[at-l] New Reservation System at Katahdin

[daveh at psknet.com (David Hicks)]

When I was there in July, I noticed about a 30% vacancy rate.  I asked a 
ranger about it.

He said that all the shelters and nearly all the sites were booked and paid 
for in-full, however, that the no-show rate had been at, or above, 30% all 
year.  The park was talking about this experiment at that time.  They were not 
sure how many folk had made reservations in the traditional manner/time frame 
just-in-case; vs. those who had fairly well formed plans to be there, only to 
have something come up early on; vs. those who had to bail at the last minute; 
vs. whatever.  There was a lot of speculation about the cold/wet summer, the 
price of gasoline, the economy, etc as drivers in the no-show rate.)

On the one hand, the park was not losing money.  On the other hand, the park 
felt that a lot of folk were being turned away, when in fact there was space.

I'm glad that they opted to take a chance on a lose in revenue to explore 
providing more opportunity.

Chainsaw


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Snodrog5@aol.com>
To: <at-l@backcountry.net>
Sent: Friday, December 17, 2004 9:28 AM
Subject: [at-l] New Reservation System at Katahdin


Usually this time of year I'd be mailing away for my May, August, September,
and October reservations at Baxter, or at least planning a trip to Millinocket
to make them in person after January 1st. That's all changed now!

www.baxterstateparkauthority.com
NEW RESERVATION POLICIES

Effective January 1, 2005 (Two-year trial )


Summer reservations will become available January 18, 2005 with a single,
modified Traditional Opening Day and January 19, 2005 begins a two year trial 
of
our new ROLLING RESERVATION SYSTEM. These new procedures represent our effort
to ensure reservations in Baxter State Park are available to a broad range of
interested people with a variety of fair opportunities to obtain those
reservations. All visitors should familiarize themselves with these new 
policies
before making reservations in 2005.

MODIFIED TRADITIONAL OPENING DAY

On this single opening day, Tuesday, January 18, 2005, walk-in customers only
may make up to two reservations for any campground for any date during the
summer camping season. (January 15-17 is a holiday weekend and our office is
closed).

WARNING: To ensure sites are available for the Rolling Reservations System,
only 20% of the sites of each campground will be available for reservations on
January 18th. When 20% of each campground has been reserved for any one day no
other reservations will be allowed for that campground for that day.

Reservations shall be accepted for up to seven (7) days for any one (1) site
and any one (1) campground and up to two weeks (14 days) total duration.

ROLLING RESERVATIONS

The new system will be rolling reservations, four months in advance to the
day of the desired reservation. This is a day by day system, so reservations
starting June 27 will not be processed until February 27, etc. See Chart.


> If you wanted to make reservations for July 15th, the earliest you could do
> so is on March 15th (four months before the start date). If you want a trip
> starting June 1st, you could do so on February 1st and so on.
>
>

Special Situations in the 2005 Calendar:
Reservations with the beginning date of June 29th or 30th (since there is no
February 29th or 30th) shall be accepted on or after March 1st.
>
> Reservations with a beginning date of August 31st (since there is no April
> 31st) shall be accepted and processed on or after May 1st (May 1st is a
> Saturday and our office is closed so the next business day would be Monday, 
> May
> 3rd). See Chart.

No reservations will be made when our office is closed, but shall be accepted
on the next Baxter State Park business day. Baxter State Park will continue
to accept reservations in two ways: walk-in or mail-in. See Chart.
There is a limit of two (2) reservations per day for each person making
walk-in or mail-in reservations.
Length of stay: Reservations shall be accepted for up to seven (7) days for
any one (1) site and any one (1) campground and up to two weeks (14 days) 
total
duration.
All other limits of the current system still apply: See Summer Camping.
Walk-in reservation requests shall be accepted on or after the same date of
the month, four months prior to the starting date of the desired reservation.
Early arrivals will not be accepted. See Chart.
>
> Typical example: If a camper desires to make a reservation for five (5) days
> starting on July 15 the reservation shall be processed no earlier than March
> 15 of that year.

Note: If you come before the starting date of the desired reservation to make
a Reservation, you will not be able to make a reservation for that day.
Mail-in reservation requests shall be accepted in the BSP office not earlier
than one week (7 days) prior to the first date for a walk-in reservation.
Typical example: If a camper desires to make a reservation for five (5) days
starting on July 15th the reservation shall be accepted no earlier than March
8th of that year and shall be processed no earlier than March 15th of that
year. See Chart.
Note: Mail-in reservations received before one week (7 days) prior to the
first date for a walk-in reservation will be returned.
Phone-in reservations shall be accepted no earlier than ten (10) days prior
to the first date of the desired reservation. There shall be a limit of one 
(1)
phone-in reservation per call per day. Phone-in reservations must be paid by
credit card.
A reservation is an arrangement by which accommodations are secured for
consecutive nights of lodging in Baxter State Park.
If you have any questions call or write to the Baxter State Park Reservations
Office at:Baxter State ParkReservations64 Balsam DriveMillinocket, ME
04462Telephone 207-723-5140 TDDY 207-723-9905



_______________________________________________
at-l mailing list
at-l@backcountry.net
http://mailman.hack.net/mailman/listinfo/at-l