Holding sites with a chair?

[littleblu]

Hi all,

While looking for a non-reserveable campsite in CO this weekend, my friend and I came upon a site with one camp chair set up in the middle of the parking area. No tents, no people. Just one chair. Clearly someone was trying to "reserve" this site while they went checking out other sites.

We didn't think this was very good camping etiquette (and it was the first open site we’d seen after passing 10+ filled ones), so we started to unload our tents. Sure enough a woman came back a few minutes later trying to claim that site. Not only was she holding that site, we discovered, but another as well trying to decide which was better.

We had a little stand off, and in the end she backed down and went to the other site she was holding, but my friend and I were left wondering who was right and wrong in that situation.

Is it proper camping etiquette to leave a chair to hold a site? Any thoughts?

[JohnJohn]

That's pretty common here in Colorado. I always say this when they come back and I have moved the cooler or single chair. I usually say...

"I didn't move the stuff, but Forest Service and Rangers have been watching campsite squatting this year. They probably moved the items, or thought they were left behind in error."

Yeah it's a little white lie, but it saves the some of the confrontation with me. If they ask me to move after that I tell them the site was open when I set up, so sorry, I'm not moving.

[renodesertfox]

Howdy, I wonder where JohnJohn got his reasoning from because that is the exact same thing I do and I've been camping over 40 years! My dad, taught me this trick back before the Civil War! Heehee!

[Tesla]

I agree with littleblu and JohnJohn. If you like the place start setting up your tent.

[Tesla]

I agreewith littleblu and JohnJohn. If you like a site then start setting up your tent.

[lionslayer]

This is accepted practice in at least one AZ State Park I visit occasionaly. It's first come, first served, no reservations taken, so people drive thru, place a camp chair or etc. as an indication to others that the spot is spoken for, then drive back to the admin site to register, pay, etc. It's a sort of Catch 22 --- you can't set up until you've registered and paid, but you don't want to pay for a site where someone may be pitching a tent in your absence, before paying. Claiming more than one site would be considered very poor form, which, infortunately, probably does not concern some low-lifes...

[Bigdog57]

Why not just drop off a family member at the spot, maybe with the tent, while you go back and register? Save a lot of confusion. :confused:

[renodesertfox]

It's common practice out here in the west as soon as you find a campsite in an organized cg to erect your tent and then at your convenience go pay later. Never heard of paying for the site before setting up camp, anyway. Usually though, if there is something like a boat and trailer, another person, a second car, or even a couple of chairs, we would normally pass on it and pick another site. But if push came to shove and I already had my camp set up(it take an hour to set everything up) and then a person would come up to my site uninvited claiming that I took his site, I would tell him that his chair had been moved by me and I waited a good 15 minutes to see if someone was coming back. It shouldn't take a person any longer than 15 minutes to self-pay or register with a cg host anyway.

[JohnJohn]

I think it's more common that people drive up on a Thursday night and drop off some expendable gear, chair etc. They plan on returning on Friday after work to claim "their" site.

[Bigdog57]

Seems we do it different here in the Deep South. We register and they show us a map of the sites, we choose which we want, pay for it, then go down and set up. Saves any ruffled feathers.

[angler57]

I think it's more common that people drive up on a Thursday night and drop off some expendable gear, chair etc. They plan on returning on Friday after work to claim "their" site.

Touchy question; Rules vary greatly from state/provience and park to park. Found using gate map and advice and taking a tenative site works best to avoid any conflict. Ask at gate and most will say if you see something better, come back and trade sites.