Just a heads up.... New Oregon State Park check in policy.

[rollexx]

I guess Oregon State Parks have begun to enforce check in times.
Having used them for 20 some years I have never had to wait for the posted
Check in time. If your reserved spot was vacant you could always set up.
Guess not anymore . Sitting in the parking lot at Nehalem Bay State Park with a bunch of peeved campers waiting till 4pm.
Was told by the ranger at the check in booth they have begun to enforce the time.

[cpaulsen]

rvgrammady wrote:
My son worked for the State Parks and this is sort of what he was saying. The Rangers are checking all the sites for people who are late checking out and make sure the sites that should be empty are actually empty., clean up sites and/or areas getting to all the sites, trash etc. They turn in their reports before check-in time and then they are complete and "open for check-in".

Problems with clearing on a site-by site basis is it becomes so time consuming for the RAnger clearing that section .. running back and forth to the booth.. then you are there... is "your' sit clear, is my site (I'm behind you) clear. Yours isn't mine is. You have to drive thru park to let me in and then you get back in line, also not lots of parking for the people to "wait" .. big mess. Then when the Ranger is checking his section as he has given his paperwork to the Booth, you occupied your new site, ut-oh .. this site was supose to be vacant for the next person, oh your are the new person.. Ranger just spend 10 min on this one site.

When you may only have 2 or 3 total Rangers.. it's a mess and then the visitors complain.. they got their site, why can't I get mine?. So per Him, the State Park system said ... whoa.. lets get a working system and stick with it so everyone knows the rules...it works ..

That's why they list check-in check-out times. You know when you can check in.. if it says 4 o'clock.. you know you aren't getting in at 1:00. You and the park can Plan accordingly.

LOL my granddaughter just said... gramma, if we go to a movie and sit and wait for the movie, we are there in the seats.. but they dont start the movie until the time they say it's to start. We look in the paper and go just before it starts.
That's a 5 year old for you...

Just what I know from a Ranger... and a 5 year old.

Dy
In No. Calif.

Still say an earlier checkout time would be better! And.....would think that the park rangers in Ca. would have radios to contacy the booth when the site is clean.

[ksg5000]

We have run into similar problems - but if I find the site already clean and vacant I setup anyway and nobody has said anything. I think they want to give the cleanup crews time to do there jobs.

[rvgrammady]

My son worked for the State Parks and this is sort of what he was saying. The Rangers are checking all the sites for people who are late checking out and make sure the sites that should be empty are actually empty., clean up sites and/or areas getting to all the sites, trash etc. They turn in their reports before check-in time and then they are complete and "open for check-in".

Problems with clearing on a site-by site basis is it becomes so time consuming for the RAnger clearing that section .. running back and forth to the booth.. then you are there... is "your' sit clear, is my site (I'm behind you) clear. Yours isn't mine is. You have to drive thru park to let me in and then you get back in line, also not lots of parking for the people to "wait" .. big mess. Then when the Ranger is checking his section as he has given his paperwork to the Booth, you occupied your new site, ut-oh .. this site was supose to be vacant for the next person, oh your are the new person.. Ranger just spend 10 min on this one site.

When you may only have 2 or 3 total Rangers.. it's a mess and then the visitors complain.. they got their site, why can't I get mine?. So per Him, the State Park system said ... whoa.. lets get a working system and stick with it so everyone knows the rules...it works ..

That's why they list check-in check-out times. You know when you can check in.. if it says 4 o'clock.. you know you aren't getting in at 1:00. You and the park can Plan accordingly.

LOL my granddaughter just said... gramma, if we go to a movie and sit and wait for the movie, we are there in the seats.. but they dont start the movie until the time they say it's to start. We look in the paper and go just before it starts.
That's a 5 year old for you...

Just what I know from a Ranger... and a 5 year old.

Dy
In No. Calif.

