Blazer
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Probably the worst situation: Again at Lake George.... I've camped many times at Lake George without incidents. It helped when we went during the week and reserved a site on a private island. In 2011 we had our fishing boat docked up there and would go camping about every 2 weeks. At the end of Sept, 2011 I went up alone, loaded up the boat and went out to one of the few islands that were still open.
Lake George closes the state island campground on Columbus Day weekend and this was the last weekend in September. By this point they close all the single site islands so I tried to pick a secluded spot on one of them multi-site islands. I got there on a Friday and at first was the only one on the island There was rain in the forecast so I set up my tent quickly. Just as I did so, 2 boats full of young guys pulled up.
Again it was the "If it wasn't for bad luck.." situation. Lucky me, they were there to celebrate a Bachelor Party. Just them..about 10 dudes...and me on this island. And I happened to be all set up on the site right next to them. In hindsight I wish I'd just torn my tent down and threw everything in my boat and moved but it was late and the weather looked threatening so I stayed put. They seemed like nice guys at first. One guy even said that if they made too much noise to just let them know. I told them to keep it down to a dull roar and to try to turn down the volume after midnight. Famous last words.
All seemed ok, until about midnight. I could hear them talking and going about their business but it was just normal camper noise. Then I guess the alcohol content rose and so did the noise, along with the cursing and yelling obscenities. With great trepidation, I went over and politely asked them to please keep the noise down. Maybe the one guy I spoke to earlier had good intentions but his drunken buddies pretty much told me to "F-off". At this point I was acutely aware that I was a female, alone in the middle of the night with a bunch of drunks having themselves a bachelor party, with all that entailed and I didn't want to wind up as their "entertainment" for the night. I had told them that if they didn't keep it down I'd be calling the rangers but they pretty much carried on. So I beat a hasty retreat.
Fortunately I had my cell phone and cell service is pretty good in the Glen Island area of Lake George so I made my first call the ranger station. Notice I said "first". It was going to be a long night...
Seems the ranger went out there not once, but 2 and 3 times and made repeated requests for them to quiet down. It was storming now, raining and blowing. By 3:30 am the ranger told me that they had pretty much told HIM to go F-off as well! He was alone and told me that first thing in the morning he would be coming with the state marine police to forcibly throw them off the island but there was nothing he could do at that point and if things got worse to call him. He'd already gone out there twice so there was little that could be done until daybreak.
So I kept my knife at my side and tried to keep a low profile at this point. After listening until almost dawn to a string of cursing, shouting, yelling, along with a fight breaking out, I got about 2 hours of sleep. Early in the morning, I went out to my boat to make sure it was ok and sat under the canopy to watch the show. I had my 10" knife at my side and a big stick there and my phone at my side.
I didn't have long to wait until about 3 boats pulled up filled with armed rangers and police. They pretty much raided those a-hole's campsite and did everything short of lead them away in handcuffs. Suddenly they weren't so brave when facing 6 policemen with guns. They packed up under the watchful eye of the law. And I sat there and yes, I have to admit I gloated quite a bit at seeing them scrambling about, obviously in a hangover state, stuffing their stuff and gear into their boats in a rainstorm. Sometimes Karma is my friend. It just took awhile...
The police came over to talk to my dock and I gave them my story. They saw that I had the knife and said nothing. They reassured me that the group was being charged and tossed off the campgrounds. Still I was nervous, being there by myself...wondering if they would come back at some point later on..I tried not to think too deeply about it.
When the first boat pulled out one of the guys starting shouting obscenities and threats at me, which I quickly informed the police about, so that must've got them into even more trouble.
When I spoke to the ranger later I was told that they were a local bunch and would not be allowed to camp there again for the foreseeable future. They were also served up with a long and expensive list of violations..from disturbing the peace, terroristic threats, threatening a ranger, etc, etc.. I was told that had it not been so late and stormy they would've all been arrested the night before.
I stayed there by myself. There was no one else on the island and I doubt anyone was in the entire campground besides me and the ranger. The weather was completely cruddy. It had been forecast to stop raining and clear up but that didn't happen. Instead, the wind blew and it rained on and off all day and the weather report went from bad to worse. I finally came to the conclusion that this trip wasn't meant to be.
