October is the New September

[Jack]

Late September used to be a great time to hit the National Parks and Monuments. Not so any more. 15 years ago visited Capitol Reef in late September and it was not crowded. This year it was jammed and we bailed to a remote FS campground (closed, but no gate).

We did, however, have some very nice compensation. We visited Death Valley NP. It was just 2 weeks after it was reopened after the floods, and while only a few roads were open, there were no large crowds anywhere. There was easy parking at any of the stops. Texas Spring campground had no more than a dozen campers (less than 5%)

 

[Ted]

Jack, We spent a few nights at Texas Springs not quite a week ago, or right about mid November. Conditions were still the same. Texas Springs CG was barely being used, though we did several FWCs (maybe you in one of them). We were able to park our larger Tiger with no problem at usually filled parking lots such as Badwater or some trailheads. So it is still a good time to go if you can. Many locations are still closed but it was really nice to enjoy the park with so little traffic and so few people.