I have enjoyed camping all my life and have been to numerous campgrounds. This was by far my worst experience. We signed in on August 21, and our assigned site was cover with beer bottle caps, broken beer bottle glass, and various trash items. We spoke with the office and got reassigned a new spot. Upon arrival, there were three cars and a tent on the site. Again we talked to the office and received a third spot and finally set up camp.
No one wore masks in the bathhouses, and doors are broken in the men's room. There as also no trash bins in the female bathrooms. As a result, all feminine items had to be tossed out in the big barrels around camp. For any young female, this has a strong potential to be embarrassing.
Things were not bad until this point, but at night things turned into a complete nightmare!! At least three different parties brought in large speakers and blasted music until 4 AM. Around 1230AM, I went to the office to see if anyone was around and didn't see anyone. So I called the main camp number and explained the situation and asked for a call back the next day to discuss the manner. Close to this time, I saw night security driving around in their van and spoke with them.
This conversation was unproductive. The security staff said they couldn't make people turn off the music but only ask them to turn it down. They then defend the party-goers by saying it's the weekend and want to have a good time and have the right to play music. They also said they couldn't kick parties out since they had been drinking and didn't want to promote drunk driving. They then proceeded to tell me they will probably go on until 3 AM, and there was nothing they could do. Finally, they said if I was unhappy, I could call the state troopers. Given this state of the country and police, I didn't want to risk harm to the party-goers by calling the police on them.
In addition, many party-goers set off numerous fireworks, and I woke up around 2 AM with children from other sties running around strangers tents playing games and causing a ruckus. Before I went to bed I pulled up an email sent to me before arrival and it stated. security will patrol quite hours and can give fines or evict campers. Based on their documents, the security staff had recourse but clearly chose to be negligent in their duties or lack training from management.
We were finally able to sleep with earplugs and noise-canceling headphones. Many of the nearby tent sites and I spoke in the morning, and as collective, very few got a good night's sleep. Shockingly the party-goers put on music again loudly around 8 AM. I never received a call back the following day. Later on an unrelated matter, I was in the camp store to pick something up, and I saw a father with his young son complaining about the noise. Bless the young blonde staff for listening and taking in the complaint. I did back up this father and mentioned everything he said was true and had, in fact, occurred the previous evening. The young lady looked a bit overwhelmed, but i do understand she was not directly involved in the last night's events, and I do wish her well.
We had kayaking booked, and again we felt failed. The bus driver didn't wear a mask. Upon picking up our kayaks, the staff didn't even give instructions or offer to help launch. As an experienced kayaker, I helped my party and went through the kayaking basics on my own with them. I don't mind this role but at a minimum would have expected the staff to offer a quick 2-minute primary discussion on kayaking,
After all of this, my party and I decided to pack up our camp and leave. We had booked two nights, but we did not want to risk another sleepless night after all the disappointment. read more