Camp Etiquette

Camping is like golf; there are certain rules of etiquette we all must follow to get along. It’s a lot like the school playground when we were kids. Remember? We couldn’t pull the girls hair or put insects on them or erase their hopscotch court or many other fun things that would make them squeal like little pigs. Although at the time I thought many of these rules were not really needed, I see now that they were for the little girls to have fun at the playground.

Most of the campgrounds we go to have rules. The rangers or park staff enforces these rules. However, there are other things that are not clearly laid out in the rules that can ruin a camping trip or make it very exciting, depending on how you look at it.

We have gotten some mail lately from people complaining because the park staff ruined their camping trip with all those rules. They don’t understand why they can’t set up camp and get hammered, play loud music, and make all kinds of noise until the wee hours of the morning. Hey, if that is your plan, do what we do and go to a location where you will be the only party there. We like to party too, but we pick a better location for it than a public campground.

One thing that really irritates me when camping is other people walking through my campsite. This does not happen much at all when you are in the backcountry. But in the campground, it happens quite frequently. It has happened to us on our last two camping trips.

On one trip, our site was located near a trail to the amphitheatre. The trail to the amphitheatre was about 15 yards beyond our campsite, but people kept taking the shortcut through our site. I don’t know why they were going there, nothing was going on. On more than one occasion I stopped the offenders and advised them that this was my campsite and the trail they were looking for was just down the road. One group of three came from the amphitheatre and asked which way was the parking lot. I never saw them go to the amphitheatre from the parking lot, so I didn’t know where they had come from. Naturally, I directed them in the opposite direction of the parking lot I knew about because they obviously didn’t park there.

On another outing, our site was located near the bathhouse. The campers in the site behind us decided to take the shortcut to the potty and come through the middle of our campsite. I tried to advise them that they were not to cut through campsites occupied by others but they were not in the mood to accept any advice. They advised me that we didn’t own the land, it was public land and they could walk through my campsite if they wanted to. I acknowledged that I was aware that I did not own this land. I also pointed out that I did rent this land and my receipt was on the post if they cared to look at it. After both parties tossed around a few insults, they threatened to call the park ranger on me! When he came, he advised the Einstein family not to walk through campsites occupied by others. Boo Boo wouldn’t let me stick my tongue out at them and say na na na na na.

Now we don’t set up camp on sites that look like they are on a trail or a shortcut. We try to select sites on the outside of camping loops with as much isolation as possible. Boo Boo has learned that it is best to set up camp where I am not exposed to others any more than necessary.

I have said it before and I’ll say it again. The best place for your dog when you camp is at home. Your dog is not cute. I do not have any desire to pet your dog. I am not amused at your dog jumping on me or licking me. I get real tired of hearing your dog bark at every little thing that comes along and sometimes at nothing at all. I really hate it when I have to share the bathhouse with you and your dog.

Most campgrounds that allow dogs do so with the stipulation that the dog must remain on a 6-foot leash. This means that you are also on a 6-foot leash. Next camping trip I go on I’m carrying a tape measure because some people don’t know how long 6 feet is. Six feet don’t stretch from your campsite to mine.

Don’t get me wrong, I like dogs. We own dogs. Our dogs don’t like to camp. Know why? Because we are in charge of our dogs and we told them they don’t like to camp.

Now this next item is both an irritant and a source of great pleasure on some camping trips. This is the playing of music at the campground. Ever notice how the party playing music generally has worse than bad taste in music. The general rule is, if anyone else can hear it, it is too loud.

We have a teardrop trailer that we like to camp in occasionally. The trailer is really set up for tailgating but it can be a lot of fun on a campout. It has a high power amplifier and four outdoor speakers. It takes two batteries to run it and you have to plug in the charger or turn on the generator to keep the power up. Yeah I can knock the fillings out of your teeth if you are in the site next to me.

The last time I got to use this toy was at a campground on a Sunday evening. The campground was small, about 35 sites, and everyone left that afternoon except us and one other group, with one empty site between us. This group put a CD in the car stereo at about 3 PM and turned it up. At 5 PM I had heard that one CD enough. We moved the trailer around a bit so the Einstein’s could get full benefit of the oncoming storm. I knew since they had played the CD player on the car stereo for these 2 hours they couldn’t go much longer and still crank the car. Advantage Yogi. The ranger pulled up and asked if we wanted him to tell the group to turn it down. We advised no, that we figured since they were playing their music so loud they wouldn’t mind if we turned on some music. After about 30 minutes, and a demonstration of what was about to transpire, the ranger said have fun and he would circle back just before quiet time to see if all was well.

We opened with “I Love Rock N Roll”, “Highway To Hell”, and “Cocaine”. It just got louder and rowdier from there. As I said, this system was setup for tailgating at concerts and I only rarely get to use it when camping. But when I do get to use it, it sure is fun.

Word. If you want to listen to music at the campground, bring your ipod and your headphones. If you want to share it, get a Y adapter and another set of headphones. Look around before you crank up a boom box or a car stereo. If you see a white teardrop you are going to want some earplugs. If I can hear your music in my campsite, it is on!

For more camping fun come see us at http://www.campsite190.com

Product Alert ; Big Bubba by Travel Chair

If you are in the market for a chair to use car camping, do not buy the Big Bubba by Travel Chair. We have purchased three of these chairs since March of this year and all three have broken. Two broke at the footrest and the frame broke on two of them. The two footrest breaks came within the first day of use. The frame on one chair broke after 4 camping trips. The frame on the other chair broke after it was used on two camping trips. When the frame on one chair broke, it propelled me to the ground. Fortunately I did not stab myself with the broken metal tubing on the way down. Both frames broke in the same place, just below the armrest.

No one in our camping party came close to the weight limit of the chairs and none of the chairs were abused. You could be sitting perfectly still and the chair would break.

We contacted Travel Chair and they would not repair or replace the chairs. They also advised they do not sell parts for the chairs. They told us to carry the chair to the retailer. We ordered the chairs on the Internet from reputable companies. However, the problem was not shipping damage or other problems the retailer should be responsible for. The problem was product failure. The responsibility for this is with the maker of the product. Fortunately for us the retailer took the product back. They asked if we wanted a replacement! Naturally, we didn’t have a desire to try any other Travel Chair products.

After many years of camping we accept that occasionally some gear fails. It has been our experience that most reputable firms stand behind their products. Kelty, for instance, sent us a replacement product with instructions to return the broken product in the same box. They included a mailing label in the instructions and paid for postage. Same thing happened with Garmin, Coleman, and Katadyn. This seems to be the norm for most reputable companies selling outdoor related products, some of them costing several times what a chair would cost.

Also, be wary of product reviews posted on any mail order company web site. I can tell you from personal experience that not all reviews are posted. I don’t know the method these companies use to filter product reviews to determine which ones get posted, but I do know they don’t post them all.

Check us out at http://www.campsite190.com. We talk about products we, or others in our camping group, have owned and used.