noisy neighbors

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jleppert

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How often do you find a boondocking site, settle in and then some annoying noisy people camp nearby and disrupt your peaceful location?  I'm giving consideration to full-time boondocking and will be using an AWD vehicle but without high ground clearance so I wouldn't be getting too far into the backcountry. I have no boondocking experience so I'm hoping those with some years doing so can provide some input.  
I was also wondering if there are a lot of ATV's & dirt bikes, etc that cause a lot of noise while camping out. 
I'm sure it's probably worse the closer you are to bigger towns & cities where the local weekenders go out and get a little too crazy.
 
When that Happens to me I wear my oldest dirty And wrinkled cloths , mess up my hair, to look as strange as I can. Then I go to the neighbors and ask for their help in looking out for the police or the medics from the local asylum so I can hide from them. They usually don’t stay long after that.
 
I haven't had any problems other than staying near where there are ATV activities for a night on my way somewhere else. In that case, I invaded their territory. If my neighbors were to be noisy late at night, I might consider banging pots and pans early in the morning like getting ready for breakfast :) Haven't had to do that yet but I do tend to get off the beaten path more even in my Roadtrek. I like to find two track roads which keeps the majority away :) You can probably get further away than you think.

Being near bigger towns has pluses and minuses, restocking is easier and cheaper with good cell service but the locals tend to trash the surroundings and come on weekends to party (loud music and yelling late at night).
 
Noisy inconsiderate neighbors is a common problem, maybe the "most" common problem with boondocking. Generally, it's easiest to just move.

OTOH, when I was camping in the La Posa LTVA in Quartzsite this past winter, two large Class-As parked within 40' of me, in an obvious attempt to chase me out of my beautiful hand picked campsite, when there were many thousands of acres in the area where they could have settled. So in that case, I extended my stay in spite of them, until they finally left. 

In general, you just have to put up with it or go elsewhere.
 
ATV’s are an ongoing issue in many areas less remote than you might think.

Not everywhere, but way too many of them, in my opinion.

They seem to enjoy traveling in packs, and simply going up and down the same roads seems to be enjoyable for them, with no seeming awareness of the disturbance their noise makes.

I was at a county campground on the shore of Lake Superior in June, the beautiful view of the lake and otherwise peaceful and tranquil setting was continuously interrupted by a pack of ATV’s going up and down the road between the campground and the lake.

When one with four young men came thru the campground and then out thru my site, a few feet from my open door, I called the Sheriff’s office and complained.

It stopped.

If you are in a remote area and bothered by noisy neighbors who have as much right as you to be there, I would just move.
 
I guess I'm more concerned with how often it occurs. If you're out there full-time, how many times a year are you moving from your campsite because of it or stay put but very annoyed by another neighbor being inconsiderate?
 
Whatever the number is, it should "not" deter you from heading out. Just adapt.

And as you noted, you will not be wanting to take your AWD vehicle very far off the road. It will get beat up. BLM dirt roads especially get rocky quickly, and NF roads can also get bad, so be careful how far in you try to go. There are many youtube videos of RVers getting stuck way back in, so you can watch those and get a good idea of what's bad and what's not too bad. This guy Brian likes to go in as far as he can with his van to get away from people, and has many videos.
https://www.youtube.com/c/AdventureVanMan/videos
 
Your problem getting in too far will be passenger car tires (easily split by sharp rocks) and low ground clearance.

My Roadtrek doesn't have a lot of ground clearance but my shoes are 10 ply (rated) and all terrain. I also have a limited slip differential that has only been needed (that I know of) once when I powered through a muddy place. I pick my way down the bad roads and turn around when I see something that looks like more trouble than I am willing to mess with. I also carry self recovery gear.

Forgot to add that I am only part time (no time now) but have been out for over 6 months at a time. I have never had a noisy neighbor other than the mentioned ATV crowd and that was my own fault because I knew what type of area it was.
 
I don't like it when generators are run all day and through the night. Just stay home if you can't give others any break from the noise.
 
