Site squatters

[sparkydave]

I'll say this is a first for me. Showed up at the campground Friday night where I had a reservation, had a map of the campground since I hadn't been there before, and... There's somebody's truck parked in the middle of our site. Double check the reservation e-mail, and yeah, that's our site all right. Fortunately, when I asked the folks next door if that was their truck, they were apologetic about it and quickly moved the truck out of our site. I'm just glad they were around, since they disappeared for most of Saturday.

You would think that if the campground had a sign out front saying they were full, one could infer that that empty site might not stay empty, so parking on a site you didn't reserve might not be a good idea.

[dave54]

hotjag1 wrote:

StirCrazy wrote:

dave54 wrote:

At the crack of dawn the next morning, he was knocking on my door wondering when I was going to be pulling out.

Even while I was packing up later he and his entire family were standing there watching me, arms folded.

I could understand if buddy came by the day before and said he we would like to move into this spot when you leave, when you're ready can you come down and let us know so we can pull in as you pull out. but to disturb you first thing in the morning. I would have answered the door and said, " you know I was going to leave in a couple house but while trying to have breakfast we decided to stay another week."

You and me both!!!

Had plans already made. Grandkid stuff.

We were not going to inconvenience ourselves to get even with someone. Life is too short to carry that kind of baggage around. We laugh at people like that and do not let them 'push our buttons'.

[hotjag1]

StirCrazy wrote:

dave54 wrote:

At the crack of dawn the next morning, he was knocking on my door wondering when I was going to be pulling out.

Even while I was packing up later he and his entire family were standing there watching me, arms folded.

I could understand if buddy came by the day before and said he we would like to move into this spot when you leave, when you're ready can you come down and let us know so we can pull in as you pull out. but to disturb you first thing in the morning. I would have answered the door and said, " you know I was going to leave in a couple house but while trying to have breakfast we decided to stay another week."

You and me both!!!

[StirCrazy]

dave54 wrote:

At the crack of dawn the next morning, he was knocking on my door wondering when I was going to be pulling out.

Even while I was packing up later he and his entire family were standing there watching me, arms folded.

I could understand if buddy came by the day before and said he we would like to move into this spot when you leave, when you're ready can you come down and let us know so we can pull in as you pull out. but to disturb you first thing in the morning. I would have answered the door and said, " you know I was going to leave in a couple house but while trying to have breakfast we decided to stay another week."

[JRscooby]

StonedPanther wrote:


Ha, the word D A M N gets censored here ROFLMAO.......Are they censoring for 5 yr olds?

And we can't even discuss the game played with galloping dominos

[Grit_dog]

StonedPanther wrote:
Get off my **** lawn LOL.

These boards take the cake LOL.

Ha, the word D A M N gets censored here ROFLMAO.......Are they censoring for 5 yr olds?

You gotta admit though. The free entertainment is priceless and the constant lessons, reinforcing what not to do or how not to act are semi valuable for anyone who recognizes them.

[StonedPanther]

Get off my **** lawn LOL.

These boards take the cake LOL.

Ha, the word D A M N gets censored here ROFLMAO.......Are they censoring for 5 yr olds?

[cptqueeg]

2 years ago near Challis, ID a man asked a group of campers to vacate a campsite and they refused. The man was later shot to death after threatening the group by a member of the group who happened to be a sheriff from a county in N Idaho. It turns out the man that was killed was grieving the death of his son and the campsite he wanted was one he used to share w his son.

Lots of sad stories and whacked out people everywhere and an absolute boatload of weapons. I'm finding the solitude of off season camping in the middle of nowhere in NV being a refreshing change from the many inconsiderate people that are all about "me."

The squatters that leave their setups for months on public lands well in excess of the stay limits I find particularly infuriating.

[austinjenna]

We were in a National Forest undeveloped site popular with boondockers. Next to a lake. There are several spots where RVs can set up. No services, amenities, or reservations. FCFS. Just a shady grove of pines next to a lake.
We were in one spot I thought was particularly nice (three steps out my door and start casting), and the dozen or so other possible campsites were mostly unoccupied, two other campers at the other end. The rest were empty.

We had been there three days, when another RV pulled in. He stopped. looked at my camp for several minutes, then got out and walked around the rest of the area. After a few minutes he walked back and came up to me. He asked (politely, I'll give him credit for that) if I would move to another site so he could have have mine. This spot was his favorite and did not really like any of the others. He even offered to help my pack up and move.
I was too shocked to answer at first. Then I gathered my thoughts and replied no. I would not move, but I intended to leave the next morning and he could have it then. He grumbled about something I didn't catch, and stormed off, he and his family giving me the evil eye.
I guess I was rude by not breaking camp and moving right then.

At the crack of dawn the next morning, he was knocking on my door wondering when I was going to be pulling out.

Even while I was packing up later he and his entire family were standing there watching me, arms folded.

DW and I were laughing as we did finally pull out and leave. Life is too short to get angry and ruin my day over people like that.

