How to find a shaded campsite (or a sunny one for solar)
In summer, shade is the difference between a cool tent in the afternoon and an oven. If you run solar panels or a satellite dish you want the opposite. Either way, you can tell a lot before you book.
Start with the booking site’s details
Recreation.gov lists a shade field for many federal campsites, usually just “yes”, “no” or “full”, and most sites have photos. It’s a start, with limits: the field is filled in by hand, it’s inconsistent from one campground to the next, and “yes” can mean a single tree at the edge of the pad.
Look at the tree canopy
Roam Community’s tree canopy layer shows how much of each site is under trees, from Meta’s canopy-height map at roughly one-meter detail and from scans campers make at their sites. Height matters as well as cover: tall trees throw shade much farther across a site than low brush.
Check which side the trees are on
In the US the sun crosses the southern half of the sky and is hottest in the mid to late afternoon, when it’s in the southwest and west. So:
- Trees to the south and west shade you through the hottest part of the day.
- Trees to the east keep the morning cool, then leave you in the sun all afternoon.
- Deciduous trees give full shade in summer and let the sun through in spring and fall, which is when you may want it.
Think about when you need shade at all
Elevation does as much as trees. Air typically cools by about 3 to 5 °F for every 1,000 feet you climb, so a campground 3,000 feet higher can be well over 10 °F cooler. Roam Community’s climate averages show each month’s typical highs and lows, so you can see whether the shade will matter on your dates.
If you want sun: solar and satellite
For solar panels in the US you want open sky to the south. For a Starlink dish you want open sky overhead and generally toward the north. The canopy layer shows both, and our guide to satellite internet at camp has more.
Look up before you set up
Shade comes from trees, and trees drop limbs. When you arrive, check overhead for dead trees and hanging or cracked branches before you pitch a tent or park under them, especially in wind. Canopy maps are estimates, and only you can see what’s overhead.