Cardinal Sins of Camping

[Adam]

I've compiled a list here of the most common mistakes new campers usually make. I guess you could also call it a list of outdoor etiquette.




1. Trashing Your Campsite
2. Ignoring Quiet Times Of Others
3. Walking Uninvited Through Other Campsites
4. Speeding Through The Campground
5. Washing Dishes At The Drinking Fountain
6. Hogging The Showers
7. Leaving Food Out Unattended
8. Collecting Firewood From The Local Area
9. Letting Kids Or Pets Run Loose
10. Cleaning Fish At The Campsite

If you have any more, feel free to add it to the list.

[northernbushape]

Good list.

This is why I don't use public campgrounds unless I absolutely have to - which is maybe once every 7 or 8 years or so - usually as a stopover while traveling the highway on vacation. I don't have to deal with this stuff in remote areas.

[foxylady]

That is a great list! Can we add - do not arrive at camp after quiet time and try to set up! That is so annoying. It happened to me last time. The people across the way showed up over an hour past curfew and spend 2 hours fighting with the tent in the dark trying to set it up.

[southerngal]

A good list but I am with Northernbushape that is exacly why we don't use "campgrounds". If you avoid those areas you don't have to worry about any of these things!

[Jimbo]

Back when I used to use campsites, number 10 really annoyed me. Ever since I was a kid, I would gut the fish right there by the river, and never understood why some people didn't.

[Grady]

I would like to add trashing bathrooms to the list. I was camping last year at a place where the bathrooms were destroyed every day. It was terrible. They had attendants come around and clean it, but the people staying there were so ignorant it would be trashed again within a couple hours. People need to learn to clean up after themselves and report problems like stopped up toilets, etc.

[Morgan]

What I would add is the general rule in outdoor activities.

"Leave only footsteps. Take only memories!"

I don't know about you guys but I'm not following the 8th in the list. Sometimes I collect dry branches for our firewood. I think the reason it was added in the list because we might be endangered of snakes or poisonous insects that live under these branches.

[Fox38]

We always use public campgrounds and I haven't seen many people break any of these rules. We don't either, ok we might get a bit rowdy at night but we try to not make others mad.

[Michael]

I just try to follow the number one rule:

Don't be an ass.

Is collecting local firewood considered to be a bad thing? There's usually so much dead wood laying about. Trees fall over. Branches fall down. It's not like you need to chop down a tree or anything to get plenty of firewood.