Etiquette in Camping

As a 'first timer' trailer owner, I reserved an rv site at a resort for a month. Spaces were tight--the next person's site began about as far as my awning went. I was right on a lake, and folks didn't think twice about walking along the lake's edge to get back and forth to friends'/relatives campsites. This meant some of them literally stepped over my feet while I was sitting in a lawn chair at lake's edge! My picnic table was nearby, and the neighbors' kids crawled over my table to get past. I finally set up floaties with bungee cords in the way. One woman pushed me aside to go past. I complained to the camp host, and when he told them they had to go on the road, they got mad at me! I overheard them talking to each other. I was therefore nervous to leave my trailer and go in to town for a couple of days for fear they've sabotage it. This next summer I'm staying at a resort where there's no one on one side of me and the other neighbor is further away. I guess campsite etiquette is almost a thing of the past.

I think it really is largely a case of ignorance of the (unwritten) rules. My husband grew up in a camping family and learned the rules early on, and passed them on to me when he got me into camping after our marriage; it's a big pet peeve of mine when other campers flagrantly violate what I know to be rules of good behavior - but I'm also sure that most of them were not taught correctly when they started camping. (Probably started on their own as adults, with no one to teach them.) Second Chance, that sounds like a good way to approach the problem; you probably increased understanding on the part of several individuals (and perhaps an entire group), with a minimum of hostility.

We're currently at a small city owned/operated park in Plain City, Ohio. A fairly large group of Goldwing enthusiasts planned a get-together at this park this weekend (we are not part of the group). Most of them came in their RVs and left their motorcycles at home and few came on their bikes and, in some cases, small tent trailers pulled by the bikes. They've been a very nice, sedate crowd and very pleasant to be around. One thing that has shocked us, though, is that few - if any - of them have a clue about campsite etiquette. They walk through non-group-members' campsites routinely. This afternoon my wife looked out the window and said, "Two of those guys are checking out the truck and the hitch!"

I stepped outside and asked if I could help them. They started apologizing profusely and seemed genuinely not to know that they had overstepped any boundaries. My wife and I explained to them that, as full-timers, our RV is our home and that doing what they were doing is like peeping in windows at a stix 'n brix. After they absorbed that and seemed to understand things from our point of view, we spent a good while talking and they were curious about the full-time lifestyle. The whole experience drove home to us the fact that there are people who really have never considered how their behavior appears to others.

Rob

We have been lucky, only once did we have family flagrantly cutting through our site. Set our picnic table and my truck in a blocking pattern to give them the hint.

Mike

Common courtesies of camping work both ways. Case in point, we were out for a walk at the campground and my wife fell and hurt her ankle and couldn't walk on that foot. We cut through three campsites and two out of the three gave us a hard time even though they could see I was trying to carry my wife. My point is always be courtest but don't take the rules of courtesy too far.

I have some rope lights I almost never use. Bad purchase on my part. I keep them for such situations. First try is on the ground. If it continues, they get strung up about chest high.

That said, I've seen an increasing trend in commercial campgrounds to not leave pathways to services between rigs. I was at a campground recently were there was no break for almost 1/2 mile to get to the bath house. If you had the spot in the middle of the back row along the edge of the CG, you would have to walk 1/4 mile to the end of the row, 1/4 mile down the next row to reach the bath house not 200 feet from your rig door.

whatimmadoboutmylegs wrote:
A strategically placed clothes line might help.

Or a picnic table etc, anything to block the easy pathway.
Gets on my nerves when people walk right outside my door.

A strategically placed clothes line might help.

Tell them to get the off your site.

We also observe these common campground etiquettes but we seldom observe others breaking them.