Where is the worst place you've ever camped?

[Steve Hammel]

A casino parking lot on the outskirts of Las Vegas mid August 1998. The temp got down to 105 F outside not sure what it was in the camper. Add in the noisy drunks stumbling out of the casino, the neon lights and that heat and, as "thrifty" as I am, I went in and begged for a room. They were full up and didn't release another block of rooms until almost midnight. I ended up paying over $100 for a room much larger than I needed for myself and it was worth it. I learned you don't camp in the SW in summer without AC.

[CindyL]

Campground in northern IL. Swimming lake that led to filthy bathrooms. CROWDED. Train track right there with MANY trains. And idiot next to us who seemed to be wanting to make fun for little kid but no idea what he was doing. They were car-camping; wife and he had a fight; she was pissed and wouldn't come out of car. Then, he lights a fire a foot from our propane tank!

I have a mommy-rating scale. That one rates no further visits.

CindyL

[Ray N]

I guess we're spoiled by the nicely maintained state parks in Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi (the poorest state in the union); because we were shocked by the poor facilities at Fort Maasac State Park in Illinois; where we stayed for three nights last month. The setting was nice enough, but the list of poor facilities includes the following: They only had one shower house for the entire campground, including the large tent camping area; and the run-down shower house had two showers and one, I repeat, ONE toilet stall - and that had a lock that didn't work! The sites had elevated fire grills that were so rusted out that many, including ours, were unusable, and no other provisions for fires. There were no water hook-ups at the sites - something that evidently isn't rare at state parks up North; I had to go to Walmart and buy a jerry can to transfer water so I didn't have to unhitch every time my tank ran low. The dump station was disgusting - surrounded by foul-smelling mud and so poorly maintained that you had to use pieces of concrete to cover the hole and support your hose. It wasn't a horror story, but we're just used to so much better here in the South.

We had paid for four nights, while my wife visited the national quilt museum and quilt show across the river in Paducah, where she had a quilt entered. But we left a day early and never looked back.

[Bob Miller]

Mentioning Train Tracks reminded me of a week we spent one night tenting in the late 60's in a campground near Revelstoke, B.C. The Canadian National tracks were on one side, Canadian Pacific on the other side, it was trains in stereo almost all night long.

[MC1]

Quite a few years ago we tented in Devils Glen Provincial park. A night in hell.

On one side of us a band of drunkin local rednecks and the on the other side a motorcycle gang. All night long screaming, yelling, etc. Must have heard the "F" word 500 times. The sad thing about it was there was younger kids at the motorcycle site. Not nice.

[Evergreengirl]

These stories have all made me chuckle. None of these experiences were fun at the time, but they sure provide us with some good tales to tell, don't they? I do agree with someone above though who commented that most of their camping experiences have been good ones. Same here!

PS - I have learned to scout campgrounds and RV parks for their proximity to railroad tracks though!

[hotfishtacos]

When my kids were young and we lived in Michigan we had an offer to go camping for free just to listen to about an hour of sales pitch for a camping network time-purchase. Well, we arrived at the campground on Lake Huron in the pouring rain in deep mud with our pop-up completely covered in mud. Of course I couldn't open it that way so I got out in the rain and hosed it off completely before I could set it up. It was so muddy that we had to place the kids inside...no walking around that night was allowed! I was as wet a you could possibly be! We were all trapped inside for the night.

The next day we sat through their sales pitch and we both cracked up laughing near the end when the sales person asked, "Are you excited!". We still use that phrase to this day when appropriate mocking of something is necessary. We left that afternoon...

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by Evergreengirl

PS - I have learned to scout campgrounds and RV parks for their proximity to railroad tracks though!

I use Google maps, streetview and satellite view to look around.

baglo

[Denece]

Our "worst" place was back in our 5th wheel days. We heard of a great little campground up a 4 wheel drive road with great trout streams. We were all excited. Going in we barely squeezed our 3/4 ton GMC and 19 foot 5th wheel in through the trees and around boulders. We finally get in there and get the last spot which is at about a 45 degree angle. We had to put the trailer jacks on big firewood rounds someone had left there. I felt pretty precarious but Hubby is an engineer and he was sure we were set up fine. We took the kids out fishing and had a fine dinner. About bedtime a scary looking dude comes in in a Ford Ranchero, props both doors open in the middle of the 6-7 campsites and proceeds to serenade us all with a Waylon Jennings tape while he drank a fifth of Jack Daniels. The car battery died just before dawn. I have never enjoyed Mr Jennings music since.

[Cyndi B.]

