Adirondack Shelters

Asks the National Park Service to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up, and to post what that share is.

Subject Hold back a share of sites at Adirondack Shelters for campers who drive up

To the National Park Service, Catoctin Mountain Park:

I tried to camp at Adirondack Shelters in Maryland and couldn’t.

All 2 sites at Adirondack Shelters are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 2 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked.

1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Adirondack Shelters keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule.

I’m asking for one specific thing: set aside a published share of the sites at Adirondack Shelters as first-come, first-served, and post what that share is so it can be checked.

Somebody who drives up has no way in, and no way to find out whether they might have had one.

Sent about Adirondack Shelters (Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland) via campanac.com

Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.

Subject Walk-up camping at Adirondack Shelters, Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland

Dear April McClain Delaney,

I’m a constituent in Maryland’s 6th district. I tried to camp at Adirondack Shelters, Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland, and couldn’t.

All 2 sites at Adirondack Shelters are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 2 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked.

1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Adirondack Shelters keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule.

I’m not asking you to run Adirondack Shelters. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund.

The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them.

Sent about Adirondack Shelters (Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland) via campanac.com

Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.

Subject Walk-up camping at Adirondack Shelters, Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland

Dear Angela D. Alsobrooks,

I’m a constituent in Maryland. I tried to camp at Adirondack Shelters, Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland, and couldn’t.

All 2 sites at Adirondack Shelters are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 2 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked.

1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Adirondack Shelters keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule.

I’m not asking you to run Adirondack Shelters. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund.

The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them.

Sent about Adirondack Shelters (Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland) via campanac.com

Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.

Subject Walk-up camping at Adirondack Shelters, Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland

Dear Chris Van Hollen,

I’m a constituent in Maryland. I tried to camp at Adirondack Shelters, Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland, and couldn’t.

All 2 sites at Adirondack Shelters are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 2 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked.

1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Adirondack Shelters keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule.

I’m not asking you to run Adirondack Shelters. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund.

The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them.

Sent about Adirondack Shelters (Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland) via campanac.com