camp ground behavior

[john warren]

ok,,, this should be a sticker on some easily seen spot on everyones camping equipment,,,but clearly isn't.

i know you can't train people that just don't care how they effect others...but for the rest of us. that want to enjoy ourselves,,, and enjoy seeing our fellow campers enjoying them selves.... we should refresh ourselves on campground manors once in awhile.

so....
pick up your trash,,,and someone elses too. make it cleaner then when you found it.
don't dump dishpans or left overs on the ground.
i love dogs,,,pick up after yours or i will assume you forgot and place what i pick up in your car for you....( not really,,,but its a thought)
don't clean fish up wind of my campsite.
hold the music down, not everyone likes M.C. Hammer anymore.
laugh and enjoy yourself,,, but start quieting down when it gets dark. and when quiet time set by the park arrives, be quiet.
it is rude to pass threw someones campsite without permission.
do not,,, use foul language! ok, we can forgive a stubbed toe,,, a sliver,,, and accidentlyt chopped off foot, but children, and (forgive me i'm old fashion) women do not need to hear every foul word you have ever learned.
and lastly,,,if its dry out, be carefull just how much trail dust you kick into my dinner .
well,,,looks like common decency to me....whatcha think?

[john warren]

P.S. please add more, specialy your own pet peaves. that way i can learn how to be a better camping friend.

[SherryNPaul]

Please run your generator during generator hours. If the park doesn't have generator hours, please use common sense and some courtesy.

[Donna D.]

Here's a five pager that can add to what John posted: http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...ors-27392.html

[john warren]

lol i can see 5 pages of rude camper behavior as an easy list.lol and thats just so sad isn't it?

[SherryNPaul]

I think everything goes back to the "Golden Rule." Think about how noise, light, and behavior affect you, and act accordingly. Honestly, most people are really good camping neighbors.

[Rene]

Unfortunately the people who need to read this will never be found here. Rude campers are so abundant they will sometimes ruin even the most far off boondocking sites. My pet peeve is that even when you pay for a nice spot in a park, the attendants rarely enforce any sort of noise rules. I am pretty live and let live so people can do as they wish as long as they are quiet about it.

[john warren]

Originally Posted by Rene

Unfortunately the people who need to read this will never be found here. Rude campers are so abundant they will sometimes ruin even the most far off boondocking sites. My pet peeve is that even when you pay for a nice spot in a park, the attendants rarely enforce any sort of noise rules. I am pretty live and let live so people can do as they wish as long as they are quiet about it.

i will say i rarely have troubles in state and national parks. and when i do there is a ranger or campground host available to deal with it.
but those little thoughtless actions that slip by us all can sometimes ruin a day. say a carelessly tossed wad of chewing gum that becomes one with your carpet.
i guess thats my point, not so much to pick at bad eggs,,,but to look at what i can do to avoid being a bad egg myself.
and yes,,,that seperates us from the ones that really need to read this stuff .
but in scouting, as with all things we learn to lead by example. let me be the camper others learn from, and wish to emmulate is my goal.

[melissab]

Gee, nobody mentioned unruly, unsupervised, noisy children. My 2 girls (9 and 15) have asked me on more than 1 occasion if I like kids. My reply is "Only well behaved ones" which unfortunately is NOT the standard these days. Hubby and I refuse to be sat next to kids at restaurants or any other close quarters arrangement. I dont want to be camped next to them either listening to them whine and have them run through my campsite. My youngest has had her sand bucket/shovel taken and then broken by other kids, floaties/swim toys, dive toys, scooter taken, lost or broken. All the while parents dont even notice or dont care. To me undisciplined children make adults life miserable so why on earth would adults let kids run their lives and ruin it?? I've homeschooled my nearly 16 y/o since 4th grade and now my 3rd graders wants to start homeschooling next year not b/c she hates school, getting up early, the homework etc but b/c she cant stand how the kids act! What does that say about society when even my kids dont want to be around other kids, lol.

[Robin G]

Originally Posted by melissab

Gee, nobody mentioned unruly, unsupervised, noisy children.

Speaking of charming children , I have to relate a camping nightmare my friends recently had. They went camping at this remote, lakeside campground looking for a peaceful weekend. Instead they ended up with a weekend of camping hell.......... There was a family of charming children that ran wild all day long. And at night their parents proceeded to strap headlamps to the little darlings and let them run all night long (cause they could see with the headlamps ) I guess the kids were running thru campsites playing Marco Polo etc.


I am just thankful I didn't go on that trip, but I do know if I had, I would have ripped the heads lamps off their little heads and hid them somewhere on their parents body that the sun never sees Care to guess?




John, unfortunately your preaching to the choir. But we do feel your frustration.

