Why I built CampingSorted

Like most people, I started out of frustration. I tried to book a popular campsite in BC and did everything right — set an alert the day bookings opened, logged in within the hour — and still got nothing. So I went down the rabbit hole: the park’s own notifier (too slow), then a paid monitoring service (better, but I could tell from the data it was still missing openings), and finally — like a lot of tech-minded people apparently do — I scripted my own.

It worked. I got the notifications. And I still missed the spot I wanted, because I was in a work meeting, or at a kid’s activity, or just… living my life. I eventually got the site. But the problem stuck with me.

Here’s what really got me: our family only started camping recently, and we love it — it’s fantastic with young kids. We took years to get into it because finding a site felt so hard: the research, the hunting, the refreshing. How many other families never start at all because it looks like that much work?

After some thought (and a lot of research), I landed on a few principles:

• Knowing about a campsite should be free. Camping is a public good. Discovering what’s out there — and being told when it opens — shouldn’t cost a thing, and nothing I build will cross that line.
• Getting a spot shouldn’t require code. If everyone writes their own scripts, they hammer the parks and still lock out most of the people who’d love to go. One service watching politely, on everyone’s behalf, is fairer than an arms race — and easier on the parks.
• If you pay, you should get more than a ping. A paid service should come with information: how often does this kind of site free up on these dates? How in demand is it? How fast do I need to move — and what improves my odds?
• Discovery should be easier. If I just want to get outside, why do I have to hunt park by park to find a site that works for us?

At the end of the day, anyone should be able to tell their family — or just themselves — “Camping, sorted!” and spend less time stressing about a reservation and more time on the adventure (or the deliberate lack of one) waiting at the other end.

A bit about me

Hi, I’m Eric. I grew up camping — my scout troop headed somewhere new almost every month, all kinds of adventures. That love of being outside is something I want for myself, and to share with my kids (4 and 7 as I write this).

My career’s wandered, but lately I’ve settled into data — first as an analyst, now as a data engineer. CampingSorted let me point modern data tools at a problem I care about, in the hope it helps a lot of people (you) get outside more.