So I cut my trip short, packed up and barely got out there myself because conditions on the lake were so bad. The rangers kindly rescheduled my trip for the following week, when the storm was forecast to blow out and a huge dome of high pressure come in. I went back home, worked a few days and came back for the following week from Wed-Monday, over Columbus Day weekend, the last week the campgrounds would officially be open. The weather was glorious then..Sunny and warm. I got an even better site and had no issues or problems.
As usual, from Wed-Friday I had the place pretty much to myself. That weekend the weather was more like August then October..warm and sunny. The lake was filled both campers and day trippers but it was a civil, happy crowd. I was there to the last day you could legally camp there and it made up for the miserable time I'd endured the week before.
That was to be one of the last times I camped at Lake George so at least it ended on a good note. I brought cookies in for the rangers on my return trip and thanked them for all their help. I've found that the rangers at NYS campgrounds to be nice people in general and that was one time they really came through.
Unfortunately this wasn't the last time I dealt with bad situations. I could go on and on...There was the time on the Delaware River that my family stayed at a campground that allowed pets and the family tied their dog outside their tent and just LEFT, leaving the dog to bark for hours at a time. I will say that the majority of pet owners are good about keeping their pets quiet but it only takes a few inconsiderate ones to ruin everyone else's good time. Hate to say it, when I see that a campground doesn't allow pets (Lake George and most campgrounds in NJ are like this), it's a big plus. It's not so much that I dislike dogs. Quite the opposite. It's the inconsiderate, idiot owners that are the problem.
But the world is what it is. In the past few years I've made a real attempt to preserve my sanity by scheduling trips during the week. Arriving mid week and leaving on Fridays or Saturday. If I do camp on a weekend I expect the worst and hope for the best.
One big reason for me going from car camping to backpacking and primitive kayak camping is to get away from crowded campgrounds. Fortunately I actually like cold weather and don't mind freezing temperatures and have upgraded my gear so that I plan to take trips in the fall into winter, when most vacationers are back to work and the kids are in school. Fortunately with backpacking there are more options for camping and I look forward to exploring them.
But my ultimate solution will be to finally move away from the most densely populated area of the country and go to where there really is a "wild"-erness..One can only hope.
Lake George closes the state island campground on Columbus Day weekend and this was the last weekend in September. By this point they close all the single site islands so I tried to pick a secluded spot on one of them multi-site islands. I got there on a Friday and at first was the only one on the island There was rain in the forecast so I set up my tent quickly. Just as I did so, 2 boats full of young guys pulled up.
Again it was the "If it wasn't for bad luck.." situation. Lucky me, they were there to celebrate a Bachelor Party. Just them..about 10 dudes...and me on this island. And I happened to be all set up on the site right next to them. In hindsight I wish I'd just torn my tent down and threw everything in my boat and moved but it was late and the weather looked threatening so I stayed put. They seemed like nice guys at first. One guy even said that if they made too much noise to just let them know. I told them to keep it down to a dull roar and to try to turn down the volume after midnight. Famous last words.
All seemed ok, until about midnight. I could hear them talking and going about their business but it was just normal camper noise. Then I guess the alcohol content rose and so did the noise, along with the cursing and yelling obscenities. With great trepidation, I went over and politely asked them to please keep the noise down. Maybe the one guy I spoke to earlier had good intentions but his drunken buddies pretty much told me to "F-off". At this point I was acutely aware that I was a female, alone in the middle of the night with a bunch of drunks having themselves a bachelor party, with all that entailed and I didn't want to wind up as their "entertainment" for the night. I had told them that if they didn't keep it down I'd be calling the rangers but they pretty much carried on. So I beat a hasty retreat.
Fortunately I had my cell phone and cell service is pretty good in the Glen Island area of Lake George so I made my first call the ranger station. Notice I said "first". It was going to be a long night...
Seems the ranger went out there not once, but 2 and 3 times and made repeated requests for them to quiet down. It was storming now, raining and blowing. By 3:30 am the ranger told me that they had pretty much told HIM to go F-off as well! He was alone and told me that first thing in the morning he would be coming with the state marine police to forcibly throw them off the island but there was nothing he could do at that point and if things got worse to call him. He'd already gone out there twice so there was little that could be done until daybreak.
