Rec-MCP: Recreation & Campground Search

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides tools for finding camping facilities and recreational areas using Recreation.gov's Recreation Information Database (RIDB) API and Google Maps Geocoding API.

Features

• 🏕️ Find Camping Facilities: Search for campgrounds and recreational facilities near any location

• 🌍 Geocoding Support: Convert city names to coordinates using Google Maps API

• 🔍 Flexible Search: Customize search radius, result limits, and activity types. Change your prompts to locate reservable vs. first-come, first-serve campgrounds, etc.

• 📊 Rich Data: Get detailed facility information including contact details, amenities, and image URLs

• 🛠️ MCP Integration: Works seamlessly with MCP clients

Prerequisites

• Python 3.12 or higher

• API keys for:

  • Recreation.gov API (RIDB)

  • Google Maps Geocoding API

Setup

1. Clone the repository

2. Install dependencies

• uv add requests python-dotenv mcp

3. Create a .env file in the project root:

   • env RIDB_API_KEY=your_recreation_gov_api_key_here

   • GOOGLE_GEOCODE_KEY=your_google_maps_api_key_here

4. Run the server

   • uv --directory /your_file_path/rec_mcp/ run ridb_mcp_server.py

Testing the MCP Server

Use the MCP Inspector to ensure the MCP Server is working before integrating it into any clients.

Install MCP inspector globally npm install -g @modelcontextprotocol/inspector

Run the inspector mcp-inspector uv run python ridb_mcp_server.py

Integrating the MCP Server with Clients

The MCP Server can be integrated into clients such as Claude Desktop and VSCode.

For Claude Desktop, add the server to the claude_desktop_config.json file.

Credits

JetBrains AI Pro generated 90 % of the code written for this project in PyCharm.