Campground gate locked at night

[Matildas mate]

In the last couple of weeks I’ve stayed at campgrounds in the Monongahela and George Washington/Jefferson National Forests (West Virginia and Virginia) that locked their gates at night preventing anyone from entering or leaving. 

Only one campground had a sign on the information board saying that if a camper thought that it may be necessary to leave the campground during the hours the gate was locked to see the camp host. At the other campground, the host came to me (I am a senior traveling alone) and gave me the combination to the lock. 

Other campgrounds I’ve stayed at had signs saying that the campground was closed during night hours except for registered campers. 

I mention this because if you feel you may, for whatever reason, need to leave the campground at night make sure there is a way to get out.

 

[RoamerRV428]

Yup
agree
make sure you know if locked and how the hell to get out if needed! good info to always remember!
something we always make sure about when out and about....are ya locking the entrance and what do we need to escape if required.
we also have bolt cutters in the camper for whatever emergencies might arise if needed. hey ya never know.

 

[B and C]

If it is a true emergency, I don't know if I would even slow down for the gate. I have my spare mounted on the front and would hit the gate on the weak side (where the lock is).

 

[RoamerRV428]

oh yea B and C, if needed ya ram thru it all I hear ya on that!

 

[B and C]

It seems like camping behind a locked gate would be putting yourself in prison in a way. Have to see the warden to get out. I have never experienced a campground with a locked gate other than being closed for the season to keep you out.

 

[RoamerRV428]

most of the state parks around me lock at night.
they give ya the code.....being beach state parks we hit they get a lot of extras trying to stay in at night and they don't want that. when day use is closed it is closed and they don't want overnighters to come in late and stay so they try to lock that stuff out.
I would think more out in the boonies why lock? we hit many that don't lock also but most near populations do lock up more.

 

[B and C]

I mostly don't stay at designated campgrounds as I don't want the noise and aggravation they bring. I do stay occasionally and do seek out RV parks or campgrounds that have the amenities I need to get that long, hot shower and take care of the vans tanks and such. I only stay one night as I hate paying for a place to park when there is plenty with better scenery and fewer people. Otherwise, I would rather meet people out boondocking.

 

[RoamerRV428]

so agree. never can find good boondock at the beach areas mostly for us tho.

inland, sure you can find very remote and very cheap cgs or COE or state parks that give those amenities that let ya fix your tanks and get what ya need for a night....we do that also....but those beach state or federal parks, most are still swamped with beach lovers

the coastal situations are so different than more inland situations. One thing I love about the beach state parks etc is that the amt of humans that are there, omg there is like no one. We have the beach to ourselves literally with like 25 other people max sometimes...……..if you got populated like a private cg like Ocean Lakes or Lakewood in SC there are like 5,000 people on the beach at any given time. You can't move literally, on the beachfront of the parking lot packed campground. Horrible...and get this....over $100 a night for the site! Our state park down the road is like $40 a night for such a wonderful quiet beach experience. A place like Ocean Lakes campground has about 1,000 rv sites on it....our Huntington Beach State Park down the road has like 82 sites only and just a fab place to beach hang out.

get are beachy people and love coastal. it is hard to find quiet beachy areas tho but we do the best we can on it all and like I said we beach it all the time but can't wait to hit the mountains in WY or MT or hit AZ etc down the line....right now we do the best we can from our NC location til we can hit the road full speed and freedom hits for us to 'see it all' LOL

ugh, chatty mood today

 

[B and C]

Chatty mood? Guess it is contagious. You need to come to Texas, free camping on the beaches. I used to like the beach but got tired of the sand fleas, sand in everything, feeling sticky and the salt air corroding stuff. I have turned back to freshwater and love to camp next to a river with rapids, a peaceful lake shore or a creek. I can put up with the mosies for a little while in the morning and evening during season. I just stay indoors.

WOW, way off topic here.

