Camping with partyers

What type of park is it ?? Provincial, Conservation area or private ???

 

That's why campers have wheels. If you can't relocate to the other end of the park (or it wouldn't help) then move to another park. be sure and tell the park management why they are losing your business too.

Chip

 

We went on a canoe trip many years ago and brought with us a retired US Army Colonel. We were up pretty late having some fun but we all turned in at about midnight. At 3am, with Black Sabbath blasting from a the other side of the campground, Dick had had enough. He grabbed an axe and walked over to have a chat.

Imagine seeing a guy wander into your camp at 3am in his boxers, 6' 4", zero body fat, a crazy look in his eye, and carrying an axe.

There was a scream, some tender words, the music stopped and the rest of us slipped back into a peaceful sleep.

Hooah!

 

There was another thread on here about campground safety and I was amazed by how many campers pack a gun, to paraphrase the beach boys "the pen is mightier than the axe but no match for a gun"

 

I hate the whole booze element that seems to go along with the mindset of a lot of 'occasional campers'. People who think that getting plastered and then sleeping until noon the next day is what camping is all about.
When we go, I want to relax, read a book, stare at the fire, generally de-compress. Most times I don't even take a beer along with me. I've worked all year long and get limited holiday time, I don't want to be up all night listening to partiers going at it until who knows when.
So you need to bite the bullet the next morning, get up at about 7am, the partiers will have only been sleeping for an hour or 2, and start making a racket of your own. Clanging pots, little kids running around and yelling, a little girl screaming at the biggest hairiest spider in the world,.... will be pretty tough on their booze filled heads that only have a couple of hours of sleep. Find a way to keep the partiers up all day (without disturbing the rest of the Park), and the hangovers will slowly seep in.

This will A) not have them up so late the next night to bother everyone else
B) they may leave the park for the day to get away from your bothersome noise
C) give you something to do all day
D) give you something to laugh about knowing you wrecked their party time

Too bad you don't have access to a lawnmower with a bad muffler, that worked excellent at the cottage a few years ago....

 

Or
E) You aggitate them so much you cause you and your family a "situation".

 

It happens occasionally in the places we camp. That is one reason we have criteria for holiday weekend camping, since it seems worse on those weekends.
We generally camp in public campgrounds (US Forest Service, national and state parks) and often there is a host. Usually the hosts have been able to quiet a situation. At times, the noise level from a number of campsites can combine to be disturbing, and it seems to multiply - each site thinks it is fine because they aren't louder than anyone else. These campgrounds have posted quiet hours, so that helps.

On a couple of occasions over 2+ decades, the rangers or other authorities have had to be called, which worked. Reluctance to enforce regs, as you encountered, is definitely not helpful.

Some locations develop a reputation (for lack of a better term) as a great place to party. The oddest we encountered was more than 20 years ago, when we were in a USFS campground, fairly close to Santa Fe. No host, holiday weekend, lots of people boondocking just down the road (they walked to the CG to use the potty and get water). We woke in the middle of the night to a raucous party in the next site, by morning no evidence they'd been there. That episode was when we decided to only camp on holidays if we could backpack or find an out-of-the-way campground.

Moving, as Sushidog suggests, is not in the top ten of our coping choices. With either tent or pup, we have an established camp, and trying to move in the middle of the night would disturb others (victims as we are) as much as it would us, even if possible. We're not the problem, the others are, so we're not going to move unless there is no other solution. I did it once, on a ground camping trip, but the issue was the cigar smoke from a couple of sites over, which triggered a massive asthma attack for the friend with me, so we needed to move her quickly (I don't really want to know how close we came to an ER visit that evening).
Making noise deliberately to "pay back" the noisy group also disturbs others, which just expands the rudeness bubble.

ETA: In general, we're not going to confront a group or loud person ourselves. One of our friends has done so on a couple of occasions, but it was not with people partying, but people watching TV with the volume way too high.

 

A good friend of mine and her husband camp just to party. They always bring booze and tell stories of great people they meet listening to raucous music late at night. They go to Oyster Fest and other similar events where a local campground rents sites for $30 a night and pack at least two RVs onto each site. My friends intentionally try to find campgrounds, weekends, and events that are conducive to partying. They keep inviting us to join them, but somehow we're always busy those weekends.

We have learned over the years to avoid holiday weekends, camp during the week over the summer (if possible), and even to avoid most privately owned campgrounds. When we get unlucky, I have no problem speaking politely to party-ers, and usually they apologize and turn the music down just enough for my ear plugs to be effective. Most people seem to understand that if they are loud late at night they can expect someone to say something. It is the daytime noise that is more difficult to correct.

 

I pack "pretty" with me everywhere I go... It's a Taurus 9mm, she's either in my purse, glove box of my truck or on my person. I do like the idea of being able to protect myself and my family. The DH has a .380 on him at all times as well.

Bear in minds, we are not out shooting in the campground, if we have noisy neighbors, we nicely ask them to please keep it down, if that doesn't work, we go to the camp hosts.

 

This is yet another of the many reasons why I don't camp on big holiday weekends. That's when people who want to party come out.

As for moving, hell no! Why should I be inconvenienced. The noisemakers are the problem. As for seeking revenge by making noise the next day, well, that doesn't solve the problem. They still bothered everyone else all night.

I have been known to ask others to keep it down and, if a host or ranger is available (usually not where I camp), call upon them to enforce the campground rules. As for showing up with a weapon, well, that's a threat and not a good idea IMO. It's too easy to provoke a bunch of drunks with a threat and escalate the situation. I do carry a firearm but would never brandish it in an attempt to get others to quiet down. It is for one thing and one thing only: protecting my life and DW's life. Unless we are in such a situation you won't know I have it.

 

The "Sunday drivers" of the camping world. Arrrrggghhh...

They are everywhere in Korea. And the CG hosts/owners are often with them!

 

Actually, the campground where I was most impressed with noise enforcement was in Canada: Johnston Creek in Banff National Park. The park wardens patrolled the park all day long, right up to quiet hours at 10 PM. If anyone was making any noise audible from very far away, they were "counseled." All of the restroom doors had large signs that gave the local phone number of the RCMP and urged people to call any time if there were any problems. Noise and bear-safe rule violations were the two main areas of concern. One night one group at the other end of the loop was making a bit of noise (loud voices and laughing, no music) after 10 PM but the RCMP came in and that stopped right then and there. I have never seen any rule enforcement so thorough and effective in the U.S.

 

Wow sorry to hear that, some people only think of themselves or think that just because they like the music that everyone else does or wants to hear it. That's even worst that the co didn't do anything about it. I hope things work out for you. This is one of the reason I like boon docking however, even in boon dock country you get rude people.

 

One rarely ever has that problem in a state park in Ohio. If your not quiet during quiet time 10-11pm to 6am. Then the sheriff or other Law authority will visit your site and give you 30 minutes to get out. NO QUESTIONS ASKED and NO REFUNDS. The State Parks in Ohio have a ZERO tolerance level when it comes to quiet time. That is why the majority of my camping is at Ohio State Parks. With over 70 locations to pick from, It will be a while b-4 I get to all of them.

 

That sounds like heaven...

 

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=ZbMy38zTC6g&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DZbMy38zTC6g

 

Same here in NC at our local state parks. Evenings are pretty quiet, and quiet time is especially quiet. Rangers don't tolerate anything else. We love it.