Plan a trip you can actually book
A perfect-looking itinerary is no good if the campgrounds are already full for your dates. VistaBound checks live campsite availability for each stop's real nights as it plans, and the Campground availability setting on the Plan form decides what it does about a campground that's booked up. This guide explains the three choices and how availability shows up on your trip.
Where to find it
On the Plan form, under your rig length, the Campground availability dropdown sets the mode for the trip you're about to generate. Your choice is remembered as your default and travels with the trip, so the co-pilot honors it when you make edits later. You can change it per trip at any time.
The three modes
Keep my picks & watch for openings (default)
The planner picks the best-located, best-fitting campgrounds for your trip. If one is sold out for your dates, it doesn't drop it — it flags it on the trip card and gives you a one-tap Watch for openings button. That puts the campground on Campsite Radar, which re-checks availability in the background and emails you the moment a site opens (usually a cancellation), with a direct booking link.
This is the best of both worlds: you keep the campground you actually want, and you get first shot at it if a spot frees up.
Avoid booked-up campgrounds
Here the planner tries to hand you a trip that's bookable end to end. When a pick is sold out for your dates, it looks for a nearby campground that fits your rig and is actually available, and swaps it in — leaving a short "swapped because sold out" note with an Undo so you can put the original back.
It's an *avoid-if-possible* setting, not a guarantee. Near a popular national or state park in peak season, everything nearby is often booked too — so rather than send you to a worse or far-flung campground, VistaBound keeps the best pick and flags it** (exactly like the default mode). Availability also comes from the reservation systems we can read live, so a swap is only offered where we can confirm a real opening (see coverage below).
Plan the ideal trip (ignore availability)
The planner chooses the best campgrounds regardless of whether they're bookable right now, and skips the availability checks entirely. This is the fastest option and the way to plan a dream route well in advance, when you expect to book as soon as reservation windows open.
How availability shows on your trip
In the "Keep my picks" and "Avoid" modes, each campground on your trip carries a small badge for its real dates:
- {N} sites open — bookable now for those nights.
- Sold out — no sites for your dates, with a Watch for openings button. Once you're watching, it changes to Watching for openings.
- First-come, first-served — a campground that doesn't take online reservations, so there's nothing to book or watch.
Campgrounds we can't read live — most private RV parks and boondocking spots — show no badge rather than a false "sold out." Watching a multi-night stay watches the whole stay, even if the itinerary spans it across two stops.
What availability covers
Live availability comes from the same sources as Campsite Radar: every online-reservable federal campground (Recreation.gov) plus a growing set of state-park systems. First-come/first-served sites and most private parks aren't reservable online, so they can't be checked or watched. Availability is a best-effort snapshot, never a booking guarantee — always confirm on the provider's site before you count on it.