# Campsites on Ruby Horsethief



## Down River Equipment (Apr 12, 2006)

What day are you trying to book? September 9th is 59 days out and can be booked by anyone now. Commercial trips do run that section, but it isn't the most popular section for commercials. They do get some early preference, but they are always good camps available first thing on day 60. September 10th is the 60th day and can't be booked until 10AM EST. It appears all sites are currently available to be booked on September 10th.


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## canoedog87c (May 19, 2017)

I understand how it's supposed to work. 
What I'm saying is that sites are already gone by the time I'm even allowed to add the site to my itinerary. Someone is able to reserve early. The best sites are always booked before we even have a chance. For instance Black Rocks 5, 7 and 8 were already booked for the 10th when I got online this morning an hour before I could reserve that date. I'm assuming it's outfitters.


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## cain (Dec 28, 2011)

It is probably the same issue with the 4 rivers and Dino they had going on where the call line opens up earlier than the online system and anybody that calls in at 8:00am can reserve campsites and permits while online user's are waiting for the time limits. Rec.gov is a dysfunctional organization with no oversite like all government subcontractors and they charge their high fees to make millions while being incompetent and unorganized without being held accountable. Rec.gov sucks!


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## canoedog87c (May 19, 2017)

cain said:


> It is probably the same issue with the 4 rivers and Dino they had going on where the call line opens up earlier than the online system and anybody that calls in at 8:00am can reserve campsites and permits while online user's are waiting for the time limits. Rec.gov is a dysfunctional organization with no oversite like all government subcontractors and they charge their high fees to make millions while being incompetent and unorganized without being held accountable. Rec.gov sucks!


That makes sense. Thanks. Next time I will use the call line and see if I get better availability.


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## DoStep (Jun 26, 2012)

First, you should not be blaming the outfitters for this issue, it isn't them.

Second, rec.gov has done nothing to improve any of the reservation systems. With any luck, even just one of their employees monitor this site and they will begin to understand this some day. But I'm not holding my breath.

Is it 60 days or is it two months? It's enough of a detail to matter, for instance, you were trying to book for Sep 10 on July 11, so you may have missed it by a day, thus the prime spots were gone. 

I'm not aware of a call-in system for Ruby, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Good luck.


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## canoedog87c (May 19, 2017)

DoStep said:


> First, you should not be blaming the outfitters for this issue, it isn't them.
> 
> Second, rec.gov has done nothing to improve any of the reservation systems. With any luck, even just one of their employees monitor this site and they will begin to understand this some day. But I'm not holding my breath.
> 
> ...


No, I was doing it correctly. I logged onto rec.gov well before the sites should have been available for the 10th so I'd be ready. 
Black Rocks 4, 5, and 7 were already listed as reserved well before 10am EDT. If it's not outfitters getting early access then there must be a call in line.


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## RyanOBrian (Aug 16, 2016)

*.*

I think what people do is they'll book say BlackRocks 5 a day before you and chose 2 nights there even though they'll only be there 1 night. If that makes sense.... or I could totally be wrong.


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## Down River Equipment (Apr 12, 2006)

It appears that all sites are still available for September 10th. I don't see any showing as reserved.


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## 2tomcat2 (May 27, 2012)

RyanOBrian is correct. This happens with both river sites and regular camping sites through rec.gov and reserveamerica. It pays to monitor the site frequently, at all hours, as shown with openings now on September 10.


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## basinrafter (May 12, 2009)

Down River Equipment said:


> It appears that all sites are still available for September 10th. I don't see any showing as reserved.


There are two pages of campsites - if you go to the next page, you'll see that BR 5-8 are all reserved.


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## bacontrees (Jun 4, 2019)

*Black Rock Sites Taken*



canoedog87c said:


> I've noticed something very irritating when trying to reserve campsites on the Ruby Horsethief. I log into my account on Recreation.gov at the crack of dawn the day sites are supposed to be reservable and often the best sites are gone before they are even available for the public to reserve them. I'm sure it's outfitters that are getting the sites. If so why do the outfitters get to reserve the best sites before the public even has a chance? It's very frustrating and it happens time and again. Good luck getting Cottonwood 5 or Black Rocks 5. As of this moment I am on the Recreation.gov site and trying to reserve a site at Black Rocks. When I click on a date and add it to the itinerary it get a notification that this site can't be added to the itinerary until 10am EDT. BUT, several other sites (including the best ones) are already gone. What is going on? And who do I call to complain to?


There's definitely something strange going on here. It's almost like the BR sites are non-reservable, ever. I figured out that the 60-day rolling window only applies to the FIRST night of your trip, and you can book subsequent nights outside of the 60-day window. So, people must be reserving an earlier site as soon as possible as a "placeholder" of sorts, then adding BR sites to their second/third days.

Check this out (first column is 8/3, today is first day for availability):
https://imgur.com/a/mZClvCb

You can see I picked a site before BR for 8/3, then tried to work my way down to a BR availability. Absolutely nothing, well into the next week.

There's something fishy going on here. Someone's not playing by the rules, or some groups are given a different set of rules than the rest of us...


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