I was going to title this asking if campers (not all, but too many) are becoming pigs? But didn't want to offend anyone especially hogs!
In the 7 short years that I've been a very active camper, some disturbing trends seem to be developing and I'd like to know if they are shared by everyone or am I just camping in the wrong places!
1. My biggest pet peeve is pet owners not picking up after their animals! This seems to be becoming the norm rather than the exception. Used to be you'd see pet owners carrying baggies and little scoopers to pick up after them, but now you're lucky if they are on a leash and don't come charging at you barking and growling. I've noticed this both in campgrounds and on hiking trails.
2. Males (since that's the restroom I use!) being too lazy to pick up the toilet seat and urinating on the seat because their aim is about as good as their ability to bend over and raise the seat! This is an epidemic that is occuring everywhere! I know a cure! run a switch to the seat so that if it stays in the down position with no weight on it, an electric fence charger turns on! Anyone who has, or has seen or knows of someone who has peed on an electric fence will know what I'm talking about!
3. Flushing! They just can't flush after using it, and they don't care if it's #1 or #2!
4. Cigarette Butts- We've stayed on some sites that are carpeted in cigarette butts. Do they put them out in their carpets at home?
Then of course there's a whole bunch more like parking in their site so you can't get in or out of yours, cutting through your site to go to the B/R, so they can pee on the seat, etc. I bet others could add to the list!
Does this seem to be a growing trend everywhere?
We have noticed this also. My husband is constantly complaining about the mens restroom. Except he gripes about them smearing feces all over the walls and floors. I want to know who would reach into the bowl and scoop it out. Many forest service campgrounds in California do not have sinks in the restroom so whomever does this has to walk back to their site with poop on their hands.
Plus, don't they have to go back in there eventually to go to the bathroom?
Jacqui
How about when you go to the beach and there are dirty diapers laying around? What's with that???? We actually saw one person toss one in the sand and leave it there. A short time later we saw the family packing to leave. We decided to head out around the same time. EVERY TIME we go to the beach, we do a trash pick up. While we a re walking we collect it and always as the last thing we do when we leave. We pick up ALL the trash we see laying around, not just anything that may be ours. We picked up that dirty diaper and carted it out.
As we were getting into the car, DH saw the slobby family was 2 car spaces away. The mother was sitting in the front seat, smoking her cigarette while holding the baby as it drank it's bottle. DH went over to her, held up the dirty diaper and told her she left something behind. She flat out lied as she said it wasn't hers.
Ha!!! They were the only other people there and we SAW HER do it! DH told her that. She still refused to admit that it was hers. The baby she was holding was only wearing a diaper and .... you guessed it! Same kind!
Aaargghh.
I think this is a problem with the "ME" generation. I am only guessing that their parents were too busy working to teach their kids values (and to respect others and the environment) and now those kids are adults with families of their own. Mind you, that's not everyone, but MANY more people are camping these days as a cheaper way to vacation, so you see it more often. We can only hope those "slobs" get tired of the work involved with camping and leave it for those of us that respect nature and a quiet, clean and peaceful retreat.
For the record, both my husband and I work, but that is NO excuse to not teach our kids right from wrong. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" is what I tell my daughter ALL the time.
Have to agree with all of the above.
I have 2 dogs and when we walk him or her we have walmart bags in my pockets. to scoop and throw out..
What to know the real reason we left the PU world and bought a TT. I have MY OWN bathroom. not the cassette toilet I had in the PU. BUT a real bathroom, that is all mine.. I clean it, so I can use it....
I like getting in my shower and not worring about whats crawling around on the floor or the crap thats standing on the floor in the shower stall. I like having my own commode too....I am in charge of all outdoor equipment so the black water is my area and the wife is glad I do the deed..
Cigarette butts are something I cant stand to see everywhere. The kids can't stand for me to see them cause they pick them up with gloves.. (benefit of working at a lab). Here lately I see zip wire-tie left overs and bread wrapper ties.. If you use them and cut them down pick them up.. Its real easy....
I was raised to leave it cleaner than you found it.. And I still try to do same, much to the kids delight....LOL
randy
Quote from: byrdr1Here lately I see zip wire-tie left overs and bread wrapper ties.. If you use them and cut them down pick them up.. Its real easy....
