State parks officials say they are presenting a lottery-style drawing system for selected camps in three of the most wanted camps in California State Park: Malibu Creek, Morro Bay and McCarthur-Burney Falls.
The new system began this month in Malibu Creek, allowing possible campers to enter a lottery for possible openings eight months away, in this case, from March 1 to April 1, 2026.
The drawings are carried out seven months before the stay, giving the winners 30 days to claim and pay reservations. There is a limit of an entrance by visitor by raffle. ADA sites are included. Malibu Creek has about 63 camps.
The programs will begin at the end of this summer in Morro Bay in San Luis Obispo County (more than 140 camps) and McCarthur-Burney Falls in Shasta County (around 128 camps and cabins), where the growing crowds have raised challenges for visitors and the rangers in recent years. Camp reserve costs (which include night rates and a reserve rate of $ 8.25) do not change and the lottery process is free, but rates could be added later.
Meanwhile, the parks department has also simplified its reservations websites so that campers can move more easily between the information site Parks.Ca.gov and the reserve site Reervecalifornia.com and see more fresh information about what is available. When announcing the next changes, Parks officials said travelers will be able to see “the camp status almost in real time and availability in other nearby camps.”
The transfer to a lottery system was expected since the end of 2023, when the California legislature approved several measures designed to reduce non -shows and give more people access to the most popular places. In previous years, reservations in many camps have disappeared within a few minutes of the opening.
The communications employees of the state parks could not say on Monday how many of the camps in Malibu Creek, Morro Bay and McCarthur-Burney Falls would be part of the draw.
The system is based on a pilot project in the Cabañas of the State Barranco in the State Park of Monte Tamalpais, where the rangers began using a reservation drawing system in 2023. That system is still in its place.
To level the playing field among those who make a repeated use of camp drawings, the State has established a point system. “Falling applicants will receive a point to be used in future drawings, which increases their chances of winning until they receive a reserve,” explains the frequently asked questions of the State in the system. “Once a visitor wins a reservation, their points are deleted and its balance starts at zero.”
Throughout the state, the California camp system continues to open most of its 15,000 campsites for online reservations at 8 am, six months before the reserve date, continuously. (In other words, at 8 am on August 3, the State will begin to take reservations for stays on the night of February 3). Telephone reserves are still possible in (800) 444 Park (7275).
In May, a spokesman for state parks said that the most requested camps in the State during the last two years have been Pism Morro Bay Bay Park.
