News Photo by Temi Fadayomi A sign giving directions to Long Lake Park in Alpena County stands on the side of the road in this image taken on Wednesday. The three campgrounds owned by Alpena County now offer online reservations beginning after the first of the year.

ALPENA — For those wanting to camp at Long Lake Park, Beaver Lake Park, and Sunken Lake Park, the process to reserve campsites in Alpena County is going to be much simpler.

This camping season, campers will be able to book their preferred dates and campsites online, beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 3, instead of having to call the parks in the early morning hours and hope that the message you leave is timely enough to get the reservation you desire.

For years, the county has depended on its park managers and an outdated reservation software system to reserve sites via phone calls or messages on an answering machine. County Administrator Mary Catherine Hannah said that process was not ideal, as some people struggled to make reservations or have a chance at a prime lot, such as those on water.

Now, the playing field will be leveled and everyone will have the same chance to get a premium site. A reservation link can be found on the county’s website which will redirect visitors to the new reservation system provider to select the dates they want to reserve and the lot where they want to camp.

“This was a huge challenge for us because basically, we were doing paper and pencil reservations,” Hannah said. “The credit card process was a challenge and it wasn’t very efficient. We’re ready to go and very excited about the new change.”

Reservation policy will remain the same, Hannah said. People will need to pay for one night at the time of making the reservation or two nights if it is a holiday.

She said people will see which lots are unavailable due to seasonal campers and how much the costs are for the other types of camping sports in the parks.

Hannah said the reservation system is online now, but not accepting reservations until shortly after the new year. She said other features of the new system will come online in the coming months, as more data is added.

“You’ll be able to see pictures of the lots you are interested in and we’ll have all of the bells and whistles,” she said. “They aren’t all functioning now, but they will be added soon.”

One of the main reasons it has taken so long for a new online reservation system to be implemented was because of the lack of high-speed internet at the parks. Hannah said that the issue has been resolved and now the internet will work more efficiently.

She said making reservations easy to do online will help attract people from outside the area because links to the reservation site can be shared across the internet.

“It is just going to be a much easier and less stressful process,” she said.