[kknowlton]

We used to do a lot of camping in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan state parks. Virtually all of them have a 3 PM checkout time, but no specific check-in time - or if they do, it's not enforced if the site is already empty. One exception we noted - Indiana SPs have a Sunday checkout time of 5 PM, by far the latest we have encountered so far. But again, if the site you want/reserved is empty at an earlier hour, you are welcome to get in & set up.

[Dog_Folks]

Bigdog wrote:
I actually think that they should go back to the old 11 AM or 12 PM checkout,so that we could get in at 1-2 PM like the old days. I really don't appreciate not being able to get into the site after 4PM and having to setup and have dinner be late also.Besides 4 PM is my cocktail hour. I also like being able to setup at a decent hour and do things that day. Yes,you could do it before you get in,but then you're having to drag a trailer or a MH around with you.
Most parks are far enuff away from the city that you really need to leave earlier and have a decent trip home,not driving like an idiot.

I agree that4:00 p.m.m. is late and certainly out of the ordinary.

In the 32 states we have been in we always could get in around 1:00 or 2:00 p.m. and only had to wait once. That was because the site was being cleaned.

[Bigdog]

I actually think that they should go back to the old 11 AM or 12 PM checkout,so that we could get in at 1-2 PM like the old days. I really don't appreciate not being able to get into the site after 4PM and having to setup and have dinner be late also.Besides 4 PM is my cocktail hour. I also like being able to setup at a decent hour and do things that day. Yes,you could do it before you get in,but then you're having to drag a trailer or a MH around with you.
Most parks are far enuff away from the city that you really need to leave earlier and have a decent trip home,not driving like an idiot.

[Dog_Folks]

padredw wrote:
I can tell you that I find this policy entirely unacceptable and lacking in common sense.

A long period of time between campers maybe not camper friendly, but:

If there is no time allowed between check out of one camper and check in of another, how do you expect the campsite to be cleaned and reset for you to occupy?

Or are you willing to accept a site where the last camper left their babies dirty diapers in the fire pit?

[frmAloha]

This isn't new. Right after the governor changed the check-in time to the current 4pm (which was decades ago), we were told to wait at the Crooked River CG in Cove Palisades. We could see that the campground was empty and were a bit miffed, so, we moved on down the road to another state park without a waiting time. Never had that problem again. I guess it truly depends on the park and the people at the gate.

[padredw]

We stopped at South Beach last year on our very first visit to Oregon. Thank goodness, we were allowed to go to our campsite which was open without waiting. I can tell you that I find this policy entirely unacceptable and lacking in common sense. Another "thank goodness," I have never experienced it anywhere and, in fact, this is the first time I every heard of such a policy.

[cpaulsen]

gjwarneke wrote:
cpaulsen which park were people getting into at 11am ?

Here @ South Beach and also @ Cape Blanco when we were there.

Best think that should be done is to enforce the check-out time. If it is 1 pm...enforce it to an extent. I have seen people finally leave @ almost 4:30 pm before.

[gjwarneke]

cpaulsen which park were people getting into at 11am ?

[bigdogger]

Probably because they have caught all kinds of H. E. Double L. from people who had to wait for their site to vacate while other people just breezed in because the site they had reserved was vacated. Those that had to wait probably made life for the admission attendants miserable asking why they couldn't just take the first empty site and the person who reserved that site couldn't just take next empty site.
Also, depending on the situation, they may also have had complaints from the people who were on site and didn't have to leave until checkout time that the people who were going on to that site next were circling them like buzzards making them feel uncomfortable that they weren't rushing to leave before checkout time.
And there also probably were people who truly were abusing the fact that they didn't enforce check in times. Things like people arriving at 8 AM for the 4 PM check-in. Those early check-ins might interfere with site maintenance and the like. Personally, if check in time is 4 PM I wouldn't be upset if I couldn't get in at 2 PM. That is why they post the check in time.

[fireman93514]

I have had to wait at Nehalem bay as well.

[cpaulsen]

Not all parks....I saw people coming at around 11 am yesterday.