So I kept my knife at my side and tried to keep a low profile at this point. After listening until almost dawn to a string of cursing, shouting, yelling, along with a fight breaking out, I got about 2 hours of sleep. Early in the morning, I went out to my boat to make sure it was ok and sat under the canopy to watch the show. I had my 10" knife at my side and a big stick there and my phone at my side.
I didn't have long to wait until about 3 boats pulled up filled with armed rangers and police. They pretty much raided those a-hole's campsite and did everything short of lead them away in handcuffs. Suddenly they weren't so brave when facing 6 policemen with guns. They packed up under the watchful eye of the law. And I sat there and yes, I have to admit I gloated quite a bit at seeing them scrambling about, obviously in a hangover state, stuffing their stuff and gear into their boats in a rainstorm. Sometimes Karma is my friend. It just took awhile...
The police came over to talk to my dock and I gave them my story. They saw that I had the knife and said nothing. They reassured me that the group was being charged and tossed off the campgrounds. Still I was nervous, being there by myself...wondering if they would come back at some point later on..I tried not to think too deeply about it.
When the first boat pulled out one of the guys starting shouting obscenities and threats at me, which I quickly informed the police about, so that must've got them into even more trouble.
When I spoke to the ranger later I was told that they were a local bunch and would not be allowed to camp there again for the foreseeable future. They were also served up with a long and expensive list of violations..from disturbing the peace, terroristic threats, threatening a ranger, etc, etc.. I was told that had it not been so late and stormy they would've all been arrested the night before.
I stayed there by myself. There was no one else on the island and I doubt anyone was in the entire campground besides me and the ranger. The weather was completely cruddy. It had been forecast to stop raining and clear up but that didn't happen. Instead, the wind blew and it rained on and off all day and the weather report went from bad to worse. I finally came to the conclusion that this trip wasn't meant to be.
So I cut my trip short, packed up and barely got out there myself because conditions on the lake were so bad. The rangers kindly rescheduled my trip for the following week, when the storm was forecast to blow out and a huge dome of high pressure come in. I went back home, worked a few days and came back for the following week from Wed-Monday, over Columbus Day weekend, the last week the campgrounds would officially be open. The weather was glorious then..Sunny and warm. I got an even better site and had no issues or problems.
As usual, from Wed-Friday I had the place pretty much to myself. That weekend the weather was more like August then October..warm and sunny. The lake was filled both campers and day trippers but it was a civil, happy crowd. I was there to the last day you could legally camp there and it made up for the miserable time I'd endured the week before.
That was to be one of the last times I camped at Lake George so at least it ended on a good note. I brought cookies in for the rangers on my return trip and thanked them for all their help. I've found that the rangers at NYS campgrounds to be nice people in general and that was one time they really came through.
Unfortunately this wasn't the last time I dealt with bad situations. I could go on and on...There was the time on the Delaware River that my family stayed at a campground that allowed pets and the family tied their dog outside their tent and just LEFT, leaving the dog to bark for hours at a time. I will say that the majority of pet owners are good about keeping their pets quiet but it only takes a few inconsiderate ones to ruin everyone else's good time. Hate to say it, when I see that a campground doesn't allow pets (Lake George and most campgrounds in NJ are like this), it's a big plus. It's not so much that I dislike dogs. Quite the opposite. It's the inconsiderate, idiot owners that are the problem.
But the world is what it is. In the past few years I've made a real attempt to preserve my sanity by scheduling trips during the week. Arriving mid week and leaving on Fridays or Saturday. If I do camp on a weekend I expect the worst and hope for the best.
One big reason for me going from car camping to backpacking and primitive kayak camping is to get away from crowded campgrounds. Fortunately I actually like cold weather and don't mind freezing temperatures and have upgraded my gear so that I plan to take trips in the fall into winter, when most vacationers are back to work and the kids are in school. Fortunately with backpacking there are more options for camping and I look forward to exploring them.
But my ultimate solution will be to finally move away from the most densely populated area of the country and go to where there really is a "wild"-erness..One can only hope.
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