Claiming a first come campsite

tsetsaf wrote:

NCWriter wrote:

57 Panhead wrote:


I will say that it ticks me off to arrive at a site and see a lawn chair or cooler sitting there with nothing else. They are taking a site and not using it for a day or so and to me that just aint right. If you want to be the "first come" then set up and use the sight!

Steve

Really?....maybe they've already been enjoying their paid-for site in a smaller RV ( for days, for all you know), and just drove their RV over to the nearest grocery store, or to visit other areas in the park to hike...or see some local sights, planning to return later for dinner and a good night's sleep???

There is certainly no requirement I've ever heard of that after campers have selected and paid for their sites that they must occupy it continuously 24/7 during the reservation!

To answer the original poster, most of us leave chairs, and some use an orange traffic cone to indicate that we've paid for a site for that night.

We witnessed this first hand at Valley of Fire SP. A family from Germany had stayed the night and were staying the next night but only left their baby stroller while they drove the Camping World rental over to the main area of the park. Some not too nice weekend warriors showed up and decided the site was available and simply pushed the stroller into the road! Before I had a chance there were two other neighbors already righting the wrong.

In regard to the OP question: for nps and fs campgrounds possession by a camping unit is generally required.

This is a bit off topic but wanted to share. We drove to the Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada only to find the campground full. We noticed a pickup with a fifth wheel hitch in one site with a tag in the window and across the road a fifth wheel trailer with no pickup. We asked the folks at the fifth wheel trailer who owned the pick up. They fessed up and told us they paid for the site and were saving it for their son. We had driven hundreds of miles and decided to call the park ranger. We got our spot. This saving sites is an unfair practice but who is to say the site is actually taken or being saved? I think the idea of a sign is a good idea if your only vehicle is your camper. If someone takes off work early or takes a day off can end up without a campsite due to someone paying for it and saving it for the children with a chair is not right in a first come first serve campground.