Campground tourists?

[GordonThree]

I'm enjoying a great weekend, the first for my area at a local state park, and I observed the curious habit of campground tourists.

First off, I admit I myself am a campground tourist from time to time, weather and location permitting, I'll drive through a campground to rubberneck and also wish I was camping.

I've observed three types of campground tourist.

#1: The NASCAR time trial driver. These folks drive the loops as if they were being timed on a qualifying circuit at a NASCAR event. My guess is the passenger wanted to see whats up in the campground, but the driver could care less, or is actually annoyed by the request, and tries to complete the loops as fast as possible, dodging pedestrians and bicyclists as if playing a video game.

#2: The line following robot driver. These folks drive at a reasonably safe speed, and appear to be following some sort of mental compulsion that instructs them to drive down every road in the campground, even those that dead end into a hike-in tent camping area, and another that dead ends into where the refuse collection bins are.

#3: The cursory rubberneck driver. These drivers stick to the outermost loop, driving very slowly and with lots of rubbernecking. I haven't observed too many this weekend, please forgive the brief description.

I myself tend to fall into the #3 description in a busy campground, and the #2 in a sparsely populated campground.

What say you?

[Pine_Barren]

We ride or walk around the campground to do as others have said and see which sites suit our needs and the ones that don't for future references. We also keep notes on surrounding area.

[2gypsies1]

Murphsmom wrote:

Naio wrote:
I have been known to tour a campground I was staying at, on foot or bicycle, making notes of the best sites for next time.

We do that each time we go into a new campground. We take a campground map and note which sites are particularly suited to us. Sometimes we are on foot, others we are in the car (staying elsewhere, but still checking for good ideas). I have a file folder where we keep all those marked up maps. As a matter of fact, we just made a reservation for a space in an Oregon State Park that I probably wouldn't have looked twice at given the online map information. Then out came the trusty map file and I found that I had given one particular site a big star on the map. That's the one we reserved.

We do this also if it's a park we're likely to return. After 16 years of full-timing, you would not believe the size of my data base on the computer for campgrounds and boondocking spots. I have them in listed by state and city. For each campground I put the sites in order of preference of the ones we'd like. I also make notes about the campground or immediate area and directions.

Since we travel secondary roads and meander we never know where we'll be staying that night so all I have to do is go to the state, then nearest town, and then I'll have campgrounds listed.

[colliehauler]

If it's a destination camp ground I look around when I walk the Collies. If it's just an overnight not so much so, usually dark when I arrive.

[Murphsmom]

Naio wrote:
I have been known to tour a campground I was staying at, on foot or bicycle, making notes of the best sites for next time.

We do that each time we go into a new campground. We take a campground map and note which sites are particularly suited to us. Sometimes we are on foot, others we are in the car (staying elsewhere, but still checking for good ideas). I have a file folder where we keep all those marked up maps. As a matter of fact, we just made a reservation for a space in an Oregon State Park that I probably wouldn't have looked twice at given the online map information. Then out came the trusty map file and I found that I had given one particular site a big star on the map. That's the one we reserved.

[2oldman]

My favorite are the #1 category on gravel/dirt roads. They don't seem to care about the cloud of dust behind them and where it's headed.

[jake2250]

We also like to either walk around or take a drive if we are returning form an outing while there,, But we like to see how the other half lives also,, look at how other folks set up and some of their creature comforts!!
Came across a group of kids and adults playing ladder ball on a home made pvc tubing ladder set up,, we admired it and chatted with them,, I got a web site with directions on how to make my own!! Cool!!

Love to walk around at night and see the accent lighting people have!! Heck I've even run into some one or two people I know!!
We love the campground atmosphere.
I think the ones that get me are the ones that believe they are the only ones in the campground,, Noise,lights,parking, kids boundaries don't apply to them!! Why does there vehicle hang out into the road way three or four feet farther than any one else?? and do you have to scream at your dog or kids 24 hrs at a time?? And why is it just an oops when your dog poops near my food table?? But I get the flat eyebrows when I walk my dog and your dog goes berserk??
Same folks need hot dog bums after drinking all day,, scream and holler that they gotta go some where,,, then Storm off at break neck speed in the stinky loud diesel pick up with dog chasing and barking???????? (You know who you are)!!

[dewey02]

I don't presume to know people's motives for driving on the campground road, nor do I spend time wondering why they do. They are entitled to do so.
We almost ALWAYS do this, to check out potential sites for a future camping trip, even recording on the campground map which sites we like and might request in a future trip. We also enjoy seeing what kinds of campers people have and how they set up their sites. We don't stop and stare at them, we just slowly pass by. I never considered that anyone would be offended by our passing through. There are many far more aggregious things to get one's undies in a bundle over.

[GordonThree]

I didn't mean anything negative. Just an observation about people that are not currently camping taking a tour of the grounds. Even now that it's dark the tours continue 🙂

[Naio]

I have been known to tour a campground I was staying at, on foot or bicycle, making notes of the best sites for next time.

[Calicajun]

We walk the campground which take some time because I stop and talk to most everybody I see outside. 🙂

[Crowe]

Our purpose for touring is to check out the area, not gawking at other campers which we find intrusive ourselves.

I have to admit this comment strikes me as rather amusing. You camp in a public area but don't expect to get looked at.

We've perused a number of campgrounds when we've been driving by and many that we've stayed at. Although we do the bulk of the checking out on foot if we are camping there, there have been some we've driven through on the way back to our site, just to check them out. We obey all rules and OMG, we LOOK at other campers! 🙂 We look to see if someone else has a set-up or gear we might be interested in. And, in turn, we've been gawked at many times. I just wave and assume they are looking at my raving beauty! :B

[wing_zealot]

We drive campgrounds to pick out the best sites for future reference; or suggestions for friends. We may go by some faster than others because right off they don meet our criteria, so we move on to hose that aren't readily eliminated.

[azdryheat]

We like to recon destination campgrounds.

[3oaks]

And then there is the 4th category which I fall into. When camping in a new campground for the first time, we always check out all the loops and campsites for future reference, should we wish to return for another stay. Sometimes we tour nearby campgrounds for the same reason, possible return camping trips. 😉

Our purpose for touring is to check out the area, not gawking at other campers which we find intrusive ourselves.

[2oldman]

..was a boondocking commment