About camping on a busy, busy weekend:
- A lot of NF campgrounds take reservations. Use the Campfinder app, or go to Forestcamping.com to view all campgrounds within a NF. It'll give nightly prices, a nice description of the campground, and tell you whether not campsites can be reserved. If so, you can make reservations through ReserveUSA.com. It's not real cheap; they hit you with a service charge per day, for your reservation. But on a holiday weekend, it's the way to go.
- When you're in national forest country, bear in mind that unfenced, open land is technically open for public use, unless otherwise posted. So if the campgrounds are full, follow a forest road and look for a turnout where others have obviously camped. If it's not posted, help yourself. For water, run back to the campground and use their pump. The campground host might try to chase you away, but most will look the other way.
- If you can find the number for the local US Forest Service station, give them a call. They're amazingly friendly and helpful, and I've had them give me detailed directions to popular, nearby areas that are commonly used for free camping.