Bad campsite behavior?

[DrivingDan]

Curious, I’ve heard comments about bad neighbors at campsites. All sorts of stories, people making messes at dump stations, noisy/rude people at their campsites. For the experienced folks, how common would you say this is? Like 10% of the time, 20% or what in your estimation? Thanks -

[Snowey BC]

tent and now a/s owners for 14years. we camp 4-6x per year mainly in bc and ab provincial park system (western canada) we have never had a noisy or problem encounter. but we avoid one particular date; the notorious "may long" a long weekend in may known to be wild with young partiers.
we have been called out once by a park attendant for not dumping our tanks to his liking, we didn't quite understand his rational but we didn't leave or cause a mess. we figure he was particular.

[SuperTrouper]

5%. There's always a few knuckleheads out there.

[s1000pre]

Visited 100+ campgrounds in the past two years. I have only experience one incidence where a neighbor was wrenching on his RV all night. I was able to sleep through most of it, and he was gone by morning. Most campgrounds are quiet during the week. Friday and Saturday night can get a little crazy at campgrounds where locals come out to party. We notice more of this at KOA’s. I would avoid KOA’s all together, though the amenities are excellent when traveling with kids. We try to stay at campgrounds during the week and travel on Friday and Saturday where we can Harvest Host.

[DougFelts]

We had an experience this summer, while staying at an RV park in Wallace, Idaho.
The park (and the town) are a great place to stay!
The park is pretty tight, and we were probably ten feet from our neighbor.
As is our usual, we go to bed pretty early, and others in the park were enjoying the evening around the campfire (or propane firepit!).
I was awakened about 11, by the sound of loud talking. But just muffled enough that I couldn't hear what they were saying. And then, strangely, a brief period of music. But, wait - that sounded like an organ! What kind of jerk brings an organ to a campground!

In my half-sleep, it took me maybe 22, or 44 minutes to realize that the music was familiar... Hey, that's the soundtrack of Schitt's Creek! And, those aren't neighbors around the campfire - someone is playing the show over and over!

My wife and I had a somewhat fitful night of sleep, and got up later than our usual. It was probably 8 or 9 before I left the trailer.

And, I was greeted by our closest neighbor, who asked if we had heard the TV. Well, yes, we had...

He apologized, and explained that they had left the TV on to soothe the dogs, and didn't realize that the OUTDOOR SPEAKERS were also on! And, handed us a gift certificate for a coffee shop downtown, by way of apology. After realizing what he'd done overnight, he'd gone to downtown to pick this up, and had been waiting around the campground for us to emerge for the day.

What a kind gesture. Not all those I curse as jerks turn out to be such bad neighbors!

[SuperTrouper]

Stewart: Totally agree about KOA's

Doug: Yeah, one night we had a neighbor come in LATE next to our site, like 2AM and made a hell of a ruckus. In my half-awake state i imagined an elongated SUV with 10 doors. How could they slam that many doors? I decided not to engage and eventually the clatter, loud voices and slamming subsided. When I came out in the morning I found a disheveled trailer (leveled like it was a shipwreck) and a little girl playing at their picnic table. I offered "you got in late last night huh?" She said, "yeah, my uncles trailer came off the car and went in the median. My parents spent all day helping retrieve it and continuing to camp." I'm glad that I didn't engage the weary people at 2AM. Ya never know what people have been through.

[richard5933]

We've found that nearly every campground has a personality of its own, and campgrounds with lots of seasonal campers might even have a different personality from one side of the campground to the other.

The places we return to over and over are easier, since we know which sections are quieter and have fewer noise issues. If we're not familiar or have concerns, I'll sometimes ask to be assigned a spot in the quieter area of the campground if possible.

There have been just a handful of problems we've encountered in the past five years that caused us any aggravation. Usually it's nothing more than a nearby neighbor with a taste in music we don't car for. way

[mpsgolf]

There are stupid insensitive people everywhere. However in 10+ years of camping in 31 states and 35,000 miles of travels incidents have been infrequent and minor. Thankfully.

[civeng99]

Originally Posted by mpsgolf

There are stupid insensitive people everywhere. However in 10+ years of camping in 31 states and 35,000 miles of travels incidents have been infrequent and minor. Thankfully.

Agreed. I try to remember in the end we al have our irritating habits. Im one of those guys who likes big bonfires, heading out at 4am and likes high strung working dogs.

Be kind to each other….

[gypsydad]

For the most part, we have been lucky. Only few instances of real PIA from our neighbors...of note, was 2 campers from Arkansas in Glacier Park with "industrial" generators, that were way too noisy. Also caught a group next to another time trying to "burn" a fallen tree, in their firepit around 10pm in Glacier...thats not allowed in Glacier, to burn any fallen wood, let alone a tree that was not cut up..I alerted the Park Ranger and he took care of it. I have found it pays to meet the hosts/rangers if your planning on staying in a state park/ National Park campground for a few days for sure...

This past summer, we noted a lot of folks tent camping who seem like to have their "fire pits" going, which is fine, unless the smoke is excessive...especially early morning or late night, after 11pm, when close to others. One neighbor couple months back in Glacier started their fire with real green wood, using charcoal lighter fluid...a lot of it! Smoke was so bad, couple of us went over and let them know the whole campground was complaining; due to lack of wind, smoke just settled on all of us and not moving...they did apologize, but what you goanna do? Damage was done... Notice the smoke issue more now since we started using a propane fire pit few years back, due to burning bans....crazy smoke hardly ever bothered me before!

Boondocking can get interesting, depending on where you are...especially if your in the desert like between Borrego Springs and Salt and Sea....those motorcycles and ATV's can really be noisy and the parties at night also...getting old sucks!