Yes, most of this stuff is just common sense and common courtesy, but you'd be amazed at how many times we see these exact things happening. Don't make us add you to our list!
Don’t cut through or infringe on another campsite. This means with awnings and slides too. We’ve all been to campgrounds where the spaces are really tight. It’s not your neighbor’s fault that the sites are tight. Go ahead and complain to the office or write a poor review, but don’t punish your campsite neighbor just because you were assigned a crappy site. Don’t cut through someone else’s site just because it makes the walk to the bathroom shorter (unless they give you permission, which many campers will do). Teach your kids this one too - other people don’t want your kids walking, running, or riding their bikes through their site!
Always use RV/Bus parking if available. Yes, even if it’s farther away. If there’s no RV parking, use as few regular spaces as possible – usually two front to back spaces on an end of a double row. Don’t stick out into the main traffic aisle, and don’t parallel park and take up 4 or 5 spaces. You’ve been warned. (And DO feel free to report CARS that park in the Bus/RV parking to a Ranger or other official!)
Use pull-offs and right-hand lanes if available. Always let faster traffic pass you whenever possible – especially going up/down steep hills.
Try not to arrive at your campground after dark. We know this is sometimes unavoidable, but when we’re chillin’ around the campfire doing some serious star-gazing, the last thing we want is you blinding us with your headlights and banging around while you try to level your rig and get set up. Just try your best to arrive before dark – and ALWAYS arrive before campground quiet hours begin.
Be extra cautious with sewer hoses . . . At your site, and at dump stations, be extra cautious to secure sewer hoses properly. The last thing the people after you want to experience is the residual effect of your careless sewer dumping, because. . . just ew. If you make a mess, clean it up.
Don’t let your pets or children become a nuisance to other campers. We’re referring to excessive noise and messes. We get it, there’s little that can be done about a crying baby at 3 am, but there sure as heck is something you can do about unruly kids screaming all day long and leaving their stuff (bikes, toys, candy wrappers, etc.) on other people’s campsites. Likewise, we love dogs, but we don’t love owners who don’t clean up after their pets, or who leave their pets alone inside their camper, or worse, tied outside all day, and come back shocked to find out that little Fifi spent the entire day barking. Follow posted signs on where to walk your pet – don’t let it urinate on someone else’s campsite or RV! (I caught someone letting their dog pee on our RV tire one day! Not. Cool.)
Follow ALL posted rules. Make it your responsibility to know and understand posted rules and regulations like: permitted generator hours, quiet hours, restricted trail access, proper parking areas, vulnerable vegetation areas, wildlife safety, and so on. If you are traveling in a country with another national language – IT IS YOUR responsibility to learn to read the posted signs with rules and restrictions (most of them are pictures, so you CAN figure them out.) Signs with red circles and slashes usually mean STAY OUT, STAY OFF, STOP, or DON’T. Don’t make excuses, the rules apply to everyone. Don’t feed the animals, follow generator and quiet hours, stay off reconstructed vegetation areas like meadows and prairies, stay away from thermal features, etc.
Don’t be destructive. Don’t carve your name in trees or picnic tables, don’t topple or write on rock formations, don’t deface cave interiors . . . just don’t. Follow Leave No Trace principles and leave the place as you found it. Take nothing but photos and leave nothing but footprints (and even avoid those if you can). Don’t take sand, rocks, driftwood, etc.home as a souvenir – those things don’t belong to you, they belong to everyone. Stay on marked trails, yada yada.
Follow wild animal safety rules. Never feed any wild animal – even squirrels and birds. Follow food storage rules in active bear areas. Keep to the recommended safe viewing distances. (25 yards for bison, deer, moose, and 100 years for bear and wolves). Don’t antagonize animals. Don’t put baby bison in the back of your van, don’t take selfies with bears, bison, wolves . . . just don’t be an idiot, okay? Do you see a pattern forming here about simply following posted rules?
You don’t need to take a selfie every 30 seconds! I assure you, if you are taking frequent “selfies” you are missing the experience. Put the phone/camera away for a while and experience your surroundings “for real.” Not to mention, tourists taking constant selfies hold up lines, cause congestion, and ruin the experience for the rest of us. One or two selfies at the Grand Canyon is expected, but don’t take up a prime viewing spot for 30 minutes because you’re trying to get the prefect selfie to post on your social media. That makes you a jerk and number 10 on our list! Likewise, the middle of a narrow, crowded boardwalk next to Yellowstone’s Grand Prismatic Spring is NOT the place to take a 12-person family portrait. Experience the spring and then get the hell out of the way to the rest of the 500 people waiting there can experience it!
