Cold weather, generators, and campgrounds

[cptqueeg]

My wife and I were at Yellowstone the past few days at NPS campground Madison, which is run by Xanterra. It was pretty cold and snowy for several days, not extreme, but a little "rough" for mid-October.

The campground rules are no generators btwn 8pm - 8am. There were many in the campground that ran their generators intermittently all through night. My question is this:

Is this complete disregard for the rules and FELLOW CAMPERS acceptable in light of the conditions?

[wildtoad]

Sounds like the park ranger and/or camp host need to do a better job of informing everyone generators are not allowed at set times for ANY reason. Assuming there is cell service, a phone number to contact ranger should be provided for people to report someone who violates the rule AND is causing a problem. If the offender is five or six sites away, not sure it affects me. I don’t believe a camp host is the person to address the issue at 2:30 in the morning.

[cptqueeg]

2oldman wrote:

cptqueeg wrote:
So yes I agree that I should avoid campgrounds as much as possible.

I don't know if you need to go that far, but at the very least I would do my best to avoid extreme cold.

Yes on the weather, extreme cold or heat.

[toedtoes]

2oldman wrote:

cptqueeg wrote:
So yes I agree that I should avoid campgrounds as much as possible.

I don't know if you need to go that far, but at the very least I would do my best to avoid extreme cold.

Or pick less crowded campgrounds. I camp in winter with nighttime temps below 45 degrees and have never experienced generator use like that.

[toedtoes]

Had this been a summer trip in an area expected to be in the low 70s during the night and suddenly it was 30 degrees due to freak weather, I might be willing to say the conditions warrant it.

But in this case, the temps are reasonable for the location and dates so campers should be prepared for them. That means camping with hookups or extra batteries if you want to use the furnace. Or bringing extra blankets.

If you choose to camp in a campground with a "no generators between 8 pm and 8 am", then you need to follow those rules.

I also disagree that using the generator intermittently throughout the night means they were trying not to inconvenience others. Trying to sleep with a loud noise going on and off all night is extremely difficult for many people. It's like the guy who unwraps cellophane in the theatre - doing it slowly just puts people on edge because they keep waiting for the next bit of unwrapping.

[2oldman]

cptqueeg wrote:
So yes I agree that I should avoid campgrounds as much as possible.

I don't know if you need to go that far, but at the very least I would do my best to avoid extreme cold.

[cptqueeg]

time2roll wrote:
I don’t know the individual situation of those campers but under the conditions I give them a pass for the night.

Did you speak to your neighbor in the morning to see if they could use some help?

I think these were folks transiting through the area so they'd be gone early and others weren't running their generators during the actual time they should have them running so it was really hard to figure out which rigs were the offenders.

[cptqueeg]

Matt_Colie wrote:

cptqueeg wrote:
My wife and I were at Yellowstone the past few days at NPS campground Madison, which is run by Xanterra. It was pretty cold and snowy for several days, not extreme, but a little "rough" for mid-October.

The campground rules are no generators btwn 8pm - 8am. There were many in the campground that ran their generators intermittently all through night. My question is this:

Is this complete disregard for the rules and FELLOW CAMPERS acceptable in light of the conditions?

Well Captain,

You don't give much for the specifics of the conditions. You also allow that those that ran generators ran them intermittently.

It would seem to me that those that did run generators were doing their best to not inconvenience the others there and still survive the night. There are more than one reason that they may have had to fire up the generator. One of the top ones to me would that Fishing Bridge is probably closed along with the other campgrounds that can supply electric.

Now, if they had run the generators all night, that would be a different story altogether.

Matt

The weather was a low of 15-20, F winds 10-15mph mostly cloudy. It had been stormy so there were days prior to this w daily snowfalls of 1-2", totaling about 8"powdery snow.

Yes they ran them intermittently at various hours through the nights for 1/2hr - 1hr periods.
I presume 1 or more btwn the 2 nights were built in Onan 4-5000w, one 4000-5000w loud, and a couple others.


After 2 nights of horrible sleep we packed up late afternoon and skipped staying the last night - we live 5 hours from W Yellowstone.


My thoughts are if you can't make it through the night following the rules then you need to beat it.

[Lwiddis]

Matt an experienced RVer who can’t last through one cold night without running their generator?

Helpless Hannas!

[cptqueeg]

Brandon the Traveler wrote:
Does the written rule have written conditions for when it does not apply? Such as except when it snows, or rains, or is colder than 50 degrees, or there is a full moon, the bison are all laying down, etc. That's your answer....You should of called in the Rangers and reported every single violator.

Seriously if that bothered you it's probably time to stop going to campgrounds. Rule violators are only going to increase in number.

I did report the first morning at 8am to a NPS LEO walking the loops in the parking lot ahh campground. She mentioned she would speak w the camp host whom we were camped no more than 30' apart.

The 2nd night with a whole new set of campers a different set of generators running.


This being my first 3 visits to USFS and NPS campgrounds in 35 years has been one of over crowded, so a few very selfish people are able to ruin what might have been enjoyable for very many others.


My intention was to use the more remote USFS/BLM campgrounds, but to being primarily dispersed camping. My wife's needs seemed more important on these first few trips in our TC so campgrounds were an ugly necessity.

So yes I agree that I should avoid campgrounds as much as possible.

[NamMedevac_70]

MT BOB wrote:
Welcome to the world of "entitlement" and "unprepared".
That is why I rarely camp in campgrounds.
Actually, pretty normal weather, for there, which is why it shuts down this time of year.
In my experience, the more expensive the RV, the ruder people are. YMMV

Well said and especially if they are traveling in groups such as the ones I encountered in SP in southern Oregon and at other locations. They were driving and not from Oregon but a neighboring state and not NV or Wash. On the happy side they had to spend much of their time trouble shooting technical problems with the mobile RV repairman and unable to do any R&R for long time. They can be a real .Cheers to you.

[2oldman]

cptqueeg wrote:
Is this complete disregard for the rules and FELLOW CAMPERS acceptable in light of the conditions?

I'd probably let it slide, but, it's a complete disregard for having enough battery to get through a cold night...and possibly the weather forecast.

If these people need hookups then that's where they should be.

[Brandon_the_Tra]

Does the written rule have written conditions for when it does not apply? Such as except when it snows, or rains, or is colder than 50 degrees, or there is a full moon, the bison are all laying down, etc. That's your answer....You should of called in the Rangers and reported every single violator.

Seriously if that bothered you it's probably time to stop going to campgrounds. Rule violators are only going to increase in number.

[time2roll]

I don’t know the individual situation of those campers but under the conditions I give them a pass for the night.

Did you speak to your neighbor in the morning to see if they could use some help?

[Grit_dog]

But to put a positive spin on it, had folks not been running their generators, it wouldn’t have provided content, for people with nothing better to complain about, to complain about…..

[jdc1]

Rules are rules. Don't like the rules? Leave.