Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Travel

Book a Last-Minute Summer Camping Trip Just About Anywhere With Pitchup

Mike Richard
By
hammock camping
Esther Tuttle

We’re in the thick of summer travel and road-tripping season in the Northern Hemisphere. For campers, finding a last-minute campsite — particularly in the country’s most popular outdoor destinations — can seem almost impossible. With Pitchup, campers can shop cheap, last-minute campsites near some of the most iconic national parks and sites in the U.S.

Pitchup boasts more than 3,600 private campgrounds and RV parks throughout the United States, Europe, and South America. Options range from primitive, dirt-patch tent sites to spots to pitch a camper to lodges, cabins, and huts. Dig deep enough, and you’ll also find unique gems like yurts, tipis, and bell tents. While its numbers pale in comparison to its brand-name competitors, the company’s site promises instant confirmation (a rarity in the campground world), no booking fees, and offers more than 250,000 reviews.

Recommended Videos

Where Pitchup shines, however, is in finding affordable, last-minute stays during peak season. North Carolina’s Fort Wilderness RV Park and Campground, for example, has midsummer stays starting at $25 nightly just minutes from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Nantahala National Forest. A half-hour from Yellowstone National Park, Mack’s Inn Henry’s Fork RV Park offers tent sites for around $50 per night. Pitchup also has campsites within an hour’s drive of the country’s most popular national parks, including Death Valley, Badlands, Arches and Canyonlands, and Mesa Verde.

Related

Airbnb is, of course, a great resource for booking alternative accommodations. However, searching specifically for campsites or campgrounds often requires wading through more full-featured (read pricey) options that aren’t quite what you’re looking for. GlampingHub is ideal for travelers looking for glamping alternatives that offer many of the conveniences of home in a more rustic setting. For truly off-the-beaten-path and off-grid rentals, however, we’re still fans of Hipcamp which claims more than 300,000 private campgrounds and public park campsites, all bookable through its website and mobile apps.

Pitchup is free to join as a camper. Sadly, reservations can only be booked through the Pitchup.com website as there are currently no mobile apps for either Android or iOS.

If you’re keen to get way off-grid with a complete lack of utilities and people, however, dispersed camping is a great way to camp for free all over the U.S.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Mike Richard
Mike Richard
Contributor
Mike Richard has traveled the world since 2008. He's kayaked in Antarctica, tracked endangered African wild dogs in South…
Podcasts every outdoors enthusiast will enjoy: The Crux, Dirtbag Diaries, and more
Year-round outdoors podcasts everyone will love
Man walking with hiking poles

For the true outdoors person, nothing stops the relentless quest for adventure. You scour the internet for tips and trails, you watch docuseries about travel and epic feats of endurance, and if you’re not already, you should have a favorite podcast or five continually feeding information into your ears. 

Podcasts are one of the most outdoor-appropriate mediums to keep on hand. They are packed full of game-changing information and inspirational guest interviews, and you can listen to them while enjoying your activity. OK, no one wants to be that guy with the Bluetooth speaker on the trail — or more precisely, no one wants to be near that guy — and there are situations where you might not want to have noise-canceling headphones in, but if you’re out on a solo trail hike, cruising through the woods on your mountain bike, or just hitting the gym to train for your next outing, then get one of these podcasts in your earholes and make the outdoors part of everything you do.

Read more
Fall camping ideas: 7 simple tips to avoid a miserable trip
Make your fall camping trip about enjoyment, not endurance
A table and tent under the trees in fall.

For many people, camping is a pure summertime activity. Once the needles start to turn golden orange and the trails get strewn with leaves, camping equipment is carefully stowed away until the following summer. But the true outdoorsman knows that if you properly prepare yourself and your equipment, fall is the best time of year to hit the trail and get out in nature.

Fall camping calls for a little more preparation than a summer trip. You can't just throw a sleeping bag on your back and head out into nature, knowing that it will be 70 degrees or more. But in return for this preparation, you get quieter campsites, picturesque sunsets, long nights sitting around the campfire, and best of all, no bugs. These camping ideas and tips will get you off the sofa and back outdoors this fall.

Read more
Jackson Hole Mountain Resort owners sell to local families, keeping resort hyper-local indefinitely
Jackson Hole resort has been sold - to everyone in the area, basically
Skier heading downhill at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, with the sun and aerial tram in the background.

Consolidation and conglomeration. These two words have dominated almost every industry — from banks to fast food restaurants to web apps — over the last two decades as more small- to medium-sized businesses are gobbled up by large, often international corporations. In many cases, that loss of independence means putting customers second and profits first. The mountain resort industry has been no different, with massive multinational conglomerates buying up U.S. resorts for years now.

But many smaller, family-owned resorts have stood strong, vowing to remain independent despite seemingly all-consuming consolidation — resorts like Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in (where else?) Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It's a world-class, year-round playground that's been a mainstay of North American ski resorts for the better part of a century. The bad news is that it's been sold; the good news is that the buyers of the famed Jackson Hole ski resort aren't who you might expect.

Read more