We are currently traveling from Arizona to Minnesota and staying in a variety of RV parks. Some readers have mentioned the list of rules they are handed when they pull into an RV park, and I have to agree. I have never seen the sheer number of rules at campgrounds before! When RV parks charge more, do they print out more pages of rules? Don’t get me wrong, I am a rule follower and I do read the rules. But we have traveled for decades and I have never run into the number and type of rules I am now finding.
Page Contents
Fines, fines, fines!
One campground was intent on fining people as if the high campsite price wasn’t enough. These were their rules:
- Dispose of waste in restroom: FINE $150
- Use generator: FINE $100
- Go past check-out time: FINE $3 an hour
- Don’t buy their firewood: FINE
- Leave untidy campsite: FINE and cleaning charge
- Early check-in: FINE $25
- Late check-out: FINE $25
- Lock site fee: $40
Outrageous new-to-me campground rules
These are some new-to-me rules. Have I been overly naïve about what is actually happening in campgrounds?
- Cannot threaten another tenant, visitor or staff with a firearm. (Do you really think someone that is going to threaten somebody with a gun is reading these rules?)
- Nudity is prohibited in the pool area. (Darn!)
- Intentional urination and/or defecation in the pool is prohibited. (…This is an issue?)
- Any person who is a substantial annoyance to others using the pool may be required to leave the pool area. (There are a number of family members that can be a substantial annoyance. Can they be removed too?)
- Breeding animals is prohibited. (Ummm, and has this been a problem in the past?)
- Bicycles, scooters other personal transportation devices as well as toys must be neatly organized. (How neatly organized? Like my mother’s over-the-top organization or my husband’s not-so-much?)
- Maximum of 60w for any exterior light bulb. (Mine are LED—can you please translate?)
- Two 27 gal. plastic totes only can be used under the RV for storage. (But I don’t have any totes or any more stuff to store!)
- Don’t fill fresh water between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. (Can I at least take a shower??)
- Anyone under 18 can’t go into the camp store without an adult. (So much for buying time away from the kids for a few minutes…)
- Playground for 12 and under only. (But I really wanted to play tetherball with my husband!)
- Proof of RV insurance and registration is required. (Isn’t that up to the real police?)
- Tenants are responsible for knowing how many amps their RV uses. (Please translate volts-to-amps and general appliance usage.)
- Visitors cannot use the bathrooms. (What?? So are they supposed to just cross their legs??)
- Do not dump grease outside. (Never have.)
- If you use the facilities (bathroom and showers) you are required to wipe everything down clean when you are finished. (Low on cleaning staff?)
- We are a small park, there is no reason to speed and it won’t be tolerated. (Noted!)
Summing it up
One RV park made it clear only after I paid their no-refund-ever campground fee: If you are offended by this, we ask that you find another place to stay.
Readers, please comment below. We would love to hear about some of the rather outrageous rules you have found in campgrounds.
RELATED
- Problems with dog rules and fees in campgrounds
- RVing-with-kids rules, and should-be rules, discussed
##RVT1108
I recently took a trip from KY to WA for a concert at The Gorge Amphitheater. On our way we stayed at a hot springs campground in Montana or Idaho. I forget. But the one rule I found totally odd was that we couldn’t put out a rug beneath our step. The spot was gravel so there was no danger of destroying grass. And the rule did not specify the size of rug. Very odd.
Pulled into my campground and new owner told me you can’t stay anymore. I have a nice homemade camper. I have stayed at this campground 25 years. New owner bought in fall of previous year. I stayed that fall while he owned it. He said my camper was not rvia inspected. I have owned several motorhomes & pull behinds. The reason I have a homemade camper is because the store bought ones fell apart. ( roof leaks ). While out camping we seen a nice campground. They told us that if your camper is over 5 years old you can’t stay. I have also heard 7 & 10 years. My camper has full coverage insurance. They would pay for it and any damages it caused just like on highway. This may cause people to stop camping in the future. Who wants to keep a 5 year or new camper all the time. They cost a lot.