Mine was not the campground, it was the tent. 2 weeks in a leaky tent the year it decided to snow on the 4th of July in Cody, Wyoming and the Tetons were still snowed shut. Pulled into a nice KOA and couldn't figure out why everyone had what we referred to as a "Montana rainfly". Blue tarp over the tent on top of the rainfly that was already on top of the tent. It did not get thrown away upon arriving home and someone obviously forgot it leaked because it was very wet for everyone in that tent during a trip to the Boundary Waters with the Scouts. Our black lab put it out of commission thank God.

[rgrugg]

One year we took our kids to Dayton, Ohio to the Wright-Patterson air museum. Got into a nice campground. we found out that I-75 was on one side, railroad tracks on the other, and in the flight path of the air base. Not the quietest night we've ever spent.

[steve dunham]

The worst place we have stayed was Mill Bluff SP in Wisconsin . The park is set between Interstate 94 & Hwy 12 & railroad tracks. Between the road noise and the trains coming through and blowing their horn every hour all night , we got little sleep!
Plus the water was shut off due to budget cuts so no water & no showers . A beautiful park in a bad location . The group of inebriated males camping by us just added to the enjoyment
I wish Wisconsin did not allow hard liquor in their parks !

[arlon]

The worst place I've camped was still pretty darn good.

[FJ40Jim]

Originally Posted by rgrugg

One year we took our kids to Dayton, Ohio to the Wright-Patterson air museum. Got into a nice campground. we found out that I-75 was on one side, railroad tracks on the other, and in the flight path of the air base. Not the quietest night we've ever spent.

Are you my parents? I still remember that trip to that CG and the USAF museum, and it was 30-some years ago.

Worst place was/is a little private CG in PA, called Echo Valley. We had arranged to rent one of several campers they had on site. It was nasty. The park was nasty & smelly. The swimming pool was full of boulders and logs from a nearby creek flooding. The putt-putt golf course was almost invisible with overgrowth. The playground equipment was broken. And the owner was a jerk about the whole thing. We had paid for 3 nights, but left after 2, as things didn't get any better. Today we affectionately refer to it as the "Scooby-doo campground", because it was exactly like the campground/amusement park/castle in every Scooby episode: decrepit former elegance.

[RogerDat]

Midland Michigan "resort" campground next to a chain motel. No campfires, almost no shade, pool had so much chlorine your eyes burned being down wind. Packed 4th of July week-end and with all the AC units running the park kept tripping the main breaker. Highway 10 noise as a background.

As a kid we once stayed at a campground down south that was really nice EXCEPT for the septic pond which was just downwind of our campsite. We had a pop-up with no AC so when we sat down to eat everything tasted like the septic pond smelled. Breakfast cereal in the morning was the worst. For years afterward my brother and I had a standing joke based on a cereal ad. "Post Grape Nuts I love them because the tast like..." you can figure it out.

[Gilda]

Ditto to Arlon's comment: "The worst place I've camped was still pretty darn good."
Although I love backpacking, Brian's backpacking experience has to be one of the worst natural disasters one can encounter.
I told a friend the other day "My biggest fear when camping or hiking isn't so much the critters as "critters of the human kind".
I, too, find creepy people and loud generators can rapidly spoil my camping experience.
When tent camping we had to set up late in pitch dark. We now refer to the experience as "A River Runs Through It". Need we say more?
That said, I do have to say I enjoy the relative luxury and insulation my fiberglass RV provides AND I will continue to backpack and tent camp. Each style of camping provides it's own challenges and rewards.
Happy Camping!
Gilda (Jill-da)

[Frederick L. Simson]

I grew up listening to the trains that ran through my home town, and an aunt we visited often once rented a house right next to the tracks.

Am I the only one here who gets all nostalgic hearing trains in the night?

[Rpryor3]

Lake Casitas. Meth head paradise...enough said.

[Bob Miller]

Nope, Yer not alone.

When I was growing up we lived 1 very short block from the Southern Pacific main lines in San Bruno, CA and in the morning, at about 8:30, when the steam powered Southern Pacific Coast Daylight make the ground shake, we went out front to watch, every time. Thats a TRAIN...... But noisy diesel freights.... not the same.

Come to think of it, that would make a great color scheme for a TV and FGRV.

Originally Posted by Frederick L. Simson

I grew up listening to the trains that ran through my home town, and an aunt we visited often once rented a house right next to the tracks.

Am I the only one here who gets all nostalgic hearing trains in the night?

[carlkeigley]

Originally Posted by Frederick L. Simson

I grew up listening to the trains that ran through my home town, and an aunt we visited often once rented a house right next to the tracks.

Am I the only one here who gets all nostalgic hearing trains in the night?

We lived across a holler from the train tracks.
With hobo camp and all. Never noticed the trains
going by unless I was paying attention on purpose.