

• Bryce Canyon National Park Private Horse Reservations
• Glacier National Park Vehicle Reservations
• Joshua Tree National Park Tours and Programs
• Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge Ticketed Entry
• Lava River Cave Timed Reservation Tickets
• Mesa Verde National Park Tours
• White Sands National Park Tours
• Yosemite National Park Ticketed Entry

The service can also be used for securing access to popular exhibits such as the National Archives, the Pearl Harbor National Memorial Tour, or the USS Arizona Memorial. As another example, weekend tickets to the National Archives can often be sold out, and the availability alert can notify interested visitors of tickets that open up. 

Recreation and outdoor enthusiasts were ecstatic about the recent release, with some calling it the ‘best feature ever!’. 

“We recently set alerts for campgrounds in the June Lake Loop, and it worked great! Once we were alerted we acted quickly and got 6 nights,” one social media commented on Instagram.