Photo: Iowa Department of Natural Resources
(Des Moines, IA) -- Walnut Woods State Park near Des Moines is making a change to its campsite reservation policy. Starting April 1st, all campsites will be reservable online, including first-come, first-serve camp sites. The change follows a pilot program last year at eastern Iowa's Maquoketa Caves State Park.
Sherry Arntzen, Iowa Department of Natural Resources' Bureau Chief of Parks, Forests, and Preserves says they found that campers really liked having access to real time campsite availability online.
She says because of the success in the pilot program, they decided to expand it to Walnut Woods State Park. She says the change may also occur at other state parks, depending on connectivity and other factors.
The DNR says most state park campgrounds operate with 75-percent of sites available to be reserved online, with the rest as walk-in only.
“We think campers will appreciate all the benefits of real-time, reservable sites,” said Sherry Arntzen, chief of the Parks, Forests and Preserves Bureau. “Now campers will know exactly what sites are available, helping them to save time and plan their trips.”
Site availability will be known in real-time online, including recent cancellations and online reservations can be made the same day. This is a change from most other state park campgrounds that have a two-day reservation window.
“When we were testing this at Maquoketa Caves, a cancellation would occur and within an hour or two that campsite was reserved,” said Arntzen. “Visitors really appreciated knowing with certainty they would have a site, whether they reserved weeks in advance, or made last-minute plans for the weekend.”
Reservations can be made until 9:00 p.m. the day of arrival by going online at https://iowastateparks.reserveamerica.com/ or by calling the reservation call center at 1-877-427-2757 Mondays through Fridays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; the call center is closed on Sundays.
A registration building in the Walnut Woods State Park campground will provide online and telephone reservation information for those who come to the park looking for a site.
Campers will no longer need to fill out the paper walk-in registration forms or pay with cash or check; all reservations will require a credit card payment online or over the phone.
Customers can still pay by check if the reservation is made through the call center and made at least 21 days in advance.