The hardest reservations in America, measured
"Impossible to book" is usually a vibe. We made it a number. Our scouts have been checking 55 of the most contested reservation targets in the country every 15 minutes — around the clock, for up to 15 days, ≈56,706 checks — recording every time a reserved date flipped open and how long it survived. This page recomputes from the live log on every visit, so it sharpens as the data grows.
The shutouts: never open, not once
Every campground below has been fully booked on every single check since we started watching it. No cancellation we could catch, no momentary opening wider than our 15-minute net. This is the measured shape of "you can't get this site."
| Campground | Watched | Checks | Openings seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dorst Creek Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks | 15 days | ≈1,446 | 0 |
Caught openings — and how fast they died
These campgrounds do open. The catch: the median opening is gone by our very next look. Lifetimes are bounds between our own observations — an opening "gone within ≤15 min" may have lasted seconds.
| Campground | Openings | Rate | Typical lifetime |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Pines Yosemite National Park | 28 since Jul 25 | 65/wk | gone within ≤16 min (median) |
| Upper Pines Yosemite National Park | 27 since Jul 27 | 168/wk | gone within ≤16 min (median) |
| Slough Creek Yellowstone National Park | 26 since Jul 21 | 26/wk | gone within ≤16 min (median) |
| Tuolumne Meadows Yosemite National Park | 20 since Jul 25 | 43/wk | gone within ≤16 min (median) |
| Cougar Rock Mount Rainier National Park | 18 since Jul 27 | 110/wk | gone within ≤18 min (median) |
| Lower Pines Yosemite National Park | 23 since Jul 25 | 50/wk | gone within ≤21 min (median) |
| Many Glacier Glacier National Park | 25 since Jul 27 | 139/wk | gone within ≤31 min (median) |
| Lodgepole Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks | 24 since Jul 27 | 102/wk | gone within ≤31 min (median) |
| Assateague Oceanside Assateague Island National Seashore | 3 since Jul 27 | 18/wk | gone within ≤32 min (median) |
| Apgar Glacier National Park | 26 since Jul 27 | 97/wk | gone within ≤34 min (median) |
| Camp 4 Yosemite National Park | 25 since Jul 27 | 127/wk | gone within ≤44 min (median) |
| Jenny Lake Grand Teton National Park | 3 since Jul 27 | 18/wk | gone within ≤44 min (median) |
| Blackwoods Acadia National Park | 24 since Jul 26 | 68/wk | gone within ≤45 min (median) |
| Crane Flat Yosemite National Park | 19 since Jul 25 | 36/wk | gone within ≤45 min (median) |
| Mammoth Yellowstone National Park | 28 since Jul 25 | 51/wk | gone within ≤46 min (median) |
| Schoodic Woods Acadia National Park | 23 since Jul 24 | 38/wk | gone within ≤46 min (median) |
| Hoh Rainforest Olympic National Park | 16 since Jul 27 | 98/wk | gone within ≤46 min (median) |
| Signal Mountain Grand Teton National Park | 6 since Jul 27 | 37/wk | gone within ≤46 min (median) |
| St. Mary Glacier National Park | 29 since Jul 27 | 152/wk | gone within ≤60 min (median) |
| Fish Creek Glacier National Park | 25 since Jul 26 | 74/wk | gone within ≤60 min (median) |
| Sol Duc Olympic National Park | 21 since Jul 25 | 44/wk | gone within ≤60 min (median) |
| Kalaloch Olympic National Park | 22 since Jul 27 | 84/wk | gone within ≤61 min (median) |
| Hodgdon Meadow Yosemite National Park | 19 since Jul 23 | 23/wk | gone within ≤61 min (median) |
| Moraine Park Rocky Mountain National Park | 10 since Jul 27 | 62/wk | gone within ≤61 min (median) |
| Wawona Yosemite National Park | 26 since Jul 24 | 44/wk | gone within ≤77 min (median) |
| Seawall Acadia National Park | 22 since Jul 24 | 31/wk | gone within ≤105 min (median) |
| Watchman Zion National Park | 19 since Jul 20 | 16/wk | gone within ≤122 min (median) |
| Platte River Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore | 4 since Jul 27 | 25/wk | gone within ≤149 min (median) |
| Potwisha Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks | 18 since Jul 22 | 18/wk | gone within ≤181 min (median) |
| South Zion National Park | 4 since Jul 14 | 1.9/wk | still open at last check |
The tables that never surface
Same instrument, pointed at restaurant books. These calendars have not shown a single new night since we began watching.
| Restaurant | Watched | Checks | New nights seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Charles Prime Rib New York | 15 days | ≈1,445 | 0 |
Tables we caught appearing
Nights that appeared on the calendar while we watched, and how quickly they were swept.
| Restaurant | Appearances | Rate | Typical lifetime |
|---|---|---|---|
| Via Carota New York | 27 since Jul 24 | 44/wk | gone within ≤26 min (median) |
| Tatiana by Kwame Onwuachi New York | 11 since Jul 13 | 5.1/wk | gone within ≤26 min (median) |
| Carbone New York | 21 since Jul 13 | 9.8/wk | gone within ≤41 min (median) |
| Sunny's Steakhouse Miami | 3 since Jul 27 | 18/wk | gone within ≤103 min (median) |
| Bridges New York | 4 since Jul 27 | 25/wk | gone within ≤120 min (median) |
| Lilia New York | 18 since Jul 13 | 8.4/wk | gone within ≤240 min (median) |
| I Sodi New York | 4 since Jul 13 | 1.9/wk | gone within ≤377 min (median) |
| L'Artusi New York | 1 since Jul 27 | 6.1/wk | still open at last check |
| Penny New York | 1 since Jul 27 | 6.1/wk | still open at last check |
How these numbers are made
One shared checker per target polls the venue's own reservation system about every 15 minutes and stores a snapshot. A "opening" is a date that was unavailable on one check and available on the next; its lifetime is bounded by when a later check saw it gone. We can only report what happened between our looks — anything that appeared and vanished inside one interval is invisible to us, so every count here is a floor, not a total. Openings-per-week rates are computed over each target's retained observation window (shown per row). California state-park targets are checked through an on-the-ground relay and have a shorter history than the rest.
Excluded today (checks currently failing, so we can't vouch for their numbers): Bodega Dunes (Sonoma Coast), Carpinteria State Beach, Doheny State Beach, El Capitán State Beach, Julia Pfeiffer Burns, Leo Carrillo, Moro (Crystal Cove), New Brighton State Beach, Pfeiffer Big Sur, Refugio State Beach, San Elijo State Beach, San Onofre Bluffs, South Carlsbad State Beach, Steep Ravine (Mount Tamalpais), Wright's Beach (Sonoma Coast), Anajak Thai, Funke, Pijja Palace, Carbone Miami, Bungalow, COTE Korean Steakhouse, Don Angie, Gage & Tollner, Minetta Tavern, Misi, Peter Luger Steak House, Semma, Torrisi, Zimmi's, Zahav.
Want the next opening at any of these? Each target page has a scout that emails you the moment it happens — campsites · restaurants.