Can You Tell Me Why???

[Ruffus]

Can anyone tell me why campers and Rv'ers say that they enjoy their camping and travels yet once they get there they find it neccessary to leave their porch and scare lights on all night to shine in their neighbors bedroom window or play their music loud enough to wake the dead while they sit by a campfire supposedly to watch the stars and experiance nature? Are they just idiots or affraid of the dark? Please someone tell me why?????? #1 or #2 ???:eek:

Please think about others!!!!

[antiqfreq]

Oh we figured out during our fulltime travels that they aren't 'really' campers because they ARE afraid of the dark.....

It IS annoying and once or twice we have countered with our scare lights on the next night for a few hours but those dense enough to do it the first time don't really get the hint........

oh well!

Jo
:mad:

[chuck&gail]

Inconsiderate idiots are everywhere, including campgrounds.

[Ruffus]

Got up this morning at 5:00 AM and went out to check the area. There were 38 campers/RV'ers in the camp ground and the only one with their scare light or porch light on were the one parked next to my bedroom window. I'm going to buy a lottery ticket today, must going to be my lucky day. Oh yeh the DW wouldn't let me go next door last night and ask them nicely to turn the $%#@&%$ light off. Oh well, another beautiful day even though the sun is not going to shine and we'll be back on the road heading North East from a nice little RV park in an old hay field in Liberal Kansas. See my review in the campground section.
Happy motoring yall.:D

[THedges]

That's the reason we boondock! My perfect camping spot is one where I can't see another camp site. The problem we come across is people who leave trash all over the forest! Very frustrating!!!!

[mikell]

In our campground we have 100 spots and over 30 lights on poles and if even 1 is out people have a fit. Some want quiet and dark but most want the city life it looks like to me

[campingcpl]

We agree with everyone so far! We leave our outside light on when we are outside at night (just an amber light or the awning lights) but always turn them off when we go in for the night. We also have outside stereo speakers and we like to listen to music while sitting around the camp fire but just have it loud enough for us to hear (if you can hear it outside your own campsite then it's to loud). We have always tried to practice common courtesy and really hate the people that don't. It seems like more and more people only think of one thing anymore and that is "THEMSELVES". You see it more and more, specially in the younger generations now days. What has happen to people that they can't use common courtesy or even manors for that? Is it that hard to say excuse me, thank you, your welcome, please, etc.? What has happen to the days where people actually cared about other people? I was in a retail store a couple of weeks ago and saw and elderly couple (he was in a wheel chair) and his wife was trying to get him out the doors. Two younger people walked up to the door as they where getting ready to head out the door. The younger people walked right in and never offered to hold the door but made the time to give them dirty looks for blocking the door. I was behind the older couple and I told her to allow me to get the door for them. I opened the one and then opened the other for them and then asked if they needed anymore help. They said thank you but they could manage. The gentlman in the wheel chair looked at me and said you are an Angle. I smiled and thanked him for the kind words and I got to tell you it really made me feel good and I'm sure it made them feel better that someone was willing to take the time to help them. I'm sorry for a long post and for getting on my soap box but this is a subject that really gets my wife and I on edge. We have 3 kids ranging from 16 to 21 and we have always practiced one common rule with them "treat others the way you would want them to treat you"!

[kenn209]

Maybe their not schooled in campground etiquette? What get's me is the people (mostly kids) who think they can ride their bikes through my site. Then when you get on them for doing it the give you the dirty looks.

Last time out we had another camper who were drinking and carrying on, You could hear their music real loud, and the cell phone ringing and her conversation about what was for dinner and how drunk she was, and somebody ahd bring her some smokes!! Thank god they passed out early. And this was a state park!! They left the next morning!!

[Mr. Dan]

A trend we've been seeing lately is the use of yards and yards of rope lights. People in campgrounds around Lake Texoma on the Texas/Oklahoma border have started hanging these lights on all the trees, the picnic table, their trailer awnings, clotheslines, lantern poles, etc. They are using all colors. In areas with widely spaced sites, you can still read the newspaper using only their light pollution. They leave these lights on around the clock... which may explain why site costs are rising for the rest of us!

Also, we had a monster sized motor home playing irritating music - and very loud - into the night. I knocked on their door but no one answered. I finally decided they didn't know their outside speakers were on and were sound asleep. I left a note on their door the next day and had no further trouble.

[campingcpl]

A trend we've been seeing lately is the use of yards and yards of rope lights. People in campgrounds around Lake Texoma on the Texas/Oklahoma border have started hanging these lights on all the trees, the picnic table, their trailer awnings, clotheslines, lantern poles, etc. They are using all colors. In areas with widely spaced sites, you can still read the newspaper using only their light pollution. They leave these lights on around the clock... which may explain why site costs are rising for the rest of us!

