Choosing the right campground

Bobby Roy

As a 22-year-old I look forward to the times that I can go camping during our short summers, but when you get stereotyped when you're with a group of young people going camping I don't think that's right.

This past weekend there were about 18 of us set out to do some camping for a combined birthday party. We had it all planned out on Facebook about a month in advance to see where we could go. Our destination ended up being Thunder Lake Provinicial Park. 

Thunder Lake doesn't have a website to explain what the park is like, but there are tidbits of information around the internet to see what it looked like. I found some pictures and some information about it and it looked like a pretty decent destination for a weekend of camping even with as many as 18 of us going. 

Overall we booked five sites for all of us. I had made the call to reserve three spots under my name while another friend booked two. Everything sounded like it was going to be hunky dorey, but it sure wasn't. 

The only rules that the person reserving the camping spots on the phone said were that it was four people max per site. So I figured that it won't be too bad. We've got five sites so that equals the possibility of 20 people. Boy was I wrong. 

I was the first to arrive to the campground way earlier than anyone, so I got one site and started to set up camp. I did a couple walks around the campground to scope out the place and see how the weekend was going to be like. As more people started to arrive the problems began. 

By the time everyone had arrived the problem was in full force. Apparently one of the people at the front desk had told the rules of the campground to them and we weren't going to like them. We were not about to stick around to find out. 

Apparently the four person per campsite rule meant that only four people were allowed on any site at any time during the whole weekend. We couldn't even walk back and forth to each site. Not only that, but we were told that we were probably going to get kicked out by the night's end. Apparently its a family campground and young people in larger groups should not camp there. 

I wish they would have told us that at the beginning. This would have not only saved us the grief of driving up there, but all the arguments and hassles we had to deal with. Now I know its hard to tell over the phone how old someone is, but when you book three sites wouldn't you expect quite a bunch of people to show up? It would have been also nice if they would have that information given to you beforehand or that there would be a disclaimer posted on a website about the rules of Thunder Lake Provincial Park is. 

I understand that dealing with a bunch of drunk young people is never fun to deal with, but its not like we're out there to cause trouble. It's good that they have these types of campgrounds that families can go out and enjoy their weekend without having to worry about who they'll get stuck to, but it would be nice to know which campgrounds are made for families and which are made for more of a party-going crowd. 

By the end they did give us our money back and the front desk people were nice for the most part, but it would have been nice if they could have treated us like a normal camping going crowd. We couldn't even set up our tents before we were pretty much told that we were going to get kicked out, nor did we even make a peep before any of this went down. 

I do have to admit that we have gotten out of hand before, so I do understand what they are thinking when they saw a whole bunch of us pull in. 

I would just like to see more campgrounds get the word out on what kind of campground they have and who its more made for. I don't want to ruin anyone's vacation by being a drunken idiot and nor should anyone expect that, but I don't enjoy being kicked out before we do anything. 

Apart from the late Friday night shenanigans the weekend actually turned out pretty good as we found a remote campground called Peanut Lake.

As a reporter I should have known never to assume anything, so next time I'll be asking a whole bunch of other questions to make sure it's the right campground.