Where is the worst place you've ever camped?

[gmw photos]

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?

....yep, my favorite aunt lived in a tornado magnet park right next to, what was at the time, the mainline out of KC for A,T&SF. When visiting there, we would have to stop talking as the train went by, it was so loud.....rattled the dishes in the cabinets.... I loved it every time !

One of the nearby state park CG's I go to now has a track that runs close by. It is a long, long way though from a grade crossing, so as the trains go by, they do not blow their horn....just the rumble of the diesel, and the sound of the wheels. Love it......

[Jon Vermilye]

I don't really have a "Worst" campground story, but I did stay at an interesting railroad crossing at the trail of Tears Campground in Missouri. The track was about 100' from my site & there was a crossing about 200' away. Lots of horn tooting directly behind the trailer!

The campground host said he didn't hear the 2 trains that went by after 11:00, then, in a low voice said he took out his hearing aids. Actually, it wasn't too bad, although I woke up to catch the sunrise with the 4:00AM train.

Other interesting things about the campground - the only one of the hundreds I've stayed in that had 30 amp GFCI receptacles, and the bathrooms were .3 miles from the campground.

Here is a photo of the campground showing the track & my Escape & another of a barge going up the Mississippi just after being awakened by the 11:00 train.

[gmw photos]

Noise is a funny thing. We do indeed get acclimated to it sometimes. I stayed in a CG in Bastrop, TX last year that was essentially under and next to a elevated hwy viaduct. Busy road, with several expansion joints along it for tires to go "thump, thump" over. When I first arrived, I noticed it quite a lot. I actually stayed there for several days, and after day one, I had pretty much tuned out of the hiway noise. The CG was nice, well maintained, and the folks that owned it were very nice, so I was glad to stay a spell, in spite of the hiway noise.

[offroad]

from reading the horror stories I get this

1) Dont go cheap. get a good campground that is more expensive, and they care about it. usually.
2) read up on comments, guides, google street view, etc. (I recommend the BEST TENT CAMPING book series)
3) Be prepared to abandon ship and find a hotel nearby. It could happen.
4) Humor
5) Go off season. Peak season is the worst.

[gmw photos]

Originally Posted by offroad

from reading the horror stories I get this

1) Dont go cheap. get a good campground that is more expensive, and they care about it. usually.
2) read up on comments, guides, google street view, etc. (I recommend the BEST TENT CAMPING book series)
3) Be prepared to abandon ship and find a hotel nearby. It could happen.

to that I would add, number four: keep your sense of humor. Life is not always perfect every single day, so it's certainly to our advantage to keep everything in perspective.

[Bob Miller]

Good story, but how did the train wake up the barge at 11 pm? (LOL)

[Jon Vermilye]

Believe me, that thing was loud enough at 4:00AM to wake up just about anything, but I have to admit it was me that woke up!

[brian m.]

I like the sound of trains at night, but off in the distance ..... Way off!

[jen b]

I would gladly sleep with train noise.

I really x100 hate campgrounds full of knuckleheads swilling beer, yelling, and blasting terrible music. WHY WHY WHY do people head out into quiet places only to cause a racket??

Along those lines, worst place was a campground in Dingman's Ferry PA, in the Delaware Water Gap area. The mud everywhere made my husband mutter about first world war trenches. Literally, we were wading through ankle-deep mud puddles walking to the bathroom. The bathrooms were inadequate and teenage girls were taking hour-long showers. Lots of music. Lots of yelling. Not ever ever ever going back there.

Unfortunately there is very little boondocking in the eastern half of north america or I would have had my trailer kitted out for it yesterday.

[RogerDat]

Originally Posted by jen b

...

I really x100 hate campgrounds full of knuckleheads swilling beer, yelling, and blasting terrible music. WHY WHY WHY do people head out into quiet places only to cause a racket?? ...

That really is annoying when the spot could be nice if only the people there would be considerate of others.

Even more so if a polite request to turn down the radio or reduce noise level after park quiet hours is ignored and/or met with outright hostility.

I don't mind kids running around and playing loudly during the day or even adults getting loud having a good time before dark. But it does take a certain gall to figure everyone sitting around every campfire in the park wants to hear the punch line of your joke or your favorite CD.

[Robin G]

When we had the rv park, we had many guest who actually seek out trains. It's part of the whole Americana adventure for them. We had tracks several miles away, but not enough miles for me! The train whistle echoed through the canyon, and though I eventually got use to it, I would prefer not to have to listen to the whistle throughout the night!

Anyway, we had a guest who called looking to see if there was a train in the area? I explained there was a few miles away, but they preferred closer! So I did suggest a few campgrounds that might have been more to their liking! The train was really close to them. But due to the size of the guest rig, he need to stay with us!

I explained it wasn't that close, but they would hear it, if that is what they wanted. explained all the train tourist traps they could visit within a few hours of us etc. Anyway they made a reservation and when I got off the phone with them, another guest just laughed at me when I rolled my eyes that someone would want to hear the train roll through was a bit different!

She like me, didn't understand the desire! But told me of a time in their travels where they pulled into a campground late at night! (I think back east somewhere). Backed into a site, crawled into their rv, barely got to sleep when all of the sudden their rv started shaking then the train whistle started blasting, the train light was shining in their window............ Of course their thoughts were, oh god we backed up over a rail road track! Her Dh jumped up and out of their rig only to find that the site they backed their rv into was 6ft from the track that ran next to the campground...... There was a chain link fence between them and the track, but that was it! My only thought was why would someone build a campground that close to a train track? I can't imagine! But there really are people who don't mind the rumble of a train.............

[OneTim]

Worst campsite ever... Cranberry Acres Campground on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts in 1975. We were put in a large canvas floorless group tent with all the other "hippies". Heavy rain and failed septic system, raw sewage flowing through the tent. When we moved and set up our small tent on higher ground the owners called the police on us. We ended up walking around town all night. Never been back to the island.

[cram66]

The most unpleasant but humorous experience camping was our first time out this year. We stayed at Porteau cove which has tracks very close by. My 2 boys loved to watch the trains rumble by. Unfortunately our neighbors on either side were friends. Apparently not friendly with us tho. The two families walking and screaming to one another through our camp site day and night. Partied until late. The next morning they had numerous complaints from other neighbors . They gave us the uglies for the rest of the weekend like it was our fault. The funniest part was watching our neighbor lite his campfire with gasoline. Cut a 2x4 with a chainsaw length way with one foot on the board and the saw cutting towards the leg. Luckily for him he only shred his pants. It was still a good weekend anyway