Some days can really get me down. The majority of people are either good or at least neutral. As a camphost, I’m required to interact with campers at least a little. Most days, I have at least a couple good conversations that lift my spirits and push me to be more positive. And I always try to be welcoming and friendly. That usually makes the interactions go smoothly. But not always…
The weekend started poorly when a camper left a garbage bag full of poopie diapers outside of a garbage can (though the can was empty) and a bear tore in it, scattering the diapers and trash for a hundred feet up into the woods. The garbage man refused to pick them up, so I had to do it. It takes bears a month or more to stop coming here after they get a taste of garbage. So I have to be extra vigilant that campers don’t leave anything out that bears might like.
One camper showed up and got on my nerves quickly. He moved a big boulder in order to park his pickup inside the campsite, by the fire-pit. That’s a big no-no for the Forest Service and for me. I asked him nicely to move his truck back to the parking space and to put the rock back. He said he wanted to get stuff unloaded first. When he began talking out firewood, I said that campfires have been banned for the rest of the season. That pissed him off. I mentioned that the water system is not working at present. And lastly, I said 10 pm is quiet time, with no music or loud voices allowed. That made him explode, and I just turned and walked away. It was a couple hours before he finally moved his pickup to the right spot. He didn’t put the boulder back and I finally had to maneuver it back in place, myself, when the family was gone somewhere. Each time I walked by that campsite, the man would turn up his rap music, trying to get my goat.
I went to the other campground, which had a large group taking up 6-7 sites. 2 men and 3 women were taking care of about 25 kids. Apparently they were foster kids, primarily black pre-teens, with several teenagers. The adults were white hillbillies, loud and crude, smoking and drinking alcohol. I wonder what those kids thought of their foster parents?! The 2 men were about 50 years old and told me they’ve been on disability for years. Probably for mental reasons. The white kids were running wild, and the adults were doing nothing to restrain them. The blacks were huddled together and mostly playing cards or eating. The men both had nice RV’s and slept in them. The women, teenagers, and children slept in tents.
A few campers were disgruntled about not being able to have campfires and gave me an earful. The reservation service still hasn’t changed the website to reflect the ban, after almost 3 weeks. It gets tiring to repeat over and over; no campfires and I’m sorry you weren’t notified about that when you reserved your camp spot. A few campers have propane fire rings, which are legal, and that makes some people even more upset that they don’t have one.
The weather was the hottest so far this season, which sucks the energy right out of me. But I got everything accomplished. The mosquitoes are really bad, too. I would go around at dusk, reminding everyone that 10 pm was quiet time. But it didn’t get through a few people’s heads and there would be occasional loud voices or laughs until after 11. Could’ve been worse, but was the worst on loudness to date.
I was informed that a large rattlesnake was terrorizing the auxiliary campground and would I please do something about it. Great, just what I wanted to do! I had a 5 gallon bucket, a trash picker, and a chunk of cardboard. The snake was too heavy and aggressive to use the trash picker on. So I directed it carefully into the bucket with a stick. It was mighty upset at me, but I got it in, tipped the bucket upright, and quickly slammed the cardboard on top. A camper taped the cardboard to the bucket, while I held it down. The snake kept pushing up, trying to get out but I held firm. It weighed more than I expected! I walked a half mile down the road and threw the snake off a steep embankment. I don’t think I even would’ve attempted that, except everyone was pressuring me to get rid of it somehow. All’s well that ends well. And even the black kids were impressed with me.
I saw a pickup that was parked at a reserved site and a bunch of kids were playing there. I walked over with my clipboard to sign them in. A short, older guy asked what I wanted. I asked him if he was the one who had reserved the campsite. He said no, that he had just stopped in to let his grandkids play for an hour. I pointed out that the spot was reserved for that night and besides his grandkids were making quite a mess. He got in my face and asked if I wanted trouble. He showed me his cauliflower ear, and said he had been a boxer and bar fighter for much of his life. And that he was Cherokee Indian and they know how to fight. He was blonde-haired and blue-eyed, so I rather doubt that. I told him that he needed to leave soon, because it was getting towards evening and the campers might come any minute. Then walked away. There was a lot of cleanup to do after they left and raking, but the campers never did show up that night.
There were a couple families that were fun to be around. A family with 4 young children visited from St Louis, Missouri. I’m good with most kids and they all liked me. The 2 boys wanted me to help them climb up on rocks and the picnic table, the 6 year old girl wanted to show me how acrobatic she was, and the 8 year old girl wanted to talk about books. I brought over 5 books for them to read and look at, and they loved them all. The parents were quite friendly, too, and I showed them several short, interesting hikes that the kids could handle. I was sorry to see them go. Wish all campers could be like that!
A Filipino family of all adults, married and single, were also fun to be around. I asked them many questions about places to visit in the Phillipines and about their culture. All of them had a great sense of humor and we shared a lot of laughs. I felt totally comfortable around them, more so than even my own family. Not sure why that was, they just seemed so accepting and interested in what I said. None were uptight and the conversation flowed, with everyone involved. Maybe that’s why so many American men marry Filipinas.
Other than those 2 families, I wasn’t sorry to see almost everyone leave after the weekend was done. The noise and rudeness was getting to me. So many had poor bathroom manners, too. I was constantly cleaning up after them. People were throwing toilet paper all over the floor, peeing erratically, leaving the lids up when leaving, closing the doors instead of propping them open for ventilation, stealing the extra rolls of toilet paper, even stealing one of the trash cans.
I heard a chopping noise and investigated. A teenager was swinging an axe at a live oak tree and had nearly finished cutting it down. I yelled at him to stop, but the damage was done. When his parents returned to the campground, I told them what he had done. His father laughed and laughed. I told him nothing was funny about it. Finally his mom said she would make sure he didn’t use the axe anymore. I’m trying hard to get some baby trees started in my campsite, and he cuts one down that has taken many years to get to that size. Sickening!
