California makes more coveted campsites available by lottery

Some of California’s most coveted campsites will be available through a lottery system, the state parks agency has announced.

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The system has been tested since 2023 for cabins at Mount Tamalpais and now will be expanded to three more parks whose sites are hard to book: McArthur-Burney Falls, Morro Bay and Malibu Creek.

The new lotteries were announced along with a revamping of the California parks website, billed as an improved integration with its reservations service, ReserveCalifornia.com.

Names will be selected in the lottery seven months in advance; a winner then has 30 days to claim and pay for the reservation. There is no fee just to enter the lottery, but applicants must create a ReserveCalifornia account.

Currently, the lottery is open for dates in April 2026. The map above shows the four parks in the lottery:

1/ Steep Ravine cabins, Mount Tamalpais State Park. Coastside cluster of cabins south of Stinson Beach; $100 a night. The parks system says more than 100,000 people have entered the cabin lottery since it was launched in December 2023.

2/ McArthur-Burney Falls. Park in the Shasta area fills to capacity most days in late spring and summer; campsites are $35 a night.

3/ Morro Bay. Beach campground has RV and tent sites starting at $35 a night.

4/ Malibu Creek. Former TV and movie filming site in the Santa Monica Mountains; campsites start at $45.

Some sites at the parks will remain available through the conventional reservation system, where they can be booked three to six months in advance.

As part of the effort to give more people a shot at the most popular campsites, the lottery will include a points system: Each unsuccessful attempt means a point for the applicant, which translates to another chance to win the next time. Points can be accumulated until the applicant wins and claims a spot, when they’ll be reset to zero.