 

[RoamerRV428]

yea way off topic but having a blast chatting



I so want your Texas beaches. I got Mustang Island on my radar but hope to find better places out of the way and quiet etc. and I know TX is in our sights for sure! I can wait to see ALL of TX!

thing with sand and all.......it doesn't trump how much we adore the beach. Hubby being the big surf fisherman and charter fishes etc....me being the sun worshipper and boogie boarding the waves, metal detectorist for gold type so the coast just suits us so well...………….and our stupid allergies do so much better in the salt air HA

Do the same. Big bug night. Tired. We use our rv as our home. Some nights are just relaxing and chilling inside vs. always being on the go outside. Hey me being older I need down time a lot more LOL, hey I consider it computer time to check in with all the fab friends located everywhere over the world

 

[B and C]

I so want your Texas beaches.  I got Mustang Island on my radar but hope to find better places out of the way and quiet etc. and I know TX is in our sights for sure!  I can wait to see ALL of TX!

Hubby being the big surf fisherman and charter fishes etc....

The water gets better down near padre island, not so much up by Galveston unless the wind is blowing from the northeast.
Seeing all of Texas is a tall order.  It is over 800 miles wide and tall.  I have been around a lot of the state in my ~55 years of driving here and still haven't been to Big Bend NP or a lot of other places.  Good luck on the exploring.
I like going out on charters fishing.  I have never done surf fishing.  I like the charters because of the variety of fishing it provides and is fun when you hit a school (and they provide all the gear).
I guess at the beach, there is not much of a chance to get locked in.

 

[RoamerRV428]

I realize we will have to hit as much of each state as we can and move on. We kinda want to hit them all at some point. Just wander around and see where the winds blows us. TX is somewhere I always wanted to explore and thanks for the info on it! So much to do and so little time to do it.

 

[B and C]

You will find that you drive all day and are still in Texas. It is a big state. Only Alaska is bigger but doesn't have near the roads.

 

[cyndi]

If you'd like to discuss the different types of beach camping rather than locked down campgrounds feel free to do it in a new thread.

My apologies to the OP.

 

[Iggy]

I'm a camp host at two campgrounds in California each summer. It would be nice to be able to lock the gates each night at ten. There are often registered campers that show up late at night and make noise while setting up, waking up everyone in the vicinity. Even worse are the scofflaws who coast in late, leave early, don't pay, and leave a mess behind. Way too many of those! I caught one recently and he said the campground was marked as free on free campsites.net. I looked it up and he was lying, of course.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

 

[highdesertranger]

there was a couple of campgrounds close to our ranch they would lock the gates at night. they locked them not to keep campers in but to keep knuckle heads out. highdesertranger

 

[maki2]

Some of the state parks in Washington lock the gates at night. I have never had anyone come around and give me a code and there is no park host who provides it.

They lock them so people can't come in late and then leave early to avoid paying the fee. It is also a way to help control late night time vandalism.

 

[Matildas mate]

There are alternatives to locked gates such as one way spikes that fold down when approached from one direction and make a mess of ones tires when approached from the wrong direction. And given some thought by the experts other solutions that don’t put people at risk by locking them in can surely be found. 

If the issue were presented to local authorities such as police, fire and rescue services there is a good chance, I would imagine, that such a practice would be outlawed. 

I worked as a stocker at Home Depot and their practice was to lock everyone in at night. It is my understanding that the city fire department was informed they in turn notified the city council. The practice as it existed was banned.

 

[MrNoodly]

I haven't worried about being locked in at night, because I've never had any reason to leave after dark. But I've had a time or two when I wanted to hit the road early and was locked in.

 

[GypsyJan]

Stayed last week at Lake Griffin State Park in Fruitland Park, FL. The gates are locked at sundown, but registered campers get a code so they can come and go. The bathrooms also had keypads that required a code. I only forgot about that the first time! Made sure I had the code memorized before each trip thereafter. It was a very clean park with well kept bathrooms, thanks I am sure to the locked gate and doors.