If you’ve been RVing long enough, you probably remember when April and October felt like an RVer’s best-kept secret. You’d glide into half-empty campgrounds, snag a waterfront site without a reservation, and enjoy the kind of quiet that only exists when most folks are still packing up or not yet unpacked. But if you’ve tried shoulder-season camping lately, you might’ve noticed something: It’s not so “shoulder” anymore.
Everything is busy!
It’s not even just with campgrounds or RV parks—it’s with everything. National parks are swarming with people in April, May, September, and October. Other popular sites seem to be swarming, too. Scenic overlooks that used to have three cars now have thirty. Trailheads you once treated as spontaneous afternoon stops need timed-entry reservations. Even the quirky roadside attractions you’d normally duck into on a whim have lines out the door.
Shoulder season used to be when you could breathe a little easier and wander without planning every detail, but now it feels like the whole country has discovered the same “secret” windows you’ve relied on for years.
Many of us have been asking the same question: When did the off-season stop feeling off? More full-timers on the road, flexible remote workers, and international travelers chasing cheaper rates mean those once-quiet windows have become busier, louder, and sometimes just as competitive as mid-summer. Even that “perfect week before Memorial Day” now feels like everyone else’s perfect week, too. That week was busy everywhere this year!
Weather pattern changes
There’s also the weather factor. Early spring used to mean chilly mornings and reliably mild afternoons. Late fall meant crisp air, clear skies, and a chance to give your furnace a polite workout. But lately, swings have become bigger and less predictable.
One week in April, you’re running your A/C; the next, you’re worrying about the rig freezing overnight. In October, wildfire smoke, late-season hurricanes, or sudden cold snaps can change plans fast. You can’t just assume shoulder season weather patterns will behave themselves anymore. Because, who knows?!
Policy shifts
Then there’s the policy shift. Many state and national parks have tightened reservation windows, added dynamic pricing, or reduced walk-in availability. A few campgrounds that used to close for winter now stay open year-round, which is great for flexibility, but it also spreads demand across more months. Private parks are doing the same, adjusting rates so the “cheap” shoulder-season deals aren’t quite the bargains they were five or ten years ago.
What to do?
So what’s an RVer to do? Some folks are booking earlier, sure, but others are changing their strategy entirely—staying longer, moving slower, or targeting midweek arrivals instead of weekends. A few are exploring parks just over the state line or taking advantage of boondocking spots they overlooked before.
If you’ve felt the shift yourself, you’re not imagining it. Shoulder season really is changing. Have you noticed this shift? If so, have you adjusted any travel plans?
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Let us also keep in mind that “shoulder season” is not a country wide set of dates. It varies primarily on latitude and secondly on elevation. Another fact, it used to be that when school starts, campgrounds empty. Admittedly a not insignificant number of families are missing during the week, but not necessarily weekends. And have you read the news? Like many countries, births are down in North America. That means, unless someone in the group is a teacher, “shoulder season” is now prime vacation season for many adults.
Yes. Spring and fall in the South were never ‘shoulder season’, they are prime times to camp.
The author seems to fault full-timers and foreign travelers, when what’s really going on is locals using every available ‘nice weather’ weekend for camping because it’s usually cheaper than other forms of travel and entertainment.
I’m with Jim, it varies widely depending on where you are. We went to Moab in mid October and it felt like it was mid summer temperature and crowd wise. But have been to various state parks in Colorado at the same time and they have been at 1/4 capacity. It’s a bummer though, we want to go to several popular parks that are new to us and were hoping for a hack to get around crowds.
My usual process is to have reservations for all our trips done months in advance.
This year, on a whim, we decided to spend a few weeks in East Central Missouri in late Oct early Nov since campgrounds (except state parks) pretty much close up in Minnesota. We took off with no reservations at all.
Hannibal, MO was the only stop where I had to pull out the stops to find a site in a decent campground. That was one of the weekend stopovers. Other than that we spent time in Iowa, the St Louis area, and Bloomington, IL area without issue. The camp near St Louis had a lot of spots filled, but not all.
I would agree, though, not what it once was.
It still beats travelling in the Summer in just about every way.
It has gotten not as good with shoulder season. Weather-we did a big 6 wk trip, left home (Spring Hill, FL) just before mid-May, first place was Port Aransas. That was decent. Then Tombstone, AZ, that was pretty good too. But then we were headed to the San Diego area (I-8 route). W. AZ and the E part of CA, horribly hot, 100+, before May was even over. In fact, we had finished our 4 nights in San Diego and moved up to Long Beach on Mem Day. Then the next 2 weeks, as we worked our way up thru CA, we’d move 200 miles N each time, and still have 100+ temps. But could not go into Lassen Volcano as roads closed from snow. Also by the time we made it up to Crater Lake, the extreme heat was down.
But the Rim Rd was closed due to snow. Families w/kids-nothing wrong with kids per se. We raised ours, like most members here. But when us retired folk try to adjust our plans to do & see more when most kids are in school. Well it seems like more & more families are just pulling kids out of school whenever. One other thing that makes shoulder & weekdays tough is often things are not open or limited events activities during both of those times. We went M-F from home, up to Helen, GA, back in mid-Sept. Happened to be Oktoberfest going on. Well no events or the Festhalle open M-W. But we did get to go on Thu, so at least they had that.
October is definitely busier than it was several years ago on week-ends, but mid week is still fairly easy to snag a good site.
We reserved a site in Zion National Park 2 days in advance of our arrival this week-end. Surprisingly, there were several empty sites in our loop even though it was sunny and 50 degrees in the day and 30 at night. With electric we were toasty. I’m guessing that mid week would have more open sites as many campers are leaving this morning.
Well I imagine December would be much more open than October or spring or summer. Is there snow there? 50 during the day and 30 at night is pretty chilly. And have to be on guard against plumbing freezing overnight.
Didn’t I just say that October would be busier than later in the year. I was just pointing out that Zion with 50 degree temps and 30 degrees shouldn’t be an issue for plumbing as there were plenty of campers, just not jam packed.
I live very near Zion. We camped there last week, and it was in the 20s at night and the 40s in the day. This week it’s supposed to be a lot warmer. The campground was 70% full. You would think December would be less busy, but it’s not. Many people go to Zion during Christmas break. By the second week of December, it’s very busy through the second week of January. The shuttles have to start running again. However, it’s not near as crowded as it gets in the summer. It does snow there occasionally, but not often and not much. It does get below freezing though. Also, because it’s in a canyon, the sun doesn’t get down in there until 10:30AM and it’s gone by 4:00PM. Bundle up 🙂
One cause of busier shoulder seasons is the cause of Many problems: Overpopulation!
As a tourist that travels 3-4 months at a time, rather than a “camper”, shoulder season has become a problem because many attractions are closed. Once the help has to go back to school, many attractions close down. This often forces us to travel during Summer months.
And some places that due to weather, you almost can only visit in summer. Glacier Natl Park, etc.