I was raised to leave it cleaner than you found it.. And I still try to do same, much to the kids delight....LOL
randy
I have always taught my kids that the last thing they do as we're hooking up the trailer is to walk the campsite picking up trash. We use the zip ties to lock our roof down (too many roof lifting on the freeway stories on PUT!), so there may be the ones we cut off laying around or ones we drop when popping down. We know that, so we pick them up. I also know the straw wrapper from juice boxes tend to fly because they're so light, so we look for those. The kids have learned not to say, "But that wasn't our trash!" because it will get them nowhere. We always try to make sure we leave the campsite cleaner than we found it.
I also camp with our Girl Scout troop, and part of teaching them to break camp is to teach them these same principles. They were tired after a weekend of camping, and they're always more energetic when setting up than they are when taking down, but I sent them out in groups of two to scour the camping area we had and clean it up. They did an excellent job.
Hopefully we're all teaching the next generation these ideals and it will improve. Maybe campgrounds need to have the attendants do a walk-through upon checking campers out. If they don't want to clean their site, there will be a cleaning fee charged.
Unfortunately, some people feel that because they pay $15 a night to stay somewhere, that includes maid service. I find most RVers (pop-ups included of course) don't generally have a problem doing this, I think because we respect camping and want to keep it a positive experience. It's the "casual" camper who goes out once in a blue moon who usually have problems.
And the bathroom situation -- this must be a guy thing. But yes, the hardsiders/hybrids are looking more and more appealing for this very reason.
Quote from: Camping CoxesAnd the bathroom situation -- this must be a guy thing.
Absolutely no just a guy thing. :mad: 50% or more of the time I find urine on the seats in the womens bath rooms. In a restaurant we went to there was a sign on the inside of the stall that said "If you sprinkle when you tinkle, then be neat and wipe the seat". I have also found feces smeared. At the 2004 Eastern Rally my DM found feces smeared in the womens bathroom.
campgrounds need to start enforcing the clean up rule! I remember way back that you had to leave a cleaning deposit when you checked in. and they would have a person riding around in a cart and would get called on the radio to check a site and if there was a problem you had a choice of going back and cleaning it up or loosing your cleaning fee and the person clean it up! As far as the bathrooms they use to have more spotters/ cleaners around,
in the 60',70's, 80's, 90's and now, there are nice campers and their are slobs! , WE need to be more vocal about keeping the slobs in check. I know if i see a person littering I very nicely let them know they dropped something or forgot something, and i let them know they are being watched!
Urine on the seats? I've been in a couple of campgrounds that had poo all over the place...obviously some mis-guided teenagers (not bad aim).... Let's see, Camp Hatteras (on several occassions) comes to mind.... (http://www.gonecamping.net/images/emoticons/icondead.gif)
Back in the days when I smoked, I too was guilty of tossing them on the ground. But I would have a colapsable rake with me and clean up/police the site...I may not have got every one of them, but most of them. But there are plenty of smokers that don't bother cleaning up at all.
It's been nearly 6 years (Dec 12th) without a smoke!!! :-():-():-():-():-()
6 years !!! good for you! 8 3/4 here! Feb 7th will make it 9 years smoke free! i use to use a empty can for my butts!
The idea of having a camping unit with my own bathroom is looking better and better all the time for just this reason.
Quote from: tlhdocIn a restaurant we went to there was a sign on the inside of the stall that said "If you sprinkle when you tinkle, then be neat and wipe the seat".
My mom used to have a plaque that said, "If you sprinkle when you tinkle, be a sweetie and wipe the seatie!" Everyone got a kick out of that.
As far as the women's restroom, I haven't encountered feces smears, but I have found feminine hygiene stuff left around. Makes me crazy. Were these people brought up with wolves or what? And my DH is really freaky about germs, so maybe I should print all this out before we go to the RV show next month so he can have that in mind as look at the new hybrids!
Today, October 1, is 21 years since I stopped smoking! I was up to 2 and 1/2 packs a day. Met Dr. Right and that was a very good reason to quit. Went cold turkey and it was the hardest thing I have ever done, but so worth it.
Quit smoking 3 packs a day, 22 years ago this February. Also Cold Turkey!
I forgot about the feces in my original message! In most cases, the cigarette butts were not JUST from the previous camper, but seems the park doesn't have or use a rake!
In 3 different campgrounds now, we've had to "sacrifice" a large spoon in order to clean up after dogs! I love animals, but the owners need to be taught how to care for them and the parks!
We must be lucky because we haven't encounted many of those things! But I do know it happens and am just appalled by it! My biggest pet peeve is the kids (and adults) who think nothing of walking through our site to get somewhere else. We constantly remind our kids that they are not to do that. It's especially annoying because it aggravates our dogs. And speaking of dogs, we keep those little black bags in our camper and in our car. They're really convenient & not very expensive. Those people who don't take care of those things evidently don't remember how difficult it can be to clean poop from your gym shoes!