I think I would have just said 'No - this is my favorite campsite too'
I would not have even told him when I was leaving

[agesilaus]

Well I think we came up with a solution to our issuer, which is with FF USGS and BLM sites and I suppose boondocking sites. We like to drop the RV at a safe spot after some very bad experiences with FS roads, and then take the truck and find a site. WE then go get the TT. We also scout out FF sites the same way.

So my idea is to set up our canopy tent and use it to mark the site as taken. Worked this morning, we found a spot at Carabella, on the Madison River and 15 miles from Gardiner-YNP, BLM designated camping site, set up the canopy, went back for the TT as as we were leaving passed another camper coming in looking for a site.

That is the second time that happened, we had a like experience at the FF USFS site at Jacob Lake. Got there early and paid for one of the three empty. We to get the RV and passed 3 others coming in. Bird, Worm, Early

Our other thought is to carry a traffic cone, collapsible if possible.

NOTE: 1) Carabella is back in operation after the flood despite the website calling it a fishing access site.
2) Canyon USFS site on US89 14 miles from Gardiner may have empty site early in the morning, it had 4 or 5 this morning on a Friday too..

[dave54]

We were in a National Forest undeveloped site popular with boondockers. Next to a lake. There are several spots where RVs can set up. No services, amenities, or reservations. FCFS. Just a shady grove of pines next to a lake.
We were in one spot I thought was particularly nice (three steps out my door and start casting), and the dozen or so other possible campsites were mostly unoccupied, two other campers at the other end. The rest were empty.

We had been there three days, when another RV pulled in. He stopped. looked at my camp for several minutes, then got out and walked around the rest of the area. After a few minutes he walked back and came up to me. He asked (politely, I'll give him credit for that) if I would move to another site so he could have have mine. This spot was his favorite and did not really like any of the others. He even offered to help my pack up and move.
I was too shocked to answer at first. Then I gathered my thoughts and replied no. I would not move, but I intended to leave the next morning and he could have it then. He grumbled about something I didn't catch, and stormed off, he and his family giving me the evil eye.
I guess I was rude by not breaking camp and moving right then. :h

At the crack of dawn the next morning, he was knocking on my door wondering when I was going to be pulling out.

Even while I was packing up later he and his entire family were standing there watching me, arms folded.

DW and I were laughing as we did finally pull out and leave. Life is too short to get angry and ruin my day over people like that.

[Grit_dog]

So this seemingly rare occurrence which is even rarer to actually have an uncomfortable experience with it is newsworthy? Heck the OP didn’t even have an issue or a squatter. Just some dude who parked his truck there. Prolly wasn’t even a tag on the post yet since the OP had yet to arrive.

[LindaAnn]

We had a similar experience at an RV park in New Mexico. We had made reservations, and my husband had checked in at the office, but when we got to the site they gave him, there was a vehicle parked in the middle of that site. The tag was from the state of the RV parked next to our site. My husband knocked on the door of the RV and asked the man if he would move his vehicle from the site assigned to us. The guy was rude as he could possibly have been and hateful to boot. He refused to move his vehicle from our site, so my husband suggested they walk down to the office. They did and the lady walked back with them. She told the man he had to move his vehicle so we could access our site. He did finally move it, but he was fuming and yelling. He was also intoxicated.
I worried all night that he would do something to our RV or our truck.
We've never had an experience like that in all our travels.
I was thankful to leave the next morning.

[Dutch_12078]

In 13 years of fulltiming, we've only arrived at our site once to find another RV parked on it. That time, the RV owner quickly hopped out and explained they were all loaded up and ready to go, but his wife had a last minute bathroom emergency due to a stomach bug of some sort. A couple of minutes later she showed up, and they were on their way. Not a problem, just a case of them being a few minutes late for a 1 PM checkout when we were right on time for the 1 PM check in. If we had been just a few minutes later we never would have known. The only other time our site was occupied and the office directed us to another site temporarily was when our site was "occupied" by a burned out TT surrounded by crime scene tape. It seems a fellow had killed his wife and tried to destroy the evidence by burning the trailer. Three days later the site had been cleaned up and we were allowed to move in to it. The temporary site they gave us was in the work campers village that wasn't in the nicest part of the park, so we were happy to move.

[Boomerweps]

wnjj wrote:

Boomerweps wrote:
Wow!
I see no reason under normal circumstances that there is a need to park your TV in another campsite. Just inconsiderate selfishness, too common today.

I can think of a simple one. If the site is kind of small and you have to park your vehicle crossways between the hitch and roadway it may be easier to just pull in the empty spot nearby if you're planning to leave again, provided you are there to move it if needed. What they could have done better under the circumstances is watch for the new arrivals and proactively move before they had to ask. Regardless, not a big deal.

We arrived to our reserved spot once to a complete setup with 2 tents and bunch of stuff all over the table. They didn't come back from the beach for 30 minutes or more. I explained that it was reserved and they happily packed up while I helped others in my party get parked in their spots. Kind of clueless on the squatters' part but no big deal.

Hence, my use of the words “normal circumstances”. There are exceptions to every rule but I refuse to take the effort to pre-justify poor behavior or a convenient but inconsiderate short cut