Camping Etiquette from a Campground Host
Whether you’re a new camper or a seasoned veteran, you might think you understand the proper camping etiquette. I thought I did too. Until I became a campground host. Then I came to realize certain things I did were just not cool. You learn a lot when you’re on the inside. Here are my top 10 camping etiquette tips for a season of sensational camping.
- Put your damn fire out. I seriously cannot believe the number of people who leave their campsites with the fire still burning, or people who leave their fires unattended while they are inside their RVs or walking about the campground. Last year I coughed in horror as thousands and thousands of acres of my home state burned to the ground. Thousands of people are still homeless and the forests will need centuries to recover. The world is only getting hotter and wildfires will spread much more quickly. Put your fire dead out with buckets of water or shovel sand on it.
2. Don’t walk through other people’s sites. Teach your kids this as well. Just yesterday, I saw a family pull in, about 5 kids jumped out of the truck and started running straight across another campsite to get to the bathrooms. Then they proceeded to ride their bikes up and down driveways of other campers. A ranger once told me that if you rent a campsite, even for just the night, that is considered your property and if people walk through it, they are trespassing. Whether that is true or not, I’m not sure, but I can say it does feel invasive when someone walks across my site. Especially with a child or a dog, because Olive can get upset when that happens. While it may be the quickest way to the bathrooms, please don’t cut across another person’s campsite.
3. Don’t throw your food on the ground. As a campground host, one of our jobs is to clean out sites after you leave. Among the host community, I can tell you pistachio shells are one of our biggest pet peeves. They seem to never compost. If you eat your nuts and throw the shells on the ground, guess who has to pick them up, one by one, with a litter picker. It’s quite tedious and quite annoying. I know what you’re thinking, they’re shells, they’ll decompose, right? Well, unless it’s going to decompose by 4pm when the next camper arrives, the campground host has to pick it up. One of my worst days as a campground host was the day I had to pick discarded spaghetti from a bush at the back of a campsite. Onion and garlic skins, corn cobs, coffee grounds, tea bags. Just don’t. Put them in the trash where they belong, or bring them back home with you to compost.
4. Leave the glitter at home! We love that you bring your kids camping. We love that you plan messy activities for them outside. But please, leave the glitter and bead projects at home. Do you know how hard it is to pick up glitter, tiny beads or broken water balloons up from a campsite? Painting rocks can be a fun campground activity, but please take them home with you. You might think you’re leaving a special gift for the next camper, but in reality, I’m throwing it out. The same is true for sidewalk chalk. We have to clean that all up with water and a broom before the next campers arrive. Sorry, Picasso, Jr. One of the best lessons to teach your kids is to leave a campsite cleaner than you found it. Get the whole family involved with packing and clean up!
5. Use local Firewood Only. Most campsites sell their own firewood. You might save a few bucks by bringing your own, but you could unintentionally destroy a forest. That’s right. Critters, like mountain pine beetles have been known to devastate whole forests when they were inadvertently introduced by someone importing firewood.
6. The Firepit is not a trash can. Even if you leave little things like tea bags and coffee grounds, guess who has to pick it out? Did I mention that most campground hosts are volunteers? So if your idea of fun is to throw your empty beer cans and bottles into the blazing fire, please pick the out in the morning before you leave. The same is true of banana peels, onion skins and that last paper towel you used on your way out of the campground. The next camper is not going to use it to start their fire, I’m going to be picking it up.
7. Dogs! Keep your dogs on leash. If the campground has a leash rule, please obey it. Your dog may be friendly, but mine is not. Especially with off leash dogs. A lot of parks have designated off leash areas, so go throw the ball for your friend and wear her out. And if your dog is a digger like Olive, be sure to fill the holes back in before you leave. And I don’t have to mention picking up the poop, do I?
8. Don’t spit your toothpaste on the ground, or bushes or fire pit. This is something I used to do, until I started working as a campground host and saw all the white spots on the ground, in the bushes and in the dirt. Seeing someone’s spittle all over the ground is probably not what you were hoping for when you planned that epic camping trip. Use the sink in the bathroom or make sure it’s thoroughly diluted and washed away on the ground.
9. Ask for a spot when campground is full. This is the hardest thing I deal with as a campground host. People pull up at 8pm on a Saturday evening, drive right past the “No Vacancy” sign and ask if we have any open sites. I mean, it’s ok to ask, but when we tell you no, we’re full, don’t try to slip me a $20 bill (yes this happened), don’t ask about the sites that are reserved and not occupied yet, and don’t expect me to know what other campgrounds in the area have openings. I also don’t want to hear about how you used to just be able to come up here without a reservation. I remember those days too. Covid has changed a lot of things and campgrounds are only getting fuller as more and more people are heading out in RVs. Have a few back up options if your first choice isn’t available. Or better yet, make a reservation, especially on summer weekends.
10. Check out on time. Finally, if checkout time is 1pm, please be out of your site by 1pm. As camp hosts, we’re waiting for you to leave, so we can get the site cleaned and ready for the next campers. When you dawdle, it puts us behind schedule and we’re working more hours than we volunteered for. If you want to continue to hang out at our beautiful park, and why wouldn’t you, please head to the day use area or overflow parking lot and take it from there.
