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I just spent four days in camping hell. This is the last week of June which is the week before crazy week - the fourth of July weekend.
I brought my five year old grandson, so thought it would be easier to camp at a developed campsite rather than attempting rustic camping.
I went to Boot Lake campground in Nicolet National Forest in Northeast Wisconsin. This is a pretty small campsite with 35 non-electric sites. About half of the sites are right on the water, so it can be a nice place if your timing is right.
This week the timing was wrong. Of course, the campsite was completely full as could be expectedl. Because I came midweek, I was able to get a site. Whew, what a mess. Cars going round and round bumper to bumper looking for a site like sharks swimming around looking for prey.
The site in front of us had a large over-loaded group of about twelve rich-kid twenty something drunks. THey were up all night drinking and shouting and partying.
The site next to us had a family with a colicky baby that the mother just abandoned in the basonet in the hot sun while the kid would whail and screech for hours at a time. In fact, I was pulling into the site when the previous campers were leaving. They warned me on their way out that they were leaving early because of the screaming kid next door. I should have headed their warning.
On the other side of camp was a group of hillbillies that kept their big loud old-school clanky rat-a-tat-tat-tat generator going all day and all night. I actually went to their site to say something, but they looked like a bad bunch, so I thought the better part of wisdom was to leave them alone. Not unexpectedly, perhaps, they were burning mounds of plastic and paper garbage as if they brought their garbage bags from home and were trying to incinerate it at camp. The whole area stunk like smoldering polyethene.
During the day, the rich-kid twenty something drunks were ripping up the lake with their motor boats and jet skis. They nearly swamped a couple of canoes. I was able to keep our canoe upright, but other canoeists were clearly terrified and got off the lake fast. The boat ramp was just a steady stream of boats in and out.
Of course, massive fireworks were going off all day - not just firecrackers and sparklers, but explosives that I could feel the percussion from the explosion. WHUOOUUPPP
You know, I am the kind of guy who thinks that a bad day of camping is better than a good day of working, but this time, I don't think so. What a t***** of a weekend.
What a madhouse. From now on, in summer, I am staying away from developed campsites and sticking to the backcountry.
I brought my five year old grandson, so thought it would be easier to camp at a developed campsite rather than attempting rustic camping.
I went to Boot Lake campground in Nicolet National Forest in Northeast Wisconsin. This is a pretty small campsite with 35 non-electric sites. About half of the sites are right on the water, so it can be a nice place if your timing is right.
This week the timing was wrong. Of course, the campsite was completely full as could be expectedl. Because I came midweek, I was able to get a site. Whew, what a mess. Cars going round and round bumper to bumper looking for a site like sharks swimming around looking for prey.
The site in front of us had a large over-loaded group of about twelve rich-kid twenty something drunks. THey were up all night drinking and shouting and partying.
The site next to us had a family with a colicky baby that the mother just abandoned in the basonet in the hot sun while the kid would whail and screech for hours at a time. In fact, I was pulling into the site when the previous campers were leaving. They warned me on their way out that they were leaving early because of the screaming kid next door. I should have headed their warning.
On the other side of camp was a group of hillbillies that kept their big loud old-school clanky rat-a-tat-tat-tat generator going all day and all night. I actually went to their site to say something, but they looked like a bad bunch, so I thought the better part of wisdom was to leave them alone. Not unexpectedly, perhaps, they were burning mounds of plastic and paper garbage as if they brought their garbage bags from home and were trying to incinerate it at camp. The whole area stunk like smoldering polyethene.
During the day, the rich-kid twenty something drunks were ripping up the lake with their motor boats and jet skis. They nearly swamped a couple of canoes. I was able to keep our canoe upright, but other canoeists were clearly terrified and got off the lake fast. The boat ramp was just a steady stream of boats in and out.
Of course, massive fireworks were going off all day - not just firecrackers and sparklers, but explosives that I could feel the percussion from the explosion. WHUOOUUPPP
You know, I am the kind of guy who thinks that a bad day of camping is better than a good day of working, but this time, I don't think so. What a t***** of a weekend.
What a madhouse. From now on, in summer, I am staying away from developed campsites and sticking to the backcountry.
A canvas campateer
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