More outrageous and ridiculous campground rules

In June, we published an article on some of the most outrageous and ridiculous campground rules we have found on our journeys this summer. You have added some more in the comments since then, and sadly, the reasons stated there are why there are so many rules!

More outrageous rules

Speed limit: “Dead slow”. At a 55-plus resort, don’t take the “dead” part too seriously…
No motorcycle operation. So do I have to walk my motorcycle out?
Must be 55 but anyone over 30 can visit but must leave by 9 p.m. That’s one way to get rid of the adult kids and not have any grandchildren running around. So much for bonding time…
Must wear a name tag when out of your RV. Do you think I am going to forget who I am or is the name tag a way to return me to the right RV?
When entering disc golf area, watch for flying discs. Thanks for the heads up!
If staying over 30 days must have a functioning restroom and shower. So what do I use before the end of the 30 days?
Guest, Uber, Taxi and food delivery vehicles are not allowed past the office. So much for pizza delivery.
RVs must be newer than 1996! No 10-year rule here!
No campfires past 11:00 p.m. and the campground maintenance puts them out. Well, thank you! 11 is way past my bedtime; could you come earlier?
No disturbing the humus by foraging for firewood. OK, but what humus? I thought humus (hummus) was a dip?
Don’t burn the signs. Guess I will have to buy the firewood instead.
No commercial picking of berries and fiddleheads. Nope, I promise I will not sell the fiddleheads.
No feeding the dingos. Easy! Not a single dingo in this campground.

Campground rules from our readers

Dorrie, who works at a campground, sent us a couple of rules that should be on the list: “Have to work at a campground to understand. The real campers are fading away. There are two rules that are missing:

No {bleeped} in the bathrooms.
“Do not take the split rail fence apart so you can impale through a goat as a spit to cook over an open fire pit in front of other campers.” (Yikes!)

Stephen M. mentioned a campground that doesn’t allow bicycles, tricycles or any wheeled toys. He isn’t going there! “One campground we will never go to had no bicycles, tricycles, scooters, or any other wheeled toy allowed in the campground. And no motorcycles. I travel with my bikes and motorcycle for transportation. So much for keeping the kids occupied.”

Early check-in

Evie commented on the early check-in fee: “At a recent rally, one of the club members showed up 15 minutes early and they wanted $35 extra to check in early. Needless to say, they will never go back.”

John M. is not going for early check-in either, but some campgrounds are a little more lenient. He says, “If I arrive early at a park and they want extra to check in I just wait until time, then check in. Most will forget the early check-in time if it is under an hour.”

Eldon, a campground owner, made early check-in fees a little more palatable as they give their early check-in fees to charity. “We do $3.00 an hour, for early in or late out, which goes to our fundraisers for the MS Society, Pinky Swear, and RMHC, which our youngest grandson was at for two weeks at the start of Covid. They helped our family, so we are trying to do what we can to help them.”

The unfortunate reason behind all these campground rules

A lot of people mentioned that the rules were the result of a lack of common sense or courtesy. Andy Zipser, a past campground owner, said this: “Sad to say, most such rules spring up because someone actually did something stupid or entitled and when called out on it, protested that there wasn’t anything in the rules prohibiting such behavior. So….”

Make sure you read my first post on ridiculous campground rules here.

##RVT1115

28 Comments

Doug

2 years ago

I was at a rv park, which in the rules said no refrigerators or golf carts. Upon setting up I was 4 refrigerators and 3 golf carts. Office said I was no suspose to have those. I made the comment that there were others in the park. They said a couple of those were at employees campers and they needed them. I said ok, I didn’t know because there were signs at those trailers stating employees. The others were long terms. They asked me to leave because I asked.

Bob P

Reply to Doug

Don’t question their authority, in this case you showed their ignorance which is not a good thing, so before you “let the cat out of the bag you must leave”.

robert

Recently stayed at a campground where you could not walk your dog anywhere but a trail in the back. So many were carrying there dog to this trail because if you walked the dog from site to trail you were stopped and told it was against the rules.

Jules

Reply to robert

That’s ridiculous! What is the punishment for not following the rules? Booted out? Maybe the dog owners should stand together and refuse. Can they kick out 20+ rigs at once?

Backcountry164

Reply to Jules

They already have your money so why wouldn’t they??

Steve

Funny, the biggest complaint in the RV “resort” we stay at, is people letting their fur babies doing their business on other peoples property, even though there are several doggie parks. My opinion, you have a pup, keep it on your site.

Bob M

Post that in a review so other dog owners can avoid that campground. Than maybe they’ll change the rules.

Mary

Was this in the middle of North Dakota? We stayed at one with this rule 3 years ago.

Carl

Per Mr. Zipser’s comment, every campground should state that “you may be evicted if caught doing something considered egregious by campground management whether it is in the written rules or not.” Essentially, that means using common sense is the #1 rule.

