Are you planning a visit to one of the many amazing family campgrounds in our country? When you setup camp in one of the family campgrounds in your area, you give your family an adventure that helps them build memories they’ll cherish for all their life. You all have the opportunity to unplug, get your faces out of your screens, and enjoy stretching your legs in the great outdoors, spending quality time with each other. Unlike taking a family vacation in the wilderness where you are “roughing it,” most family campgrounds are equipped with necessities of civilization, such as running water and bathrooms. Some family campgrounds even have showering facilities. If your family is not “outdoorsy” per say, you still might really enjoy family camping trips at one of these camp resorts.
However, if you are new to the camping world, you might not be aware of the unspoken code that you should follow while staying in local camping sites. Some of these etiquette guidelines are common sense, but some are less obvious for new campers. So before you go camping, make sure you understand these rules for being a considerate camper:
Three Unspoken Etiquette Rules That New Campers Don’t Know
- Leave Your Campsite in Better Shape Than You Found it
When you’re on vacation, you often forget your responsibility to clean and do chores. When you’re staying in a hotel, a maid service comes in and straightens up every day, and does a deep cleaning at the end of your stay. Mother Nature has no maid service, so it is your responsibility to do it for yourself. Even if you think you didn’t leave *much* clutter, imagine if every camper left just a little bit of a mess behind them; pretty soon the entire campsite would be inhabitable.
Instead, be the power of good that leaves the park cleaner than you found it. When you pack up your belongings take a look around and keep an eye out for anything that wasn’t created by nature. It doesn’t matter if they aren’t your beer bottles or debris; it just takes a minute to straighten up and leave the campsite cleaner than you found it. - Set Up Kindling Wood for the Next Campers
This one might take you by surprise. Often, campers arrive at their campsite after dark. It’s next to impossible to collect good fire wood when it is dark out, but being able to start a fire is important for making food, for heat, and for general merriment when you’re camping. As such, while you’re cleaning up your campsite in preparation for the next campers, it’s a nice gesture to “pay it forward” by setting up some firewood for them. If they arrive after dark, they just need some matches to get their first fire going. Ideally, they’ll take your cue and do the same for the following campers. It’s a subtle but nice way to help make everyone’s camping experience great. - Be Great Neighbors
Some of this rule requires being a decent person. When the sun goes down, be respectful with your noise, so that the other campers can enjoy the serenity of the great outdoors. Don’t let your animals and children wander through other campsites. Clean up your animal’s waste so that other campers don’t accidentally walk in it. Don’t wash your dishes in public water fountains; the old food that gets washed into the sink rots and makes drinking water unpleasant. These are just measures that a decent human would know to follow.
However, you can take it a step further and make yourself a great neighbor. Go out of your way to make the camping experience of other campers on your campgrounds great. When you make a great meal, take some to your neighboring campers and offer some to them. They may have their own food brewing, but they might not. Either way, it is sure to spread goodwill between campers. Who knows, maybe it will help you forge friendships that you’ll cherish for years to come!
Taking your family on a camping trip is a great way to build memories that you all will carry with you for the rest of your lives. Just make sure you follow these guidelines to maintain our camp grounds for generations to come.