Dear Dr. R.V. Shrink:
My husband and I recently stayed at a national forest campground in Washington that cost $14.00 per night. Since we have the Senior Pass, our fee was $7.00. I only wanted to pay half of that because the trash barrels were overflowing, we could smell the pit toilet from the furthest campsite, there were beer bottles and party trash at every site, and little maintenance had been done in a long while. My husband insisted I pay our full share. I feel like this is rewarding them for doing a lousy job. It happened to be May 21 and my husband told me I didn’t want to chance doing something wrong on the last day. I told him I would rather pay $6.98 and give the campground people my two cents worth when I met them at the big campfire.
--Slow Burn in Bellingham
Dear Slow:
You could be dealing with a Government contracted concessioner who is not honoring the custodial contract, or it could be worse, you could be dealing with the Government. If that campground closes down, or goes up in price 30%, you will know it is Government run. Their new business model is, “Less service, for more money.” They say this will solve our deficit problems. Already Florida, Arizona and California are shutting down parks. California is always way ahead of the curve. They stopped maintenance and cut staff long ago. I don’t know what the Governor was thinking, but I know what he was thinking with. I think you were right in paying your full discounted fee. Try to look at it as an entire system of some of the greatest camping in the world. I think you will admit that you have paid the reduced fee at many campgrounds that were spectacular, clean and well managed in the National Forest System. It is no different from going to a nice, poorly managed hotel that forgot to leave a chocolate on your pillow. The cleaning staff ate it - you know it, and I know it. Move on, you have bigger fish to fry before October 21. Yes, that is the rain check date for the next last day. Keep your nose clean until then, even in campgrounds with odorous outhouses.
--Keep Smilin’, Dr. R.V. Shrink
19 comments:
We too stayed in parks in Washington and Oregon that were porely maintained and had the same smell, garbage and etc. Also, not noted, is the degree of the campgrounds in that area needing trimming. The trees and bushes are so bad you can't even get a big motorhome in and out. This happened to us in April and May this year 2011.
I think most people would be very happy to only have to pay $7 for a night of camping. This was camping in nature, for a little more than the cost of camping at Walmart!!
Everyone complains about the problems, but few try to be the solution. I doubt very much if "Slow" stopped to pick up and toss away any of those beer cans.
Dropping a note or commenting to the Ranger might have helped too. Often, you will have an overworked (hey, the Govt. cut back on personnel before they closed down those parks) and underpaid work staff.
In all the places that I've been, most of the time, the work staff were good people, who would try and help, if asked.
A "slow burn" isn't the answer....
Remember, it's HAPPY Camping....enjoy :-)
Wow $7.00 a night and you want to leave half? Maybe if you paid $14.00 the campground could afford hiring someone to clean. Better why not for $7 help clean up so that we can continue to enjoy the parks. This may be a news flash We are broke.
The contractors who run most of the campgrounds in the Western US are based in Utah... They allow so many squirts of cleaner, disinfectant and a very short time to clean the toilets. The bags are counted and the time allowed to clean is limited.. We stayed at a campground in Colorado and watched the Supervisor badger the campground attendant until he finally gave up and quit. After he left, the place went down hill because the new guy followed the "rules."
Another "save money scheme" that really doesn't work.
Keep voting republican and the tax rates for the rich and shameless will be a thing of the past. Have you yet figured out that unless you pay taxes or fees or both government can keep giving you services. There are plenty of free enterprise campgrounds around but not at government park rates. So stop whining and start paying your fair share of the costs.
It might be time to relook at the Golden Age Pass. Can we afford to have free access to parks and half-price camping? At the same time our parks systems need more dollars. If we do pay more, we have to make sure the funds are used wisely!
I always pick up garbage hoping to lead by example. The alternative is stay at a $30.00 per night place & put up with all the associated crap.
I also pack a tree trimmer & a set of loppers & do some stealth pruning which is generally appreciatedby the host & future campers.
ever hear of voluntier work?
Washington State along with many other states are facing record budget deficits, and while I would love to find all their parks in prisitine condition, I'm aware that something like basic maintenance is falling by the wayside. I would much rather pitch in and help with the clean up than to find a padlock on the gate at the entrance.
I take exception to your negative portrayal of
"Government run". As an overworked (I am now doing the work of 4 people without a raise in 5 years). Perhaps there may be no one to service the
Park or it isn't profitable enough for the private sector.
