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Amount of people at campsite

jarata1
Explorer
Explorer
We have some ayes at a few state campgrounds and the signs say 4 to a campsite.Yet there always seems to be a few more then that .Does this seem to be the norm not enforcing how many things a campsite
26 REPLIES 26

turbojimmy
Explorer
Explorer
DutchmenSport wrote:
That actually happened to us once when my wife question the woman in front of us in line and she had a massive shopping cart full of stuff in the 10 items or less line!


I like to think I'm a pretty easy going guy with a list of pet peeves I can count on one hand. That's one of them. It's not the act, nor the extra time it costs me that bothers me. It's the type of person that does it.

Anyhow, I think the original question has been answered pretty thoroughly but I'll toss in my .02 with this: it depends. I've found that enforcement varies widely whether private or state park. If you're obnoxious and call attention to yourselves you can pretty much bet that there will be enforcement.
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Sandia_Man
Explorer II
Explorer II
We haven't found much issues with enforcement of the number of people at a campsite in AZ or NM state parks. We have been to nearly every state park in either state and always with at least 6, more if the kids brought their friends, and never an issue.

We don't do private parks unless there are no other state, COE, county, fed, or military parks options, of those we never paid the extra person fees, they did not seem to care as there was so many kids running around the RV park I guess it was too difficult to keep track.

I concur with the statement that if your campsite is not bothering other campers rangers are not overly concerned. I don't waste my time worrying about what my camping neighbors are doing as long as they are not too raucous, just too busy having my own fun to give a hoot.

If you to park near us when in Delaware at the beach, you would think there are 15 of us. We actually have 4 different sites with my trailer being on the end spot with more room, and 4 different campers. We will take 3 of the tables and bring them to our site and cover them .. that is our breakfast and dinner spots... A lot of times, there will be 9-10 chairs around our site also..

so, depending on when you walk by, you may see anywhere from 1-15 sitting outside..

But with all that said, we are dispersed before quiet hours, after all, we are getting old ! ๐Ÿ™‚
Me-Her-the kids
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downtheroad
Explorer
Explorer
Oh boy, you have pushed my "rant" button.
Oregon State Parks allows up to 8 per site and no limit on pets....so we have camped a number of times next to complete insanity.....morning, noon and through the night.
They do charge for extra cars.

Ya, I know, we have wheels and can move on down the road if we don't like it....but still....
"If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane."

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valhalla360
Nomad III
Nomad III
4 seems a bit low as a significant percentage of families will exceed this (especially if the kids bring a friend).

Having grown up as the youngest of 10, they always backed off when it was made clear, that 12 is the immediate family.

While there can be a cost component, they also want to avoid 50 college kids paying for 1 site and set up 20 tents while parking on the neighbors lot...
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darsben1
Explorer
Explorer
In my experiences if the campsite is relatively quiet rangers will not bother anyone. If they have to respond to a complaint then the rules are enforced
Traveling with my best friend, my wife in a 1990 Southwind

DrewE
Explorer II
Explorer II
Many places do have a per-person surcharge, often up to a higher maximum. Vermont works this way: the listed fees are for four people, as I recall, and then it's a few dollars more per person over that to a maximum of six or eight, depending on the site size. Some also (or instead) permit more than the listed maximum if part of the same immediate family.

Other times, it's necessary to "occupy" two camp sites, even if you all stay on one most of the time. That's actually not entirely unreasonable in my opinion, as the site limits are often at least partly based on things like building codes or overall occupancy limits--the campground can't have more than x people staying there altogether due to the size of their septic system or whatever, and that gets divided down by the number of sites they have.

I'm sure there might be one or two campers who lie about the size of their party, as well.

DutchmenSport
Explorer
Explorer
languiduck wrote:
Ever see someone with 13 items in a 12 items or less check out lane at the grocery store?


Yea! And 5 loaves of bread is 1 item. 6 gallons of milk is 1 item. 4 tubs of butter is one item. 6 candy bars is one item. 7 boxes of breakfast cereal is 1 item.

So far, that's only 5 items! I've got 7 more to go!

(That actually happened to us once when my wife question the woman in front of us in line and she had a massive shopping cart full of stuff in the 10 items or less line!)

languiduck
Explorer
Explorer
Ever see someone with 13 items in a 12 items or less check out lane at the grocery store?
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DutchmenSport
Explorer
Explorer
Some places are very strict and some are very lax. We've been to both. Private campgrounds have a tendency to enforce the "X" number of people per campsite, much more than State Parks do. For private campgrounds, they can monitor things a bit closer, and because they are private owned, can do pretty much whatever they want. It's an additional money maker for them to charge if you exceed the posted number per campsite, or to even allow them entrance.

If you are a family of 5, with 3 small kids, it's pretty hard for anyone at State Parks to tell you, you have to reserve another campsite to accommodate the 5th (or 3rd child) or charge you more. I've never heard of that happening.

Indiana State Parks do enforce the 1 vehicle with a camping unit per campsite though. No problems with a camper AND a tent. But come sundown, the DNR guys will come around and tell you, you have to park all but one of your vehicles somewhere else (they always have a parking area near the gate house around the bath houses). This they do enforce.

the_bear_II
Explorer
Explorer
X-2 fees for more than 4.

I have seen upper limits of capacity per campsite. Usually 10.

kerrlakeRoo
Explorer
Explorer
As often as not, the 4 person limit is just to allow additional fees for extra folks, as long as you pay enough most will let it go unless someone gets overly obnoxious.