These campgrounds that put an age limit on campers are just a roadside HOA.
When the Golden Rule of “treating others the way you want to be treated” is no longer followed, you can expect a proliferation of ridiculously specific “rules and regs for dummies” will be the result.
Common sense has been replaced by a sense of entitlement that makes campground owners spell out the rules. It used to be that people understood freedom isn’t possible without responsibility. The tourons are ruining it for everyone else.
Unfortunately with the new batch of campers the last few years, rules have to be spelled out. They really don’t know what they can and can’t do. Moreover, law enforcement won’t help unless there’s a rule stating you can’t do a thing. REAL LIFE EXAMPLE: I’m a camp host in a National Forest. When I visited my day use/boat launch area to close it for the evening, I found drunks who had driven off the pavement, into the woods, and set up camp. They refused to leave. I called the sheriff dept (who I learned had already visited these guys earlier due to a domestic abuse call–they were drunk fighting). I asked the cops to come help get these guys out. The deputy said “is there a sign saying no camping?” I answered “no”. He said then they can camp there. I responded that signs say “Day Use Area – open dawn until dusk” and “No parking overnight” and “area closes at sunset”, meaning these imply there isn’t camping here. He said if it doesn’t say “no camping” then there’s not a rule
That seems ridiculous for the deputy to say that. But I believe it. Some of them seem to be afraid of making the offenders mad.
Then there are those occasional law enforcement facilities that would benefit from a box of rocks.
I worked in an RV resort over the winter, and I thought the most ridiculous rule is that they did not allow Class B RVs. They allowed cheap little pull behind trailers, not that I find anything wrong with them, but they didn’t allow quarter million dollar Class Bs. Management, who knew absolutely nothing about RVs, insisted that Class B’s don’t have plumbing. Despite my sharing websites showing the interiors of a variety of Class Bs including those that they told the owners they couldn’t stay, they refused to budge. So meanwhile they allowed all kinds of cheap little trailers, and hey, I love those so that’s not a complaint, but to prohibit those very spendy Class B RVs, which actually have more facilities in them than some of the small trailers? It made zero sense.
I’m a truck driver and over the past decade the areas that used to be trucker friendly have dropped substantially. Why? Because of the entitled attitude and disregard for rules and and disrespect for property. How can you be surprised by the rules in a society where today’s travelers don’t care about the consequences of their physical foot print left behind? Just pay attention to drivers on the highway. People are more concerned about reading their text then watching what’s going on around them. Signs say left lane closed 1 mile ahead, so the entitled idiots race to the lane closure and force themselves in (I bet they force themselves when they have {bleeped}), causing longer back ups. Campgrounds are out to make money first! If someone is offended by the rules don’t give them your money. Because of probably one {bleeped}, these rules have been written. It’s no different than our laws, which were written to protect life and property. Poop or get off the toilet!
We have been camping our entire lives and I even wrote an illustrated book called “Karen goes Camping”. I list our family camping rules in the book like nobody has to shave and burping and farting are encouraged… the louder the better, women don’t have to wear make up and you can eat junk food & cuss. Our rules make camping FUN! We have been Workamping for the last five years too and have definitely seen so many more rules and restrictions. Your article is great and funny. Thanks for sharing!
It really makes you wonder what people have done in the past to make park owners have these rules. I completely agree with the if you leave your campsite a mess you are going to have to pay. Wish state parks would use that one!
I stopped using paid campgrounds decades ago. The rates skyrocketed because apparently everyone is rich and just loves giving their hard earned money away for nothing. Now look, you can’t even use your generator to run your home and watch television (just like you never went camping) 🤣
I’ll stick to my primitive camping life away from all of the lunatics that suckered you into laying up an arm and a leg.
