Written by:

David Hosea

Last updated: October 23, 2023

Like most of the campgrounds we visit, the county park was laid out in loops with occasional stretches of branch roads to connect them.  Our campsite was along a stretch of one of those branch roads at an intersection to one of the loops and we got the site only because someone else cancelled their plans for the July 4^th weekend.  We were happy to have it.

Our next-door neighbor arrived alone and set up his 5^th wheel before the rest of his family appeared a couple of hours later with another car.  Then, the family parked a trailered pontoon boat between the 5^th wheel and our site, just a few feet from our picnic table. 

It was a nice-looking pontoon as pontoons go and we still had a view into a very large, green, open area off the back side of our campsite so the slight incursion into our space wasn’t a problem for us.  We had a view and when we needed a break from looking out over the open green space and at the other RVs with decorated campsites in the distance, we simply looked over at the boat and admired the huge pontoon sitting-right-there.

Other neighbors rolled in with a convoy – a truck, an RV, and a few extra cars filled with family and friends to help celebrate the weekend.  They filled their site and part of the roadway with their parked vehicles.

Throughout the weekend, most of the car and RV traffic drove past us at a slow-enough speed, but some didn’t. Occasionally, traffic drove past us along the branch road, and we got to listen to the thundering beats that the passengers enjoyed as they drove by.   Some continued down the road while others parked in a pubic restroom’s small parking lot next to our site.

Several adult campers and kids walked or rode their bikes through our campsite as a shortcut to that restroom which was just yards from our hook-up. 

After the sun went down, party lights turned on, music turned up, a generator or two fired up, and conversations throughout the campground got louder.  We heard children playing, laughing loudly, and running unencumbered by adult supervision through campsites and into the active roadway – after dark – with some of the merriment continuing after the designated quiet time.

These were the sights and sounds of life in a campground during a holiday weekend and it is something that we enjoy on occasion, so I am not complaining.  But while this story illustrates a few common breaches in campground etiquette, there are other considerations as well. So, what does “good campground etiquette” mean and why is it important?

Campground etiquette is a set of rules, sometimes written and sometimes implied that are important because they let us know what we should expect from everyone else and informs others about what they should expect from us.  The clarity on expectations and managing our behavior within those expectations leads to a more positive camping experience for all of us.

I place campground etiquette into three buckets – considerations for the arrival, in camp, and the departure.

Arrival Etiquette

On arrival, demonstrate good campground etiquette by respecting reservations, choosing a site that allows space between you and your neighbor, using cell phones or walkie-talkies with a partner to guide the rig in, and plugging in – but little else – following a late entry into your campsite.

• Respect reservations and first come/first serve campsites that someone else staked out.  If a campsite has a reserved tag on it, find another campsite.  Replacing the reserved tag with your own is inconsiderate and disrespectful. With first come/first serve campsites, someone may find a campsite and place a chair, a table, park a car, etc., or use something else to hold that site until they can move their stuff into it. That’s okay.  If it is clearly a site that someone else claimed – even if an RV or tent is not on it – pass it up.
• If there are lots of open spots and you can choose your own site, leave space between yourself and your neighbor.
• Sometimes, travel schedules or unplanned delays are such that we arrive at the next campground late.  Plug in if you must, then finish set up in the morning after quiet hours are over. Most campers understand that late arrivals will occur. But that does not mean that we should set up completely after hours.
• Use phones or inexpensive walkie-talkies like the ones shown below when backing in so you avoid shouting with your partner and disturbing the neighbors… unless you want to draw attention to yourself and put on a show for the campground.

In-Camp Etiquette

While in camp, good campground etiquette includes leaving before the stay-limit is reached, allowing an incoming neighbor to set up without distraction, following campground rules, emptying holding tanks discreetly, asking permission to enter or cross another site, turning lights off or down at night, keeping your site clean, washing dishes at your campsite, supporting a grill with a portable table, burning locally sourced wood, using public restrooms and showers without unnecessary delay, monitoring children, controlling pets, and avoiding all interaction with wildlife.