Uncalled for.....jleppert said nothing of wanting to run a generator all night long.
 
Qxxx said:
Noisy inconsiderate neighbors is a common problem, maybe the "most" common problem with boondocking. Generally, it's easiest to just move.
Yes, that's what it has come down too. Three different times, me there first by the way, neighbors have pulled in and told me that "If I would just stay inside already, our dogs wont bark at you" some people are oblivious.
 
As mentioned, it's easier to move when the neighbors become too noisy. Could be just the weekenders though, so Sunday night you will get your peace back, sometimes just wait it out. Without any boon docking experience you may not want to get in too far anyway, vehicle notwithstanding. There's a learning curve involved and an anticipation & readiness for things that go sideways. You may discover that you are a good fit for the life and then get a proper vehicle ready for the task of the three hour trek off the beaten path to your own oasis with wildlife as your only neighbor. But, of course, first things first.
 
bagabum said:
Yes, that's what it has come down too. Three different times, me there first by the way, neighbors have pulled in and told me that "If I would just stay inside already, our dogs wont bark at you" some people are oblivious.
One day the people in the 2 Class-As that I mentioned above parked their car so as to block my access route. When I mentioned this, the one guy said "Great". Big rig people think they're the lords of the manor. I always honk my horn and wave at them as I blow by doing 80 while they're doing 35 going up a hill, lol. I get 20 MPG, they get maybe 6. It's all good.
 
When I say oblivious, I don't know if it's people that don't care about others or what.  One disturbance was  people pulled in next to me, late, with a trailer . Locked the truck "honk" opened the truck for something, locked it "honk", got something else "honk"  groceries "honk"  travel bag "honk" another bag "honk", all through the night, why not just leave it unlocked for that 1 hour of set up time when you are in close attendance and then lock up the darn truck.   people.....
 
Well , well, well...This is so wrong on soo many levels.

https://www.postregister.com/messen...cle_de70f202-9155-5fcf-a29e-695f89b69fec.html


Liddell "confronted a group of 16 to 18 people" who were camped near the Tin Cup campground..

"A verbal altercation between Liddell and members of the group ensued," the Custer County Sheriff's Office reported. Shots fired by Zimmerman "struck Liddell resulting in his death."


Incredible that a police officer felt that 18 people where in such fear from an unarmed 73 year old that they had to kill him.

Wanna bet this is a noise related incident? Wanna bet alcohol was involved? Wanna bet the boys in blue will obfuscate and obstruct the truth?
 
There have been several long threads in the past on the "best" and-or "safest" way to confront inconsiderate neighbors. There are many "opinions" on all sides, but probably no really good "options", considering almost everyone anymore is likely to be armed to the gills. As well as that .... history is always written by the survivors.

I see that Tin Cup CG Idaho is really out of the way, and apparently no host.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/T...fd6bcb22eed34!8m2!3d44.5982905!4d-114.8112488
 
I  see that nomads head off into the "bush" for peace and sanity and nature.

The other side is the feces fleeing the city for the weekend to escape strict social norms. It is their chance to do whatever they want for the weekend and not be accountable. They abuse the wildlife. They abuse the environment. They abuse the other campers.

I will never ever stop to help weekenders. The more misery they have the less likely they will try again. The higher the fewer.
 
"Uncalled for.....jleppert said nothing of wanting to run a generator all night long."

It was in response to "do you move" and I will move if anyone is running a generator for long periods of time and especially at night.....that behavior is what is uncalled for.
 
I have thought about this issue since I first considered the lifestyle. The article I posted above about the old fellow being murdered by a group of 18 is horrible and has been on my mind a bit ..since it is my neck of the woods.

I don't really drink booze and such but I think I will carry a bottle of something so if I encounter a group of people celebrating that I will just go join them.

There is no point in trying to fight against partiers or try to reason with. I think we would be welcomed in most cases and I bet they would be interested in our rigs and lifestyle. Maybe a chance to win some allys?

When it comes to parties join em or move down the road. No idea how to deal with people running generators other than moving or earplugs?
 
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