It’s a shame that campgrounds have to cover their behinds because of the rudeness of people nowadays. Don’t stay at a park if you don’t like the rules – that’s why you travel on wheels😄
There are alot of “dumb” rules but as more “corporations” buy campgrounds the attorneys get involved. Campgrounds using Camp Spot has a rules list that is so long you can tell some attorney wrote it, but everybody has to sign it. Even the campground hosts admit its kind of a joke. But there are some “dumb” rules that actually do have a good reason behind them. To use one of your examples… “Must be over 18 to enter camp store without an adult”. We have seen this and asked and the reason was that they sell alcohol and by state law they cannot allow minors in the store without an adult.
We spent a year in an RV park in Arlington, WA, with a set of rules that were ridiculous. The rules filled four or five pages, single spaced, and for the brave few that were there for a short stay or overnight would be forced to spend 30 – 45 minutes checking in because they actually made them sit in the office and read the rules. The owner told us his lawyer had written them up. Absolutely NO bike riding was allowed in the park. I rode my bike to work, and innocently rode from the entrance to our trailer and they almost threw us out of the park for doing so. For several months I had to walk my bike about a quarter mile to the entrance before I could get on. Our neighbors were given a citation for having two spatulas hanging from their bbq grill. Yep… apparently that was against the rules.
The interesting thing about the rules in this park, though, was that after watching for many months, we realized that the owner’s friends didn’t have to follow the rules!
I am sure there is a reason but if it was THAT BAD… why would you stay there an entire year???
I think some of these things are because such as registration and insurance required is due to people who are living in there rv and squat with rvs that are not road worthy. Most of this well all I can say is it’s an rv park (aka. Rv breeding grounds) I boondock and never go past The western states. More people more problems. I understand people with these huge land yachts have to have a place to park. This is unfortunately what happens in over crowded RV parks. Try campgrounds instead of an RV park that is if yoir rig will fit, and you dont mind dry camping instead of glamping. There is a beautiful thing and it’s called boycotting these places. Where there is demand owners get what they want, so stop going to these places, money talks when you dont have it coming in then hey then I guess they’ll get the gist. Camping should be a happy relaxed thing not more problems, there is enough of that in this world already don’t add to it just avoid these ridiculous places.
No smoking
Rest assured they have either been sued or threatened with a lawsuit, and they are covering their {bleeped}. there are no rules that apply to the Campground.
Thanks for the laughs! Some of those are pretty funny, but driven, I would guess, by the huge recent increase in obnoxious and uncaring people that seem to be infiltrating campgrounds nowadays. While many here cannot imagine why these rules would be in print, it’s probably because the campground has had issues with the behavior and needs something written, whether read or not, to have firm footing to give these people the boot they deserve.
Last fall an RV Park north of Austin, TX, where we were staying all of about 12 hours overnight, required us to provide photo ID prior to arrival, proof of insurance, and upon arrival sign what appeared to be their “permanent tenant” small print multi-page contract! It took me a half hour sitting at a desk just to read everything thoroughly and check in! I will say that it was a very orderly, neat, safe, and clean RV Park, especially considering it was about 99% permanents! Maybe they have the right idea.
A ‘friend’ got caught peeing in the pool. The life guard yelled at him so loud he almost fell in.
Bwahaha 🤣 -made my Wednesday!
Thanks to Becca Ray for reminding me I was going to respond to your comment, Impavid. Got interrupted when I was going to reply then forgot to get back to it. Yes, I agree with Becca Ray: 😂😂😂 Have a great day. 😀 –Diane
Last summer, the pool at the park we were at had a sign on the gate that read, “anyone who has experienced diarrhea in the past 48 hours is prohibited from using the pool”. It was a LOL moment for sure.
That is required signage in California, but 2 weeks not 48 hours.
Xctraveler, thanks for that info. Every public pool in California has a mandatory sign. We were in Montana when i saw the one i referred to, so maybe just a bad incident but good to know Re:Cali, we’ll be in California this summer for 5 weeks and the park has a pool. (A clean pool) 👌
don’t make them laugh…an unfortunate accidental slick may appear
The world needs one more lawyer!