Also, we had a monster sized motor home playing irritating music - and very loud - into the night. I knocked on their door but no one answered. I finally decided they didn't know their outside speakers were on and were sound asleep. I left a note on their door the next day and had no further trouble.

We keep our lights to a minimum. It's just enough to light up under the awning which is 20ft and doesn't light up the neighboring sites. As for the music, we were in a state park just this last summer and there was a group camping in tents about 5 or 6 sites down from us and they had a booming car stereo that we could hear plain as day while sitting in our trailer with the A/C on and the TV going. The park rangers came around and asked them to turn it down once and then a few hours of drinking it went right back up and the park rangers came back and made them pack up and leave. I wish more of the parks and campgrounds would inforce their rules.

[gkainz]

and my wife can't understand why I prefer boondocking. 1 to 3 miles separation between campsites works for me.

[Outbackmel]

We just returned from Rock Crusher Canyon RV Park in Crystal River, FL. Our neighbors had a small rv and a screen tent...had total disregard for others. Loud TV outside constanty. They are everywhere :mad: We survived :)
We just think of each trip as an "adventure". 7 years ago, we camped in our self made 2 motorcycle toy hauler. They put us at the back of the property with the "Beverly Hillbillys" next door. (only an older motorhome). Screaming; verbal family infighting; Grandma drinking "long necks" at 9am and tossing bottles in our site. 2 little yapping dogs that pooped all over the place...:) after falling asleep at 1am; after all the drunks passed out; woke at 7am. Wife said "good morning", went out to get the sun in her eyes; immediately "screamed" from stepping in a fresh pile of doggie doo...LAUGHED UNTIL WE CRIED; then moved on....OHHHH, joys of the great outdoors:D

[HigginsPod]

I put room darkening curtains in the bedroom. I find I wake up in the middle of the night and want to look outside and it is easier than lifting the shade. If there is light .... between the shade and the curtains it is blocked :D

[KenJFerguson]

We are at Lake Hartwell State Park for the weekend which has 25 sites ringing a peninsula jutting out into the lake. There is a mix of TTs (including a couple of vintage trailers), tents, pop-ups, and fifth wheels. For some reason, every one of the modern fifth wheels has vertical strips of fluorescent purple/blue lights running down their front domes that stay on 24/7. Unfortunately, we are surrounded by 4 of these at the start of the thin end of the loop making it like some weird combination of Las Vegas and a country bar at night. Our pull-down shades are no match for this light pollution that affects our sleep. We'll be stopping by the office on the way out to suggest they add a dark sky policy to their 10 pm quiet time rule and get the address to write to whichever bureaucrat is in charge of the state park system.

[Pull Toy]

The beginning of the end was the year some bored rv engineer asked himself…”How many people can we p*ss off by adding outside speakers?” Now it’s pink flamingos, palm trees, scare lights, rope lights and every banner imaginable, etc… etc…

Fortunately, more campgrounds are enforcing a mandatory quiet hour with kids back on site at a reasonable hour, and fires out before bedtime. A few we’ve been to are now limiting light displays and political and/or offensive signage etc.

Now that the “Covid Era Newbees” found out that camping wasn’t for them, and are now selling their units, us old school families can get back to enjoying nature.

Good luck,

[KenJFerguson]

As we were getting firewood at the office I asked the Ranger if he could guess what it is about 5th wheels that I don't like... he replied... "You must be in site 57 or 58 opposite sites 32, 33, and 34 and their blue LED dome lights are keeping you awake at night."

I suggested that he feed it up the food chain to add a lights-out rule to the quiet time rule. If we all do this we can start a movement.

[notanlines]

If you think those blue and purple lights are an irritant, y’all should hear this model water heater in our Eagle come on repeatedly in the middle of the night. Fast recovery 50 gallon industrial aren’t as loud. We turn it off Friday and Saturday nights as it has become a joke in our group.
While I’m at this, would it be out of line to simply ask your neighbor to just turn the lights off? IJA

[JRTJH]

As we were getting firewood at the office I asked the Ranger if he could guess what it is about 5th wheels that I don't like... he replied... "You must be in site 57 or 58 opposite sites 32, 33, and 34 and their blue LED dome lights are keeping you awake at night."

I suggested that he feed it up the food chain to add a lights-out rule to the quiet time rule. If we all do this we can start a movement.

From your conversation with the ranger, it's apparent that others have already complained about the bright lights. If he is doing his job, then he has already discussed the issue with the occupants of sites 32, 33 and 34.

