Capture the site!

[wheat]

noob to RV'ing.

What are the unwritten rules of claiming a First Come First Serve camp site?

Can I show up in just my tow vehicle early in the morning, pay for the site, and then spend the day leisurely getting my TT from where I left it to the new site?

Seems entirely reasonable to me but maybe there is some "etiquette" that I dont know about...

What about camp grounds where you "self" register? Seems like if I tacked the "receipt" to the site anyone could just pull in and take it, either without realizing it was already taken or straight out steal it?

[SomeDay]

Most people that scout out a site before bringing their rig to it will carry a cheap tent with them and erect that up on the site to show it's occupied before going back and getting their rig and bringing it in.

Times have changed from just being able to put a couple of lawn chairs out or an occupied sign I'm afraid.

[wheat]

yeah, thats a good idea using the tent.

Is their similar etiquette for boondocking?

If I have a great spot, but I need to go dump the tanks, is it even reasonable to try to keep the site?

[amosnandy]

Originally Posted by wheat

noob to RV'ing.

What are the unwritten rules of claiming a First Come First Serve camp site?

Can I show up in just my tow vehicle early in the morning, pay for the site, and then spend the day leisurely getting my TT from where I left it to the new site?

Seems entirely reasonable to me but maybe there is some "etiquette" that I dont know about...

What about camp grounds where you "self" register? Seems like if I tacked the "receipt" to the site anyone could just pull in and take it, either without realizing it was already taken or straight out steal it?

Always pissed me off when I was traveling, pulled into a county or city park and there was a tent or some lawn chairs or other stuff in a site at noon on Thursday. This is why a lot of the state parks have gone to online reservation. I guess if you are paying for the site it is yours to do as you please.
I had a recent encounter, on a Wednesday on my way back from down south, a county park I always stayed in, and one of the few sites that would fit my DP and trailer had some lawn chairs and yellow crime scene tape up. TT the park ranger and asked what was going on. He checked and said nobody had registered or paid for the site, so he followed me in, picked up the chairs and tape, took my payment and vehicle information and said enjoy. Five o'clock on Friday somebody was pounding on my door saying I was in their site. They had "reserved it" on Wednesday. I told them to go see the park ranger. He proceeded to tell them a site needed to be paid for AND occupied for them to claim it. Lets just say they got belligerent with the ranger and they did not camp their that night.
As for boondocking on BLM land I would think hopefully you have a toad, or a partner, or have made some friends that will watch a site while you just go dump and fill. But I would not stay away to long.

[twogypsies]

You're posting in the boondocking section and with boondocking there are no 'sites'. You just park where there's an opening

If you mean a campground then many parks require you to be on site with your RV in order to claim a site.... which is good.

We've been to a couple parks where the local population seems to think they own the park and plopped down a lawn chair on Wednesday and showed up on Friday. We absolutely hate that. Very poor management.

[Bobby F]

Originally Posted by wheat

If I have a great spot, but I need to go dump the tanks, is it even reasonable to try to keep the site?

I do that all the time. I leave a few chairs, a bike, and my little Honda all multiple-cable-locked together, with a cardboard sign that says "getting water - back soon." No problems so far.

[Jkjavelin]

Originally Posted by Bobby F

I do that all the time. I leave a few chairs, a bike, and my little Honda all multiple-cable-locked together, with a cardboard sign that says "getting water - back soon." No problems so far.

Exactly what we do near Quartzsite. Small folding table, charcoal grill and lawn chairs, with a cardboard sign "Dumping Tanks"
JK

[DavidEM]

Just placing something on the table to "reserve" a site without actually checking in sometimes doesn't work.

Many years ago we drove up to Maroon Lake in Colorado, registered at the ranger station about 5 miles south of the campground (since closed) and found our site. It had something, maybe a picnic basket on the table. So we set up and a few hours later a couple drove up and said it was their site. Well I said this is the site the ranger's gave us. They said they drove up earlier that morning, put the place holder on the site and went hiking but never registered as the ranger station wasn't open when they came up earlier.

I was sympathetic but wasn't going to move. Heck it was an absolutely beautiful site overlooking the lake with the Maroon Bells in the background. They offered to move us, go back to the ranger station and register us for another site, etc. I said no and they left grumbling

So it seems we both had a claim to the site but mine was official. So be careful how you capture your site. It may not work.

David

[UTTransplant]

I have a story similar to David. We were at Lee’s Ferry NPS campground on the Colorado River. Popular because of the views and because the big Grand Canyon river trips take off from there. We saw a large number of sites with a “paid” sticker on them, but no one around. I got out to look for the date, and they were all for two weeks in the future! We found the camp host, and asked about them. He walked through the campground and took them all off. The folks who did it expected they could bring a large group (they had 6-8 sites “reserved”) for two weeks in the future in a first come/first serve campground. I bet someone was quite surprised when they eventually showed up.

[twogypsies]

Originally Posted by UTTransplant

I have a story similar to David. We were at Lee’s Ferry NPS campground on the Colorado River. Popular because of the views and because the big Grand Canyon river trips take off from there. We saw a large number of sites with a “paid” sticker on them, but no one around. I got out to look for the date, and they were all for two weeks in the future! We found the camp host, and asked about them. He walked through the campground and took them all off. The folks who did it expected they could bring a large group (they had 6-8 sites “reserved”) for two weeks in the future in a first come/first serve campground. I bet someone was quite surprised when they eventually showed up.

Doesn't make sense. If it was first come why/who put the tags on "paid" with future dates.

[PJStough]

When boondocking at the LTVAs in Arizona and leave to dump, we leave the toad and other outside stuff as it was, and we dont put up a sign saying we have gone to dump, and have never had a problem.

During the summer here in Iowa we go to a couple of different county parks a weekend or two a month. In order to secure a site for the weekend, we go to the park on Wednesday, pay for Wednesday through Saturday night in order to have a spot for Friday and Saturday. Also, at these parks you have to have something on the site besides just paying for it, so we put up a small tent.

[bwanna2016]

don't you think you're being piggish to rent a site for several days that you won't be there?

[UTTransplant]

Originally Posted by twogypsies

Doesn't make sense. If it was first come why/who put the tags on "paid" with future dates.

You are right; it doesn’t make sense to anyone who knows how these campsites work. Someone had obviously come out in advance. All the tags had the same handwriting. I guess they thought if they wrote on their payment form that they were paying for date X in the future, that meant they had the campsite on date X. Obviously we weren’t dealing with a person educated in the ways of NPS no-reservation campgrounds. I felt sorry for the campground host who was going to have to deal with it, but I did get a nice site.

[PJStough]

Originally Posted by bwanna2016

don't you think you're being piggish to rent a site for several days that you won't be there?

I really dont like it, but it is the only way to get a weekend site.