Ask UnkieTrunkie V
wish it was that easy
Joshua Tree DOES have a 1st come 1st serve policy, we went out to scope sites for the Eclipse and nabbed one to return to later in the RV, by the time we took the lil tag to deposit into the Rangers box with our $$ some kids tried to take it 
we politely informed them that it was already taken

Beach ones are on the State Park dealio which I can make a res for but sheesH all X's way out till like Oct Nov

DID nab one once at SoCarlsbad overlooking the beach VERY
to wake up to that sound
another one up the PCH has sites at ground level so you can just walk out into the sand
IIRC, you have to book 180 or 365 days before your date online. Chances are always slim you'll even get them with that much advance notice. I have a friend from HS who always got Kirby Cove (Marin headlands) for years. Then, starting a few years ago, it became a complete crapshoot.










