If you camp long enough you are bound to have to deal with annoying people at the campground. I’m not talking about children having fun, riding bikes, yelling to each other and doing kid stuff. That is to be expected. I personally enjoy listening to kids play.
For the most part, camping is a peaceful time. It is rare that we have to deal with really obnoxious campground neighbors, but it has happened. My niece also camps quite a bit and they have had trouble too.
Most campgrounds – in fact all the campgrounds we’ve been to – have a quiet time curfew. Apparently some places are better at enforcing it than others.
My niece had a site next to campers who brought puppies camping with them and then they partied, with many visitors, well into the night. My niece thought that contacting the campground host about the noise was the thing to do – which is fine. Later, after the noise continued, they discovered that what they needed to do was call the police.
Campground hosts can only do so much. If you, and / or the hosts respectfully ask the rowdy, loud people to be quiet – and they ignore that – the cops are next on the list. The host should be the one to call the cops, but if they don’t, do it yourself.
The campground host is simply someone who takes care of the campground for the short time they are there. They may be ignored by drunk groups of campers who are asked to quiet down. That is when you take it up a notch. Do not dial 911 – it is not an emergency, but call the local police station and tell them what has happened, and how you have tried to fix things without having to resort to a police presence.
Cops are trained to deal with stuff like this. These super obnoxious people who have no common sense and couldn’t care less about their neighbors might snap out of it when they see uniforms. Chances are high that when these party-goers see real authority show up, they will listen and quiet down. The next step for them will be getting kicked out of the campground.
We have never had it that bad. But, I have witnessed some really obnoxious behavior. It really has nothing to do with the campground itself. These problems can arise anywhere.
First Time Problem
The first time we had an annoying neighbor experience was when we were camping at Long Point Campground in Melbourne, Florida. This is an island on the Indian River and most sites back up to the water, which is cool. But, the sites are very close, and there is no vegetation growing in between to give any privacy.
We arrived the day after Memorial Day and there was no one camping! We pulled into our site and were far away from all other campers. It was fabulous!!! Until we got neighbors.
On our only full day of camping a big RV pulled into the spot right next door. That was fine. The older couple was friendly and they had a well-behaved dog. All was good – even though they began to play country music (which is the only kind of music I cannot stand).
Still, it was okay – to each his own. Then, the rest of the family showed up. This included setting up two tents, brining another dog, and a bunch of kids. Apparently the original people were grandparents and were meeting up with the grandkids (with mom and dad). Everyone was crammed into one campsite, which meant they were right up against us. I mean they were just outside our windows.
From that time on, we had noise. They did quiet down at night, but we no longer had the peace and quiet we originally had. We left early on the following day.
*Just a note that I have seen this happen a number of times in Florida. An older couple (the grandparents) are camping and then the family, with grandkids, comes by to join them, or drop off the kids.
The Second Encounter
We camped at Rodman Campground in Palatka, Florida and encountered some incredibly awful people. It was the first time we had camped at Rodman, and we’ve been there many times since. We have never had this problem again, but during our first camping trip, we had to deal with a loud and rude man chasing his kid, swearing and yelling.
This was not a happy family. They seemed to be camping as a way of life and not to have fun. I felt bad for them, and the tent camping area was closed, so they had to camp in their tent among the RVs. The young boy ran down the road and climbed up into a tree, with his father chasing him, yelling and swearing at seven in the morning. They were packing up to leave and so were we.
So those are my experiences, and I’m betting there will be more. If all else fails, pack up and leave, or ask if you can move to another site.
State parks have rules about the number of people, tents, and vehicles in each site, which is helpful. Some campgrounds are more strict than others, but I prefer to camp in spacious, somewhat secluded sites if possible.
If you have had to deal with noisy campsite neighbors let us know in the comments.
