Everything you can do today without paying: the map, every campground and park page, and availability for the next 14 days. Pro adds what's described above.

New members get 7 days free, and the card is charged when the trial ends. Cancel in Settings before then and you pay nothing. After that, Pro renews monthly or yearly, whichever plan you chose.

In Settings, under Membership, any time. Pro stays on until the end of the period you've paid for, and you can resume it before then.

Camping plans that don't depend on luck.

Q: How does a watch work?

Pick a camp and your dates. We keep checking it and email you when a matching site opens. Booked camps free up all the time as plans change, and a watch means you hear about it without refreshing.

Q: Does Camp Observer book the site for me?

No. Camp Observer finds the opening and sends you to the official booking site to reserve it. We never hold or book sites on your behalf.

Pro watches booked camps for you, opens up permit camps and their quota, and sees months ahead instead of two weeks. Free stays free. Members fund what's next, see it first, and have a direct line to the team.

7-day free trial for new members · cancel any time in Settings

The site you wanted was gone in seconds.

Popular camps book out the minute the window opens, and the only way to catch a cancellation is to keep refreshing. Wilderness permits hide their quota behind a maze of pages. And the booking sites show two weeks at a time, so planning a summer trip means checking back again and again.

Camp Observer already finds every campground. Pro does the checking for you.

Never miss an opening

Booked camps free up as people cancel. A watch emails you when a site opens up. See availability months ahead instead of two weeks, and check a camp on demand up to 90 days out.

Watches. Pick a camp, or several, and your dates. We keep checking and email you when a matching site opens. Pause, resume, and group them on the Watches page.
Availability months ahead. Free shows the next 14 days. Pro shows as far ahead as the booking site does, in the calendar, the units table, and on the map.
Checks on demand. Ask for a fresh check of any camp for any window up to 90 days out. Free checks cover the next 14 days.

A watch on a booked campground, showing the dates it keeps checking

Plan the backcountry

Permit camps and entry points at their real locations, day-by-day quota, and filters for walk-up permits, no lottery, or quota opening soon.

Permit camps and entry points on the map. Free shows a shaded zone with a count. Pro shows each camp, entry point, and travel zone where it actually is, and lets you search for them.
Exact locations. A permit camp's page shows its real point and the real distances to what's around it, not the five-kilometre cell the free tier sees.
Day-by-day quota. Open a permit camp or entry point to see which entry dates still have quota, and open a permit to see all of its camps on one map.
Permit filters. Walk-up only, skip lotteries, pack stock allowed, and quota opening within the next few days, right on the map.

The free map over Tuolumne Meadows: one shaded zone with a lock and the count of permit camps hidden inside it

The Pro map over the same ground: every permit camp and entry point pinned where it is

Choose with the full picture

National Forest and BLM land for dispersed camping, snow cover, flash-flood risk, and how booked-up a camp tends to be.

Public land. National Forest and BLM boundaries on the map, for finding dispersed camping.
Snow cover. Where snow is on the ground now, from NOAA, while you choose where to camp.
Flash-flood risk. NOAA's flash-flood outlook as a map layer.
Popularity. How booked-up each camp tends to be around your dates, from a decade of federal reservation records.

The map with the popularity layer on, shading how booked-up each camp tends to be

7-day free trial for new members · cancel any time in Settings

Free stays free. Searching Camp Observer costs nothing and always will.

Pro keeps it running and builds what's next. Every availability check costs money to run. Members cover it, see new features first, and have a direct line to us for feedback and suggestions.

Questions

What stays free?

How does a watch work?

When am I charged?

How do I cancel?

Does Camp Observer book the site for me?

Ready for your next trip?

7-day free trial for new members · cancel any time in Settings

Camping

Pro