Orange County Register

You may think it’s impossible to get a beach campsite in the summer, considering how they all get reserved up seven months in advance, but I’m going to let you in on a secret.

A lot of people who reserved those sites way, way back in the winter are just now getting around to calling up or going online and cancelling their reservations, which they must do at least 48 hours in advance, if they want to get their money back.

This means that those sites go back on the market, available for the likes of you and me, who can go camping locally with a week’s notice or less.

So if you go online a week or less ahead of time, you can score a campsite even at the most desirable beaches.

For example, if you want a campsite at Doheny State Beach, there are some available online right now for this week but they WON’T LAST so jump this minute and reserve one of them!

Other sites are available this week too, at other parks such as San Clemente, San Onofre and the beautiful El Capitan and Leo Carrillo state beaches, so keep reading.

The easiest way to search for campsites at different beaches all at once, is to go to www.reserveamerica.com and, under “Find campgrounds” on the left, put in your zip code under the line “Near”.

Then, go lower on the form and select “range,” then put in the dates you want to search. For example, today through next Monday. Select “1″ as the number of days you want to camp. Then, search.

The system will show you every campground that has sites available for the date range you selected, in order of their proximity to your zip code. Then, if you click on the campground, it will show you which sites are available.

A big “A” under the date means you can reserve it online for the dates specified.

A “W” means it’s only available by going in person to the park, which is necessary 48 hours or less prior to the check-in date.

As I’m looking at the site, there’s even a site at Doheny available for two nights this weekend, which is pretty cool. Non-beachfront sites cost $25. Beachfront sites cost $35. Either way, that’s a lot cheaper than the $200 a night most beachfront hotels charge! And a darn site cheaper than $400 a night at the Ritz-Carlton, though the bathrooms are funkier.

Click here for the reservation website for Doheny State Beach.

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