So now, the issue should be resolved. If not, and the lights are on tonight, then it's apparent those "campers" simply aren't concerned with "rules that only apply to other people, not to themselves"....

[flyingjack]

notanlines: Agree, just ask politely. Usually a favorable outcome.

[dutchmensport]

I've been SCREAMING about outside lights left on all night for years and years and years. It's done nothing but fall on deaf ears too. It almost seems, the bigger the RV the entitled those folks are to display their Las Vegas lights. I don't mind all that stuff turned on IF sitting outside after dark. But once going inside for the night, those lights should ALL be turned off.

This is the biggest reason why I completely enjoy camp hosting at Pilot Mountain State Park in North Carolina. I've been a host there twice and returning next year again. There is no electricity or water or sewer on any campsite, except 1... the host site.

Guess what? It's dark at night .... really, really dark at night. The only lights are campfire lights and maybe battery operated string lights of some sort, an occasional Coleman gas lantern and flashlights. Quiet hours start at 10:00 pm and quiet hours is STRICTLY enforced by the park rangers. If a conversation from any campsite is heard from the road, it's too loud. And yes, the Rangers walk the campground around 10:00 pm every night, in the dark with no flashlights so they can hear and see what's really going on. And yes, they do step up and address those who are too loud.

99% of the time, it's a wonderful night. But, ever now and then a group of clod-hoppers will come in who think rules don't apply to them. And oh, they also call the campers back to clean up their trash and nasty fire pits if they've left a mess, or else face a $300 fine for trashing the place. Guess what? There is very, very little litter ever left behind, maybe a plastic tooth pick floss stick or a gum wrapper, but that's about it.

When we leave that park, we usually stop, at least, for an over night returning home to Indiana. We don't boondock at Wall Marts, but get sites in actual campgrounds. It's always a shock to return to a regular RVing campground that has electricity to see all the scaredy-cats leaving their lights and Las Vegas displays on all night again. Even worse, some campgrounds have street lights. We just pull the shades, spend the night, and get moving again the next morning.

At home, we camp mostly in the middle of the week and avoid week-ends, just so we can experience darkness (minimal campers) at State Parks. I don't fuss and complain about lights at night so much any more, because ... well ... there's just no one else in the campground near us during those times.

[KSH]

Wow that is a lot of complaining for something with a simple solution. Screaming about it, wow..

https://www.healthline.com/health/healthy-sleep/best-sleep-masks

[dutchmensport]

Wow that is a lot of complaining for something with a simple solution. Screaming about it, wow..

https://www.healthline.com/health/healthy-sleep/best-sleep-masks

It's not so much about "sleeping" (that's what curtains are for), as it is being able to enjoy the darkness, the campfire, the moon light, and the stars. The night camping ambiance is completely destroyed when the Las Vegas strip gets light up.

I live in the country and even though we have neighbors on both sides of our property, it's dark out here with corn and bean fields for wonderful vistas to experience looking out your back yard or across the field.

The stars and the moon are marvelous. The eyes adjust to the darkness and I can see every item in the yard, especially my little dogs when they run around outside looking for a place to "go". When the moon is lit, there's enough light to see completely across the field (a mile) to the next tree line. I've often seen coyotes running across the field in the dark.

But when the porch light comes on, the eyes are completely blinded, you can't see anything except what is RIGHT in that light.

People who leave their lights on all night just don't get it. You can actually see better, especially movement, in the dark without artificial light than you can with artificial light.

Plus, as we discovered in the mountains of North Carolina, if the artificial lights are left off, the deer will actually come into your campsite while you are sitting there. Now that's awesome!

I took my grandson on a night hike at an Indiana State Park. I had him turn the flash light off and navigate the trail in the dark. After his eyes adjusted to the dark, he was amazed how much he could actually see. And then he realized there was nothing to be afraid of "in the dark", because the "dark" really is not all the dark ... once the eyes adjust. I think we walked over a mile that night.

THAT is why some of us want the darkness.

[KSH]

Yeah that's all fine. The lunacy of screaming about it seemed a bit much.

[Jonahex2099]

We've had all kinds of rudeness this summer - lights on, neighbors with large dogs just letting them crap in front of our camper and not cleaning it up, putting their starlink dish in our spot (which I wouldn't have minded had they *asked* but they did not), then when the site manager asked them to move it, they yell at her, people complaining about the fence in our paid for spot for our dogs (permissible in the place we stay) because they couldn't cut through with it there....the list goes on....park etiquette isn't hard - people just choose to be a$$holes.