Wednesday, June 2, 2010

What not to do when camping



Rangers have a lot of responsibilities at National and State Parks and National Forests. When campers are responsible, this shouldn't have to be one of them. Our neighbors in the campground had a nice campfire going.

Then they left.

The ranger came by to check campsite registrations (they hadn't registered--strike 2.) and found the fire blazing (and firewood gathered from around the campground--strike3). She had to go get a couple of buckets of water to put it out.
And finally a shovel to stir it.
Next day, when we drove up to our campsite after a hike, we found the neighbors' big pickup parked across our site's driveway (strike 4). Traffic backed up while we waited for them to move it.

Later they left again. The fire was not blazing, but it still was smoldering. And their food on the table, bags of trash and cans, ice chests sitting out, (strikes 5-6-7) were an open invitation to "visitors." There were no bears in the campground this weekend, but we did see one up the canyon. That's not all that far.



 No matter what type of recreation you choose, please be responsible neighbors in the park, playfield, resort, or wherever.

7 comments:

giorno26 ¸¸.•*¨*•. said...

Wow, Katney
questo deve essere veramente un lavoro poco piacevole... portare via la spazzatura degli altri !
Buona giornata :-)

PERBS said...

WOW! Lots of violations! Do you suppose they did not acquaint themselves with the rules of camping there? Good thing the ranger was ön the ball."I would have thought they would have gotten kicked out of the area.

Katney said...

Some rules might be not so obvious--gathering firewood, maybe, if you didn't pay attention to the many signs that mention it. Leaving closed food containers out for the next meal might not be terribly obvious if you don't realize how good a sense of smell animals such as bears have.

But leaving camp unattended with a fire blazing--that's just nuts!

Martha Z said...

Most campers are pretty responsible but there are always exceptions. Last year in Yosemite one camper persisted in running an extension cord from the restroom to his trailer.

Janie said...

You have to wonder what your camper neighbors were thinking. Good grief. The ranger must have been kept busy with all of those infractions!

dixymiss said...

Hey, I think we've camped neXt to them before... Aren't these the same folks who don't leash their dog and whose boombox is still blaring after midnight?! (wink) Teasing aside, an unattended campfire is very serious ~ irresponsible and dangerous. Glad to see neighbors were watching and the ranger was on it!

Unknown said...

Oh, a big thumbs down to irresponsible campers! I hope a raccoon poops in their shoes.