[theresa p]

john---i thank you for posting this gentle reminder of camping manners.

we, too, have had our fair share of rude neighbours in parks...both private as well as public. as melissa said, there is one thing i harped endlessly on with our boys when we took them camping--DON'T RUN THRU THE OTHER CAMPSITES!....i absolutely hate that. and yes, we've had noisy, late-night party neighbours, neighbours who strew their stuff from one corner of their site to the next, often encroaching on ours and those most-favourite of neighbours, the drunks who seem also to be deaf, based on the volume of their music.
i have made complaints to wardens/owners/managers, spoken to the offenders, b*tched to other campers (not proud of that) and have even left once.
is there a magic solution? nope. not one i have found yet. i have recorded license numbers etc. but often i find that if there was adequate patrols throughout the park in the evening especially, alot of the disturbances would/could be avoided or eliminated. a cursory drive thru a park once an hour often doesn't cut it. parks that have people patrolling on golf carts, driving around every 15-20 minutes or so have alot less problems, at least, in my experience staying is such places. just my 2 cents.

[idiotsniff]

most people these days do not consider anyone else but themselves.

[CindyL]

We look for campgrounds with full hookups and try to steer clear of tent campers and pop-up campers. I realize I am generalizing here and might be stepping on toes, but the worst behaviors I have run into are tent campers (One started his fire right next to our propane tank.) and popup campers. We also tend to avoid family-style campgrounds.

I am with you, Melissa. If I am paying for your meal, I will ask to be seated away from noisy children, despite the convenience of your waitstaff. We tend to frequent more expensive places to eat, because that is less likely to have noisy children. Same with campgrounds.

CindyL

[rgrugg]

Never have done it but I've been tempted to put on Beethoven's 5th symphony very loud when somebody turned their rock "music" on loud. I like some rock but most I hear is just noise to my ears.

[Lil M.]

It's a problem that's been around many years.
In 1994 we were camping with our 1972 Bethany pop-up camper at Black Hills National Forest Horsethief Campground (no electric campsites). Our neighbors in an RV had a noisy generator running when we set up camp early in the afternoon. Then they packed up and left. Whew!, we said, Glad THAT noise is gone! About supper time they reappeared and started their generator. And it was STILL loud! About 9:30, I told my husband that the noise was just too much to endure and his comment was, "Well, I'M not going to get into a fight over it!" So that left it up to me. I walked over to their campsite and knocked on their door. A child opened it and I asked to talk to their Mom or Dad. I said (nicely) that the noise of their generator was so loud that I had difficulty talking to my family. Would they please shut it off? They looked at each other with a look that said...well, someone finally complained. They agreed to shut it off. As I walked away from their campsite, the husband came out and shut off the generator. From campsites all over the campground, I heard shouts of "THANK YOU!" Guess I did the right thing.
But it told me something of my husband's willingness to cherish his wife's wishes.

[BCDave]

Originally Posted by SherryNPaul

I think everything goes back to the "Golden Rule."

This is generally interpreted as "The guy with the gold, makes the rules"

A second meaning seems to be "Do unto others, FIRST!", or perhaps , even more straightforward - "Do unto others".

Between dogs and kidlets, I have come to think of campgrounds as something to be endured, (not enjoyed), with hotels & motels being a much-preferred place to stay overnight

[BCDave]

Originally Posted by Lil M.

But it told me something of my husband's willingness to cherish his wife's wishes.

You wished to get him killed?

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by SherryNPaul

Please run your generator during generator hours. If the park doesn't have generator hours, please use common sense and some courtesy.

Please dont run your generator first thing in the morning while other campers are trying to enjoy their morning coffee and listen to the birds sing - or have a nice dinner around a campfire...... better still dont run it at all if the next door campers are at their site.....

[Lil M.]

Originally Posted by BCDave

You wished to get him killed?

No, but he could have walked over there with me.

[DaveK]

Don't 'borrow' my firewood no matter how big the pile is. . . I've awakened or come back to a reduced pile more than a couple of times.

Mind you, there was the time we were having a family reunion camping trip with about 10 families. The brother in law and I took a chainsaw up out of the park to an area where we could cut wood legally and came back with two Tacoma loads. A largish pile. We stacked it between our two sites where the various familes could take at will. (Wound up making another run -- campers do love their fires).

Next day an Asian man walked up while we were having dinner and helped himself to an armload. We were bemused. When he came for more later, I went to explain the error of his ways. He responded in !?Chinese!??! I called my son over and he spoke with the fellow in Mandarin. ( Gotta love the LDS Missionary Training Center). Turns out the fellow was from Taiwan, was visiting friends on a camping trip, and when he saw so many of our various family members taking wood he assumed it was provided by the park for public use. (It WAS a big pile).
Next day we took him up the mountain for firewood. I guess the BIL and I didn't need much excuse to go play with the chainsaw.

I have to confess being the horrible neighbour once. The ranger came to remonstrate with me about the excessively loud music. I did have it loud enough to hear as I sat outside under awning between the open window and door (Iow --not loud) I of course turned it down because I have a policy about arguing with persons wearing a badge, a uniform, and Glock. It seems that my (low volume) performance of lute music from my Collected Works of John Dowland was interfering with the next door neighbour's enjoyment of All My Children INSIDE her bulgie. Go figure.