Common Sense Tips for Tent Campers

Choosing a Campsite - You've arrived at the campground and it's not a busy weekend or holiday, so you have a choice of sites available. First, ask the check-in attendant if you can drive through the campground and pick a site. If not, they should have a map that shows the layout of the campground and the individual campsites. Whether driving through or picking from a map, consider this:

• Look for a site that's away from trash containers, which attract critters and usually smell.
• Avoid sites next to the bathrooms and showers, because they are noisy with people traffic and bright with lights that attract flying bugs at night.
• Tent campers will particularly want to avoid sites next to RVs, which have noisy A/C and generators.
• If you're not a pet lover, avoid any designated pet loops and don't pick a site next to a camper who has a dog.
• If the campground is laid out in loops, the better campsites are usually at the end of the loop and furthest away from campground amenities, which are more centrally located.
• However, the farthest loops from the office are where the partiers tend to migrate. If you want a quieter campsite, pick one that has few neighboring campers.

Next task: Setting Up Camp.