My partner and I have been making our rounds at staying at local state forests, and we have had relatively good luck until we got to this one.
I was waiting in the car while my partner went and checked us in, and when he came out he said, “That was weird.” First, the dude asked who was camping with my partner, and he said, “Just my wife and me,” and the guy peered to see our car and who was in it, and continued to ask, “No one else?” My partner was like, “No. Me and my wife are just spending one night here.” The guy was skeptical, but continued with over explaining the rules. My partner had expressed that he understood the rules, and repeated that him and I have done this before, but the guy wouldn’t let up. He kept Going over them, emphasizing the “no alcohol” policy, highlighting and circling it, even. My partner told the guy that we are both sober people the first time he had explained the rules, but he felt the need to mention it again. Maybe this is common practice, but it’s a real turn-off for hospitality.
We got to the site and were immensely underwhelmed. The campsite, as another reviewer mentioned, was on a road, apparently near a wellhead, so we had to park in the lot around the corner, which we could see through the trees, past another campsite. The camps were so tightly packed, looking up and seeing a neighbor in every direction, or walking through someone’s camp going to the bathroom, accidentally finding yourself through another camp getting back to your own; it felt like a city train, just surrounded by people, which is what we were trying to avoid.
We made the best of it anyway, and had a good night, and morning, and when we had finally packed up all our stuff, I wanted to take stupid selfies with my partner and, quite literally, just as we were about to take one more where I wanted to sweetly give my partner a peck on the cheek, this guy rolls up on an ATV. I was mid picture taking, phone in the air, arm around my partner, but staring at the guy getting out and walking towards us. I wasn’t going to snap pictures with this dude staring at us so I put the phone down and said we were about to leave. He parroted most of what we said, but didn’t say much without being spoken to. Told us someone was renting our site tonight, and we were like, “Okay? It’s not us.” And he checked his watch and mumbled something about time, and we were like, “What time is it?” And he said, “Oh. Don’t worry, check out isn’t until 11, you guys have plenty of time.” I made a point to check, it was 9:12. He stood there some more and mumbled other stuff, and was just like, “So, you’re leaving?” And we said yeah, and he walked back to the ATV and drove off. Didn’t harass our neighbors, the people up the road, no one on the other side of the woods by the mirrored street, just us…
I still got my selfie, but was peeved about the interaction, and my partner told me that was the check-in guy.
I don’t feel good about this stay, the set up, or the overwhelming uncomfortable vibes overall. Definitely won’t be camping here again.