Who built Campsite Ranger, and how it works.

Who runs Campsite Ranger?

I’m Chris Dorsey. I live in Arvada, Colorado, and I built Campsite Ranger. It is run by Campsite Ranger LLC, a one-person Colorado company.

Campsite Ranger is not affiliated with Recreation.gov, the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, or any government agency — it reads their public pages and feeds, the same ones you can.

How does Campsite Ranger find cancellations?

• It checks around the clock: dates in the next two months every few minutes, most often through the Thursday-evening-to-Saturday cancellation rush. Dates further out are checked in rotation, less often.
• It double-checks. When a sold-out date turns available, it reads the page a second time before emailing you, so a flicker doesn’t become an alert.
• You book it yourself. The email links straight to the site on Recreation.gov, at the normal price. Campsite Ranger never books, holds, or resells a reservation, and never signs in to your account.
• Alerts are capped at three emails per watch per day.

Where does the conditions data come from?

Air quality comes from AirNow (EPA), wildfire perimeters from WFIGS/NIFC, park alerts and closures from the National Park Service, and forecasts from the National Weather Service. The conditions board refreshes about every ten minutes.

It’s a planning heads-up, not an official source — check NPS and NWS before you drive.

What does it cost?

One watch is free, always. Memberships add more watches. Nothing auto-renews, and everything we sell has a 30-day, no-questions refund.

What is covered?

Colorado only, on purpose: 47 campgrounds on Recreation.gov, the timed-entry permits for Rocky Mountain National Park, Mount Blue Sky, and Brainard Lake, and the Maroon Bells–Snowmass wilderness zones.

The coverage map lists every one. The guides explain how each reservation system actually works, and the release calendar tells you the exact morning a date opens.

Has Campsite Ranger been in the news?

• The Colorado Sun: A new website is helping campers score Colorado’s most elusive campsites, by Dan England, October 8, 2026.
• Arvada Press: Arvada dad builds website to help folks get outdoors, by Rylee Dunn, October 5, 2026.

Writing about camping, permits, or getting outside in Colorado? I’m happy to pull numbers or explain how a reservation system works. Email chris@campsiteranger.com.

Found a mistake?

Reservation rules change every season, and the guides say when they were last updated. If something is wrong or out of date, email chris@campsiteranger.com and I’ll fix it.