I noticed a high-dollar 4×4 truck that came into the main campground several times one day, parking for a bit and then leaving. I thought maybe it was a fisherman, checking out how the fishing was in the river. Just before dark, I saw it was back and in a reserved campsite. But no camping equipment set up. I walked down to see if they were planning to stay. The driver rolled down his window and asked if campfires were allowed. I pointed out the numerous signs that say no campfires, and told him we got cut off several weeks ago. He was angry because he had reserved the campsite for one night and planned on a fire. He showed me a screen-shot he had taken of his reservation and it said on it that campfires were allowed. I told him the national reservation service had screwed up. He wanted his money back, but I told him he would have to apply online for that. He wanted my name, the name of the company I work for, and my supervisor’s name. I told him that he could transfer for free to the next campground up the mountain, just 20 minutes away. But he said he had already wasted much of the day trying to find me and wondered why I wasn’t doing my job. I told him that I had been there most of the day; raking campsites, picking up trash, cleaning restrooms, and doing paperwork. I was wearing the company uniform, too. He gunned the engine and left with his family. I have a feeling that he is planning to cause trouble for me with my boss.
A group of young people showed up this weekend, who had tried to get me fired 2 years ago. I had to shuffle campers around because of tree cutters removing some dead trees in certain campsites. They didn’t like where I put them and had raised a big stink with the company, which almost resulted in my termination. Now they are back, greeting me like we were best friends. Luckily for one night only.
I raked out a few of the campsites at the main campground, as campers left early. Then headed to the auxiliary one, where everyone had already left. What a mess! The hillbillies had left trash all over their campsites and in the fire pits. I picked up a couple trash cans worth of garbage. Some of the ‘No campfire’ signs had vanished and much of the Caution tape over the fire pits had been yanked off. Rocks and sticks were scattered all over the tables and camp spots. The fire pits were full of cigarette butts, marijuana joints and beer bottles. The worst of all was, one of them had constructed a makeshift toilet out of blocks of wood and it was filled with poo and toilet paper. I had to dismantle it and clean up the mess. The restrooms were only 40 feet away, but I guess that was too far to walk? It took me a few hours to clean up and rake out just their sites.
2 big offroad vehicles drove in, loaded up with camping equipment, and roared to the back of the campground, out of my sight. They were back there a long time and I wondered if they were setting up camp. No one was scheduled to be back there that day and they had not stopped at the kiosk to fill out a pay envelope. I suddenly thought, what if they are cooking a lunch, using a campfire? That’s happened a few times in previous years. I was just about to get in my van to go check it out, when another SUV drove in. A very heavy-set couple asked where they could fish. I told them at the bridge they had just crossed a mile back. They said, oh right, and then asked if he could use the bathroom at the campground. I said Sure and watched him march into the clearly marked women’s restroom. Then I went to check on the other vehicles to see what they were up to. They sped out when they saw me coming, but I couldn’t see any fires or damage done. Don’t know why they were back there so long. The other couple had left when I got back to the front, so I checked on the bathroom, which I had just cleaned. He had sprayed diarrhea all over the seat and lid. Joy…
As I was continued working that day, I strongly considered quitting the job. Several people have expressed interest in taking over, if I ever quit. So it wouldn’t hurt the company. I just feel exhausted with the campers who make my work not fun. Being around friendly people is enjoyable, but it seems being around jerks effects my mood negatively much longer. That is a flaw in me that I don’t know how to change. Wish I could!
I have enough money in the bank so I could live off of some of that until next fall, when I could retire and take SS. It does make more sense to finish the season and do at least one more, to pad my retirement fund some more. But that seems so far away right now. 4 more months to complete this season. I don’t want to deal with this stress. I love this area and feel invested in the campgrounds, but bad campers are wearing on my spirit. I don’t seem to be as resilient anymore.
As I’m writing this, a young Arab man has been laughing like a hyena for the last hour at the campsite across from me. There is a big group of them who have been drinking all evening. It’s still another hour until quiet time, and I really doubt they will suddenly be quiet at that time. They were another party that complained greatly about the campfire ban. Everything ends eventually and campers move on after a day or three. But there have been far too many who have no respect for others’ desire for quiet or sense of what is proper camp etiquette. Maybe I’ll feel more positive tomorrow, but I feel pretty low today. A month or more alone in some hidden spot, away from people, sounds really good right now.
It is the next day. I woke at 5 am to the sound of rain coming down. I love rain, but there had been no warning on the weather forecast. This means I’ll have to rake all the campsites again, once the ground dries out. I scrambled up and put away the free book library that I had out, closed up my tent window, closed the roof vent on my van, and put my chair cushion in the dry. The Arabs have woken up too and the laughing hyena is at it again. The car for the campers on my other side is gone, but their camping gear is all there. I wonder where they went to at this early hour. None of the local stores or restaurants are open until much later in the morning. The Korean wife had a very unpleasant attitude when I checked them in. I don’t think she likes camping. She had lots of makeup on and a fancy dress. I don’t see that here very often. Their campsite has 5 possible tent spots, including next to the gurgling creek. But they set up the tent in an awkward location, wedged between the picnic table and some trees. Guess the wife wanted it as close to the car as possible.
This was the weekend from hell. It’s rarely this bad, when almost everything goes wrong. That’s why I probably won’t quit. I just need to tough it out, reminding myself that everything ends eventually, bad campers leave, and that I can put these wages to good use for traveling. My books, beautiful nature, and the occasional great campers will help me make it through. This too shall pass.
iggyvandweller 