To "slow burn". Did you ever stay at an exceptional campground and think, "Gee, this is nice. Maybe I should pay the full price? Probably not. But you jump at the chance of not paying half because the (possibly) overworked staff can't do their job to your liking. Did you inquire as to the circumstances concerning this particular park, or just fume because your holiday experience was marred? There's two sides to a story. You should know them both before you judge.
We spent 7 years full-time RVing, staying in National Forest campgrounds whenever possible. Of course, we ran into a messy campground once in a while, but for the most part they were lovely and surrounded by nature. We didn't expect nor want the campground to look like a private park...the whole reason we chose Forest Service camping was to get away from the crowded noisy campground experience. If you are more comfortable in a perfectly groomed setting, then by all means choose private cg's and leave the more remote forest campgrounds to those of us who seek a more nature-filled experience. If we happened to settle in a forest service site that needed a little grooming, we groomed it...a hour spent with a trash bag, a rake, a broom, a bucket and some "Mr. Clean" is good for the soul. Oh, the beauty we've experienced all accross this nation in our National Forest campgrounds! We figured they were "our" campgrounds in a way and tried to always leave them cleaner and lovelier when we left.
Just remember - the "government" is people like me trying to do our job as you cut our pay and cut our co-workers.
As fulltimers we frequently stay in NF campgrounds around the country. Most are well maintained, but even in those you can find some bottles, cans or little bits of trash along the nature trails, nearby roads or in the campground. We also have the senior pass and our fees run anywhere from $5 to $12 per night. At our age we figure we have an abundance of one particular commodity, and that is "time". When we go for our daily 3 mile walk, we take those plastic grocery bags with us and pick up trash as we walk. The constant bending over makes our exercise more varied and we're healthier for it. If you don't want to bend over, buy one of those pick-up tools at Lowes; they work great. It's the least we can do for the exceptionally cheap cost to stay there. If everyone would find some way to help when you stay in these cg's then maybe they will stay as cheap as they now are. If no one helps, then the cg's will most certainly close down or become as expensive as the private cg's. Then everyone will be complaining about the lack of affordable cg's. We've even picked up trash during our daily walks around casinos or Walmarts just to show our appreciation for letting us stay there free. Hopefully it lets them know we aren't taking their free policy for granted.
Let's face it, we're never going to solve the problem of the slobs who create the trash problem in the first place, so the answer is for everyone to help just a little so the problem never reaches the "disgusting" level.
We take time to clean and help out staying a state/goverment campgrounds. It gives us something to do. They remember you when you come back. You should allways leave your site cleaner than when you arrived to it. Just makes sense to help. You never know when you might need the help.
I profess no expertise on operation of gov't-owned parks, but know that some parks in the East (perhaps only urban parks?) are operated under contract with for-profit companies that do a good job (to attract visitors and revenue) and guarantee a profit to the gov't. Maybe it should be tried with a few larger parks rather than shut them down.
Hate to turn this into a partisan issue, but it's already been started by one party. Only a selfish and self centered conservative would ever hypocritically complain about this. In fact such hypocrisy is proof that the complainer has no meaning of the word conservative.
Too low gas taxes only cover half of the $ 45 billion it costs each year just for federal freeways. The rest is completely subsidized by everybody including non drivers who live in dense downtowns with public transportation.
But do we hear Rvers willing to pay more gas taxes? Of course not. We often hear them say that we should just simply remove all of the subsidies for Amtrak is it that would solve all our problems.
How about taking the fuel saving hybrid powertrain out of chevy tahoes and cadillac escalades and putting them into similar size rvs? do we hear demand for that from most rvers who complain about gas prices? of course not. what we hear are calls for more oil war and waiting for hydrogen fuel cells to magically save our lives.
What makes more sense is to fund the public transportation and increase the gas taxes so that willing drivers will get off the roads for those who need the roads. Then we won't have to constantly expand roads just for peak commute times and the existing capacity can serve the true needs.
And it makes more sense to be willing to force your politicians to pay more to the national park service and to increase taxes if need be. but will you? of course not.
We stayed in a State Forest campground in MI and the pit toilet smelled bad across the campgound. I went to the store & bought 2 air fresheners for each of the toilets. It wasn't great but it sure helped & only cost me a couple $$. I wouldn't cut the grass or trim the trees - after all it was a forest.
To pay less that required would be stealing. Yes, it is sad to find yourself in a poorly maintained campground. But one can move along...
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