Sharon
Sorry to say that I am still a smoker. But I refuse to be a slob about it. I use the biggest ash tray on the planet for my butts. It's called the fire pit. The next camper to use my sight won't even realize the previous tenant was a smoker. I along with others dispise seeing buts litter up the site when I get there. They are placed in the fire pit by me for the first fire of the trip.
At 3 y/o, my DS has no shame about saying in his loud 3 y/o voice: "Mommy, why dat person frow dat paper on da ground?" To which I say, laughing inside all the while: "I don't why that person is littering, sweetie, but we don't do that; it's not nice" Usually, they pick it up. :D
Hey all!
A few of us here meet at Hickory Run SP in PA twice a year. Every year the bathrooms get less and less clean. In fact, this year we took a vote and probably won't return there just due to the disgusting bathrooms. It is a shame, because the park is pretty nice and centrally located for most of the COTOC campers.
The little sprinkle songs are cute... I have a sign in my bathroom at work that reads: "MY aim is to keep this bathroom clean, YOUR aim will help!"
I'm a regular camper at a SP in PA for the last 10 years and I too have noticed a steady decline in the "cleanliness" of the CG. It has increased with the steady increase of the casual, and I use this term loosely, "camper". On my last trip, the party in the campsite prior to our arrival must have thought that the fire-ring was a dumpster. I never saw such a mess. I reported it to the SP rangers but they said that there was nothing that they could do about it. It was also on this trip that I saw a group of younger adults breaking off several tree limbs for firewood. Again, I reported this to the rangers but was told unless they actually saw the act, they couldn't do anything about it even though you could see where the limbs were tore off. PA SP's are definitely going down hill.
I think a large part of why the sites and things seem to be so littered is that the parks each have a lot less manpower. One less cleaner for instance means an awful lot in the grand scheme of things, the parks are being told to cut everything they can because the state seems to be headed for a dire straight financial situation.
Some are even being patrolled by a sherifs office now as they dont have enough rangers anymore. So taking care of campers that are cutting down tree's and limbs had to pretty much drop way down the priority list.
It's a shame, people just seem incappable of policing themselves anymore, they seem to have that attitude of "I paid, thats someone elses job"
Yet they are the first to complain about tax increases, if they would pick up after their campsites and make the cleaners jobs easier in the bath houses, they wouldn't need a tax increase. But they just don't see it that way.
I have a problem with being told that they (park officials) can't do anything about the previous tenants litter. They have records- send them a bill for clean-up! If they refuse to pay it, don't let them back. This is the computer age- everything is tracked! They give their name and wham, it comes up on the screen that these people are pigs!
Bearbait, I do agree that in some states cut backs are to blame for the uncleanliness, but in Massachusetts, which has some of the worst bathrooms of any state parks we've visited, there will be sometimes 5 or 6 people standing around the check in booth talking for hours. Maybe it's also lack of incentive. Vermont has the same budget woes as any other state, but in my opinion, the state parks are the best kept of any state's that we've camped at.
In fairness to all the parks employees, we been in parks where the people clean it and 15 minutes later campers have destroyed it! It does come down to people policing themselves and having the common courtesy to leave things AT LEAST as clean as they found them.
Oh well....
It doesn't necessarily take computers to keep track of CG abusers, I recently visited Little Pine SP in PA and they keep a 3 x 5 index card file with names of people that they closley supervise when they are camping at the CG. Computers would make it convenient for systemwide notification.
I know that the PA state employees, being one myself, are doing the best they can with the resources given to them. Immediately after the "cleaning crew" finished cleaning thet bath-houses , they were spotless. However, even with a full compliment, you would still get these knucklehead campers who don't care about how they leave the CG. They simply use it and abuse it.
Quote from: garym053I have a problem with being told that they (park officials) can't do anything about the previous tenants litter. They have records- send them a bill for clean-up! If they refuse to pay it, don't let them back. This is the computer age- everything is tracked!
In that same vein, most people (if not all) use a credit card to make their reservations. That doesn't mean you can't pay cash once you get there at some places, but I know through ReserveAmerica it's credit cards. So if the site is left in a really bad condition in the ranger's opinion, you get a one night's fee to cover clean up. This is part of your camping agreement. If that happens a few times, maybe the slob-campers will change their tune about cleaning up.