Local campsites booked out ahead of 4th of July weekend

June 30, 2022 7:25 PM

Vanessa Perez,

Posted: June 30, 2022 7:25 PM

Updated: July 1, 2022 7:14 AM

by Vanessa Perez

SPOKANE, Wash. — If you don’t have a reservation for your family’s weekend camping trip, you might be out of luck. Reservations are pretty much booked in the area and Washington State Parks recommends planning ahead. Reservations can be booked nine months in advance from the first day of your planned trip.

Fourth of July weekend is one of the busiest weekends for state parks. The Riverside State Park campgrounds are full.

Leslie LaFontaine is visiting from south of Seattle to visit her son.

“No parks, not anything around usually have any availability. This was very much a “yay” moment of discovery, and it worked out very well,” LaFontaine said.

LaFontaine says she was in search of a space that was ADA compliant which made booking the spot slightly easier.

“It’s definitely less expensive than renting a hotel or trying to find a place to park or park in a hot parking lot,” she said.

The Romanelli’s are camping at Riverside State Park for the next two days. The couple is on a one-year road trip.

The couple says they’ve been planning the trip for 15 to 20 years.

“We’re basically doing a loop across the US, so we started in San Diego, and went all the way to the out to the far Northwestern portion on Nia Bay out there, and we’ll be heading northeast in the fall.”

Romanelli says the big issue is finding a campsite on holiday weekends and any weekend sometimes especially in the summer. However, they were luck to find their spot on Thursday.

“Even though the sign said full we said we better check it just in case. So, we had zipped in, and they had one cancelation and got the last one spot in the park,” Romanelli said.

If you’re out at a state park for the day you need a $10 discover pass. Washington State Parks also recommends arriving early and have a backup plan.

Riverside State Park is currently at level one fire ban, so now wood fires are allowed in a designated fire pits and grills.

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has annual burn restrictions in place in Chelan, Yakima, and Kittikis County.

“We understand how great it is to have a campfire we like to do that too. Just make sure you’re following the rules, please anything you can do to cut down on wildfire risk is appreciated,” Staci Lehman said.

There are currently no restrictions in eastern Washington however fire danger remains pretty moderate. Lehman says WDFW will be reconsidering restrictions for the region after the holiday weekend.