How to Follow Campground Etiquette

Camping usually involves being in close proximity to strangers in a campground with not much separating you except a few feet of trees and the paper-thin walls of a tent. To make camping as fun as possible for everyone involved, it's important to mind your camping manners. Taking the time to follow a few simple campground etiquette rules can make the difference between an enjoyable and not-so-enjoyable stay.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Make sure you get a copy of the campground's rules when you register your site. Most parks have similar rules, but it's still important to find an individual park's rules if you want to follow campground etiquette.

2. Ask permission before entering an occupied site. While a camper is on a site, it becomes his property, and you should respect that individual's privacy. It means you never cut through an occupied site and use it as a shortcut while walking around a campground.

3. Keep your talking quiet if you arrive at your campsite late. Noise is magnified at night in a campground, and people may want to get some sleep. Use a flashlight when pitching your tent instead of your vehicle's headlights. When there's no other light pollution, headlights can really light up an area and disturb other campers.

4. Clean up all of your garbage, including doggy-do and the stuff in your fire pit that doesn't burn. Don't leave those blackened cans in the pit for the next camper to clean up. Also, no other camper appreciates the aroma of dog poop in a campsite. It sticks around even if Fido did his duty in the bushes along the edge of the site.

Tips & Warnings

• Do not speed in a campground. You put the safety of other people and wildlife at risk if you do.
• Never take a picnic table from a neighboring site, even if you think it's empty. Take along a portable card table instead if you need more sitting space.

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