SDW

Reply to Carl

Unfortunally Carl, most people below 50, in this day, and time don’t have a lick of common sense. Common sense is no longer common. Ever since computers, and cell phone came out, no one exercises their brain anymore. They just push button, or tap screens, and let a machine do the thinking. This all started when they came out with a cash register that told them how much change to give back, rather than having to think about how much to give back.
We should start calling it exceptional sense! 🙂

Reply to SDW

Exceptional Sense is about right! It seems almost every day, my husband and I comment about how little common sense there is left in the world.

Funny you reference counting change…and a lot of problems with that come from that thing called “common core math” – oh I’ll just use my phone to calculate the change…new mentality.

Every rule or law was created due to some idiot doing that exact thing, with possibly the nationwide 55 mph speed limit of the 70’s. That was done by a bureaucrat with no research of the facts. Depending on the engine specs and gear ratio some could be more efficient at 60-65 mph. Big trucks are spec’d for the load they’ll carry and the location they’ll be running in.

-1

Reply to Bob P

Sorry, reduced speed did save fuel. Vehicles in the 60’s and early 70’s were not geared for 75 mph, which is where the people drove. And it was proved to save lives!

Bill

Reply to Steve

Sorry, Steve, you’re mostly wrong. The average older vehicle may have been geared for 55, but most were set for something else, most newer vehicles for 65 or 70. Most people still drove at around 62 on the Interstate. The total number of traffic fatalities may have gone down, but it was going down anyway and went down more slowly during the reduced speed – plus there were fewer miles travelled because of the price of fuel going up.

Vince S

Behind registration was a list of what I guess were at least 80 “rules” hand painted on the wall. Some, if not all were downright ridiculous like, “Vehicle engine must be off if you’re sleeping” or “No coaches in primitive tent spots”, “Do not eat the ducks” and “Don’t ask for 75% off the monthly rate to stay a week”. At the top, it read, “If any of these seem wrong, leave now”.

The attendant said every single one of them was real and that they could add to the list almost weekly. The fresh paint smell told me he wasn’t kidding…..

Common sense isn’t very common it seems.

Ron

Rules and laws are only put in place because of the stupid and reckless acts comitted by people.

Richard

“Society is controlled by the lunatic fringe”- Unknown.
Someone does something stupid and the rest of us must suffer for it. Because you’re not allowed to recognize someone as stupid (That’s HATE speech!)

D. Noar

Reply to Richard

Perfectly stated!

Lorelei

Great guffaws. The only one I’d have a problem with is carrying my dog to the proper dog walk trail. Maybe they should have wagons to rent to haul your dog to the specified trail. No, there is very little common sense out there. I’d be thankful if there were no screamers and if all dogs were on leash.

KellyR

Reply to Lorelei

We’ve been to that park where we had to carry the pups to this baseball sized field a good 100 yards from our site, to pee or poo. The rule book even went on to say that even pee on the site was dangerous as when the pee dried and the wind blew that germs would fly around. I did not make this up. My wife fell, landed on the dog, and put a gash in her knee with a scar to this day. I wish I had kept the rule book, Super nice, in the woods, well kept, family campground. I do not know how people with 60 lb dogs did it?

Reply to KellyR

That’s amazing. My dog is just under 60 pounds, and I can’t carry him far. I don’t have room to haul a wagon, so I better stay out of those places.

squeegy63

No wheeled toys? but some say my rv is a toy. So you remove the wheels and shove your RV into the campground? My dogs would be up for that rule…for some reason they HATE bicycles, motorcycles, scooters, RC cars, skateboards, etc. They have never had a run in with one or someone on one but go nuts when one goes by even when we are driving down the road.

Last edited 2 years ago by squeegy63

Jake

$5 for each and every visitor, no matter the reason. Temple View Campground, Manti Utah

Susan Pereira

The resort we stay at in AZ has the rule about the name badges…but only because it is a 50+ community and there have been emergencies and they couldn’t identify the people.

Admin

Noble Member

Diane McGovern

Reply to Susan Pereira

Good point, Susan. Thanks! Have a good evening/night. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com

Dennis G.

RVs must be newer than 1996!:
Guess our 1996 Class-A, will become a 1997-98 model. The design, front and rear caps are identical. If they want to see the registration, photoshop to the rescue.

Peter

It would be great if there was a National set of campground rules everywhere, with allowance for local rules as needed. But what would be even better is enforcement of existing rules. I get that we are sharing an outdoor space with strangers and not everyone has the same social boundaries, but if quiet time is 11 PM, why are so many allowed to play music, stoke the fire and laugh loudly until 1 or 2 am ? I digress, I’ll sit back down in my rocking chair and be quiet now.

Early check in/late check out fees are a direct result of guests inconsiderate actions. This fee was never a thing at our local RV campgrounds until the massive influx of CovidKampers.
I don’t like the fee(s), but I certainly understand the need.

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More outrageous and ridiculous campground rules

More outrageous rules

Campground rules from our readers

Early check-in

The unfortunate reason behind all these campground rules

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