• When campgrounds or public lands have limits on how long a camper can stay, know and respect those limits.
• If you are already set up in your campsite and just watching the world go by, welcome neighbors after they settle in, not while they are trying to get set up. Many campers have specific routines that will be interrupted and must be restarted if you try to engage in conversation while they are in the middle of their set up.
• Follow campground rules which usually include quiet hours and speed limits.  Quiet time does not mean that you must speak in a whisper, but it does mean that you should not run generators, continue loud conversations, play music loudly, or allow children to play loudly.  Pedestrians, bicyclists, and children with their toys can appear out of nowhere, so obey the speed limits and drive slowly.
• Empty your tanks discreetly.  Watching black water as the tank empties is unpleasant enough, but we should not share that experience with a neighbor while they are trying to enjoy their space, cook, or eat just a few feet away.  If you can, wait until your neighbor is not around.
• Ask permission to enter another occupied site.  When a camper occupies a site, it becomes their personal space, and we should respect that campsite as if it was the camper’s property and we should not cross through it or enter it without their permission.
  • Asking for permission to enter is a characteristic of an experienced and considerate camper and it is something that I brief our families, our nieces and nephews, and our grandkids on every time we go out on a group camping trip. It is important to me, and I want to make sure that the habit is picked up by the youngest ones in my family, so I repeat the message often. 
  • Encroaching into someone else’s campsite is not limited to our physical presence.  Consider also that chairs, tables, grills, toys, trash, boats, cars, and RV slides may encroach into your neighbor’s site as well and take steps to avoid that.
• Turn lights down or off at night.  Many campers look forward to observing a night sky that they can’t otherwise see from home and bright lights in your campsite can disturb the ambiance at your neighbor’s site.  So, turn off your bright lights, turn them away from your neighbor, dim them, shield them, or point them to the ground.  Shine your flashlight a few feet in front of you, not in someone’s eyes.
• Clean up your mess. Food scraps belong in the trash, not the campsite or woods.  Food scraps invite wildlife and desensitizes them to humans which puts them and us in harm’s way.  So, contain the garbage and put leftovers away.
• BLM manages millions of acres of public land with spectacular, scenic campsites that are available to you and me.  However, the BLM announced multiple closures during the pandemic because too many campers who were welcome and camping for free abused the environment by leaving their trash in the campsite.  They thoughtlessly pockmarked the experience for campers coming behind them and lost the opportunity for the rest of us to use the land for an indefinite period.
• If a public dishwashing station is not available, wash dishes at your campsite.  Do not use public restrooms and showers to wash dishes.
• Use an inexpensive portable table to support a grill, not the picnic table.  Grills can damage wood or plastic picnic tables and leave stains.
• If you damage campground property, speak up and make it right with the park.
• Campfires
  • Check local regulations to ensure that fires are allowed.  A fire ring is not absolute permission to burn because local conditions may cause authorities to invoke temporary fire bans. 
  • If fires are allowed, then use locally sourced wood.  Campgrounds may have wood for sale and if not, local grocery and convenience stores will.  Since transporting wood can also transport pests, leave wood from your county at home and consider leaving the unused firewood you buy locally for the next camper.
  • Burn wood. Trash and cigarette butts should go somewhere else.  Also, leaving trash and butts in a fire pit is problematic because if the camp host does not clean out the fire pit between campers, the next camper must clean it out before use.
  • Build a fire only as big as needed.  Fires can be too big, too hot, burn too long, generate too much smoke, and consume more wood than necessary.  Attend open flames constantly.  Absences should be brief and only taken when the fire is burned down to the coals.  Put the fire out when finished – cold out.  Have water close by to use for emergencies and to put the fire out.  When water is in short supply, use sand or dirt.

• When using the campground’s restroom and shower facilities, get in and out without too much of a delay.  Wipe down sinks, showers, etc. and make sure that your paper towels make it into the trash.  If you wad up a paper towel and miss the layup, pick it up and try again.
• Monitor children because they may not know about campground etiquette and will need your help.  Teach them about asking permission before entering anyone else’s site, about the dangers when playing in the street, when it is appropriate to turn the noise level down, and about picking up their own mess.
• Take care of your pets.  Local rules will likely require owners to keep them on a leash, keep them quiet, and to pick up after them. 
• Ask for permission before approaching someone else’s pet.
• Keep your distance from local wildlife. Don’t taunt or feed them.

Departure Etiquette

Etiquette on departure includes preparing for an early morning departure the night before, putting the picnic table back in its place, leaving no trace, and having everything you need ready to go before pulling into the dump station.

• Prepare for early morning departures the night before.  Hitch up, pull up the landing gear, pack your things, and take care of as much of the other noisy packing chores as possible before quite time rolls in.
• Put everything back in its place (e.g., picnic tables)
• Leave no trace.  Throw trash away in the provided receptacles and if none are available, carry it out.  Avoid digging holes or trenches, but if you do, fill them in before you leave.  The campsite should be left in better shape when you leave than when you arrive, even if that means cleaning up some of the mess left by the campers before you.
• Get your stuff together before pulling into the dump station and avoid extending the delay for those behind you.

Wrapping it up

Being considerate does not take a lot of effort.  It doesn’t cost us anything, but the payoff can mean the difference between a good camping experience and a bad one for ourselves and others. Please teach your children the rules and provide a good example to other adult campers.

I attended the Monster Inc., Laugh Show at Walt Disney World with my wife and grandkids.  During the show, cameras zoomed in on me for some reason and I was identified as “that guy.”  Staff gave me a sticker and all day long, I would go to various counters and the staff would say, “oh… you are that guy.”  It was funny and it made our day. 

When it comes to campground or RV etiquette, however, we do not want to be “that guy,” the one that we all talk about after the experience is well behind us.

NomadicNeighborhood is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. We also participate in other affiliate programs which compensate us for referring traffic.