Reserved or dispersed?

New term for me: dispersed camping. When trying to determine campgrounds along our route, I found that what I would normally refer to as primitive camping is better known by the National Forest or Park Service as dispersed camping. Camping in the outback. No water, no toilets, no fire grates. Pitch your tent anywhere in the National Forest.

We have determined where we’ll be camping the first 6 nights of our trip so far. After that...your guess is as good as mine. Here’s the itinerary so far:
We plan on leaving early Saturday morning, June 29. After almost 500 miles, our first night is reserved at Big Sioux (like that name) Recreation area, just east of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. This will probably be our longest driving day. Sunday night we plan on grabbing dispersed camping in the Black Hills, after driving through the Badlands. We’ve got Devil’s Tower on a list of things to see so we’ll head out Monday morning and check it out. Monday night puts us in Cody, Wyoming. Made a reservation at the pet friendly Cody Motor Lodge. Highly rated by pet lovers on Trip Advisor. Maggie approves.

I reserved a last minute campsite in Yellowstone for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights. It wasn’t our first choice but we didn’t have many options. Yellowstone Park has campgrounds that you can reserve sites at, and also those that are first come first serve. As it’s a holiday week, I felt safer reserving. The woman I spoke with told me we could move to an unreservable site after the first night. According to their website, campsites fill up very fast.

It’s a good thing: I can get a Senior Pass into the park with a heavy discount! That entitles me to reduced rates at any National Park for the rest of my life. Such a deal. Being a senior citizen does have some advantages. These wrinkles and gray hairs should be good for something, right?