how do you folks 'claim' a campsite' while you are off exploring during day

[goinoregon]

i am referring to non-reservations sites, etc. i dont want to leave anything 'valuable' at the site, but would be nice to come back and still have the place for us to use.
thx for any ideas
go

thx

 

[MarkBC]

I've used orange traffic cones.
And there's also the old standby of a cheap lawn chair.

 

[rando]

This can be kind of a touchy issue. If you are talking about a USFS/BLM campground with the an iron ranger (a metal tube to drop a fee envelope in) and tags you hang on the post, then a camp chair in addition to the tag showing you have paid for the site for the night is a great way to mark it as occupied. We have never had anyone mess with our pretty nice camp chairs.

Now if you are talking about a dispersed site (ie a spur off a USFS road) then there is the issue as to whether you have any ownership of the site if you are not there. A few years ago this was mostly a non-issue, but increasingly in busy areas where you may want to secure a site, folks are 'claiming' sites on a weekday with chairs, or a cheap tent then coming back on the weekend to actually use the site and then maybe keeping it 'reserved' for the next weekend too. In some areas it has gotten so bad that folks are basically abandoning trailers in prime spots for weeks at time and using at as weekend cabin. This is usually against the rules, but is so hard to enforce that it happens all the time.

I know that is not what you are suggesting, but just be aware that if you try to 'claim' a site with a chair/tent/cone etc, folks who come later don't know if you are gone for a few hours, or aren't planning on coming back for days. On a couple of occasions in popular areas we have camped pretty close to one of these 'claimed' sites.

My personal opinion (which is just that) is that if you leave a site, then you don't really have any more claim to that site than anyone else. As a result I don't try to 'claim' a site if I am gone, I pack up and find a new one when I am done with my days adventure.

 

[DavidGraves]

Visitation has so increased in some parts of Oregon that some folks, often hunters, are staging their trailer and "elk camp" stuff in the woods for many weeks before their actual visit.

We have met the enemy, and he is US.....to much promotion of the outdoor "adventure" thing.

David Graves

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

When I’m in any public pay campground, I always take a close up photo of the registration paperwork. That gives me a date/time document to prove when I arrived, and how long I intend to stay. So far, I’ve never had a situation where I needed to use that as evidence.

 

[PaulT]

+1 on the photos.
We also take a photo of the post with our ticket stub hanging on it. We also take a photo of the site occupied with our vehicle and FWC parked on the site.
I commonly hang a "Campsite Occupied" sign on a electric fence post in the campsite or attached to a cheap lawn chair. The sign has my ham callsign written on the back which matches my license plate.

These steps have been enough so far. Maybe we have been lucky.

Paul

 

[Sleddog]

Sometimes we leave our two camp chairs, sometimes we set up a small, inexpensive tent as well, nothing more, no photos and no signage. We've never had any issues or disputes over a dispersed campsite we "claimed" for a few days while in the area and no one has ever taken our chairs or tent.

 

[AWG_Pics]

My personal opinion (which is just that) is that if you leave a site, then you don't really have any more claim to that site than anyone else. As a result I don't try to 'claim' a site if I am gone, I pack up and find a new one when I am done with my days adventure.

This s pretty much my outlook and expectation.

 

[Missing Link]

Many here have noted the abundance of new campers in recent years due to what I believe is a combination of "cabin fever" caused by the pandemic, the "overlanding movement," the "nomad movement," the "Snap Chat/Instagram phenomenon," and the almost unlimited mapping/trip planning capabilities provided by the internet. One of the big problems associated with this influx of new "adventurers" is their ignorance of traditional camping etiquette and protocols. Last March, I was visiting a friend who was camp hosting at Mesquite Springs CG in Death Valley. We took off for a day of exploration and when we returned someone was in my campsite. It was a middle aged man with his grandson. Their tent was up and they were cooking dinner. When i told him that it was my spot and pointed out my payment stub attached to the post, he was very apologetic and offered to move. Mesquite Springs has one of the "new fangled " payment Kiosks where you need to use a credit card. The fellow said that because the sign said that the sites were first come-first served (no reservation system) he thought that there was no charge and he could camp anywhere. Again, he was very apologetic . . . he just did not "know the ropes" of camping. As it turned out, the site next to mine was unoccupied and I pulled my camper into that one, and moved my payment stub to that post. I took the man to the kiosk and showed him how to register and everything worked out well. When I returned home I went to Harbor Freight and bought this collapsible cone for $8.99 and wrote "OCCUPIED" with a Sharpie. .

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

I use a "site occupied" sign I got from a State park ranger.
Usually even in some SP campsites I'll hang the sign.

For sure photo of tag and camper helps in places where there isn't
a camp host or the rangers don't make a regular trip through.

Ask Ted sometime about his run in at Kings Canyon a few years back.
One needs to be safe when confronting a "site poacher" there are some
bad people out there.

Stay safe folks but have fun.
Frank

 

[smlobx]

On our trip back from Alaska last year going through Montana and Wyoming I commented to my wife on several occasions on the numerous trailers we saw that were dragged down dirt roads and set up on BLM and NFS lands but no one was there when we stayed there. Many of them appeared to be there longer than the 14 day limit…A sign of the times we live in.

I also agree that unless you’re actually there you shouldn’t claim a site for future use…

 

[Foy]

several occasions on the numerous trailers we saw that were dragged down dirt roads and set up on BLM and NFS lands but no one was there when we stayed there. Many of them appeared to be there longer than the 14 day limit…

Such was routinely observed when we spent 3 weeks in Montana July-August 2020. At every NF CG and along every road which had disbursed pull outs we'd see sites "occupied" for days but with no sign of the occupants. It reminded us of similar circumstances in late September 2018 when we visited some of the same areas and saw advance set-up at many CGs and disbursed sites, some quite elaborate, for the upcoming elk season.
Foy

 

[craig333]

And why not. Its not like you'll get a ticket or find your trailer has been towed. You may find a mouse infestation but there really isn't much of a reason not to unless doing the right thing matters to you.

Unless its one of those rare situations where its one of the last spots in a campground left, I don't leave anything.

 

[goinoregon]

thanks for all the comments and observations.
go

 

[dennis 221]

Have a lawn chair and wrote site occupied on back.place rock on it for wind

 

[Gussie]

I carry a Eureka two-man tent in my ATC Bobcat. When I set it up campside, I've found that it signals occupation right away.
I've never had an issue, but if someone stole it it wouldn't be the end of the world!

I did have an issue once with a Camp Host at a USFS site, who apparently watched me set up in the morning and then leave for the afternoon. When I came back, my site was occupied with another camper. The Camp Host had moved the tent out of the site! Luckily, there were other sites available, but I had to suffer the humility of a strong lecture from the guy about physical occupation for the first 24 hours.

Jeez, what a stickler... turned out that he was actually a pretty nice older feller in an old Alaskan. With the increase in camping and newbie campers, he told me that he's compelled to go 'by the book.'

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Just what does "Physical occupation for the first 24 hours" mean?
You set up camp with your tent,bought/payed for the site,isn't that
physical occupation?

I know there are a lot of people out there for the first time who don't
know the basic rules but that's where the host comes in.
It sure is a different camping world out there now.
Frank

 

[DavidGraves]

When we really need to know we can stay in a particular camp site....we just make plans to get there early.

On our extended several week trips it is easy enough to build in a schedule where you are stopped for the night by 4-5 pm.

I am personally bothered by the notion that some folks feel they can "claim" a site while not really using it.

This is all tempered by the fact that I live in a vastly over visited part of the world.....everything outside, including just being there, seems to have become a commodity.

David Graves