Denied a tent site?

[cpaharley2008]

Originally Posted by Paul Chet

Of all places, we had a reservation at Yosemite (Crane Flat campground). We called in advance saying we would be checking in late and they assured us it was cool. We got to the closed ranger booth and there was a marker board posted with all late arrivals camp site numbers ... but not ours! It was getting late and we were worried so we finally found an open spot we liked and I was able to get the U Haul into a nice site and all set up. Next morning the ranger came by to check us in and was very excited at how cute and small it was ... AND that we got it into a tent site! We had no idea and I offered to move not wishing for any trouble but she said we did a great job of getting it in there and no need to move. Ya never know!

By the way ... we're going back to Crane Flat in 3 weeks to say the least!

But the question is? Will you be in the same tent site or a different one?

[Paul Chet]

Good question! To be honest, no I had to engage the 4x4 to get us nestled in there in between these big redwoods in the first place! It was dark and our very first trip with our (then, new to us) UHaul. We used huge rocks because our leveling blocks were useless on the uneven terrain and I hadn't yet bought my BAL leveler. It was a rough start - but we had a BLAST!

One thing I always do at places I intend to return to, is get the site map and walk the campground with a highlighter pen and circle my favorite spots for next time. I hole punch each map and keep them in my onboard "Egg Binder" (which has everything from parts manuals to copies of trip logs and receipts).

This time I intend to get a much nicer tent site!
Kind of kidding there ... it appears that we will have plenty of choices of where to set up. Once there, i'll politely ask the ranger if we can use an ideal open tent site (someone here correctly mentioned the tent sites always seem to be the best ones!) but make the reservation for the approved tailer site. I feel it was more than likely a one-off last time and our ranger might not be as laid back this time, so its not worth the gamble of getting all the way to Yosemite and into the park to find out there are no approved trailer spots left and we are SOL. I've learned that striking up a friendly chat with the ranger at check-in can go a long way ... but also to plan for the worst and be pleasantly surprised when it doesn't happen!

[Cathi]

When we tent camped, as Jen, we were often in an RV site with electric. We did stay in the tent area at Lake Harlan in Nebraska for the week and we had the whole big nice tent area to ourselves and the best view next to the water. No one would drive into that tent area because it was not suitable for that.

If someone paid for an RV site with electric but wanted to be in a tent area, a park might be more amenable to allowing a trailer. But the tent area we were in was all grass and obviously was not a place to drive anything. People do not necessarily expect vehicles in the tent area, depending on how it is set up.

[floyd]

At Mid-Ohio we were told that we MUST camp in the tent area, until we proved that we had both gray and black water tanks, then we got the spot we paid for.

[Raz]

Originally Posted by floyd

At Mid-Ohio we were told that we MUST camp in the tent area, until we proved that we had both gray and black water tanks, then we got the spot we paid for.

Any idea what their reasoning is?

[Bobbie Mayer]

One thing I always do at places I intend to return to, is get the site map and walk the campground with a highlighter pen and circle my favorite spots for next time. I hole punch each map and keep them in my onboard "Egg Binder" (which has everything from parts manuals to copies of trip logs and receipts).

What a great idea! I'll have to think about how to do that but keeping the file electronically as I hate paperwork. Maybe do it as you do and then scan the map in and put it in a file.

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by Bobbie Mayer

What a great idea! I'll have to think about how to do that but keeping the file electronically as I hate paperwork. Maybe do it as you do and then scan the map in and put it in a file.

Scanner works pretty good.

[Frederick L. Simson]

Originally Posted by P. Raz

Any idea what their reasoning is?

I suspect that they wanted to not have to turn away a bulgemobile to accommodate something as tiny as a Scamp 13' since full hook-up sites tend to be large.

[floyd]

Originally Posted by P. Raz

Any idea what their reasoning is?

No idea really since there are porta pottis in both places and no hook-ups.
What further frustrated me was that they only allowed racers and crew to use the dump station on our way out.We had raced there in the past and worked corners so we were surprised that we had to leave with full tanks. Certainly the spectator/camping charge for the three days was plenty high to justify access to the dump station.
Still... Having the Scamp backed up to the railing on turn one was a pleasant and lasting memory.

[Paul Chet]

Actually, Bobbie and Byron thank you both ... great ideas. Since I have a scanner /email machine at work, I can scan my documents as PDFs and email them immediately. I can save all the PDFs on my iPad in a separate photo library since the egg binder kinda lives in the egg and often while we are down the road we say "which campground had this or that, etc.?" and we have to wait to stop to get the binder. Having the iPad in the truck with scanned docs will really be handy for quick decision making!

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by floyd

No idea really since there are porta pottis in both places and no hook-ups.
so we were surprised that we had to leave with full tanks. Certainly the spectator/camping charge for the three days was plenty high to justify access to the dump station.

Just spent the week-end at a Provincial park that has no connections at any of the sites and the nightly fee was pretty steep $30 & you had to pay $5 to use the dump station on your way out.

[Letitia]

Originally Posted by Tim Wood

Yep I was denied a tent site last Feb. down in Florida state campground so had to go to another campground, but it all worked out.

Tim,
I am curious to know which Florida SP said no....if you don't mind telling us.
And which other campground said yes?

[hotfishtacos]

Originally Posted by Paul Chet

Actually, Bobbie and Byron thank you both ... great ideas. Since I have a scanner /email machine at work, I can scan my documents as PDFs and email them immediately. I can save all the PDFs on my iPad in a separate photo library since the egg binder kinda lives in the egg and often while we are down the road we say "which campground had this or that, etc.?" and we have to wait to stop to get the binder. Having the iPad in the truck with scanned docs will really be handy for quick decision making!

Paul, if you have a smart phone or pad there is a free app that I use called "Scan to pdf" that takes a picture from your phone and converts it to pdf. I used to use it for receipt when traveling on business. Save the files on your phone for quick reference, including campground maps.

Steve

[Bobbie Mayer]

I wish I'd remembered this idea myself... duh. Well, next trip!