Casper's "I did a bad thing" micro off road camper build

Country Place Cabins and River Camps: NEVER AGAIN!

Well this holliday weekend did not pan out as we had liked. We scraped a few memorable moments and learned a couple of lessons.

Friday all fired up and ready to go we were off work early and away we went headed to the mountains but no reservations in the national park me betting as many first come first serve sights as they have we wouldn't have an issue. WRONG. I lost that bet everyplace was full we even went up to Mathews Arm to see how many were checking out the following day and they said they already had more than enough waiting to fill their spots but provided us with a list of off park places so we made some calls. Finally got in touch with a place in Elkton about 60 miles or so down Skyline drive and off we went. Why in the hell people think it's fun to drive Skyline drive I have no idea at 35mph I didn't think we would ever get there. We finally did to see it was a place where people were living in their campers so we just turned around back over the mtn and home. I screwed up I take the blame for it as I just dont like making reservations we usually gamble and ths was our first loss. Live and learn it won't happen again at least on a holliday weekend.

Saturday morning we got up and one of the campgrounds had called us back saying we were welcome come on down so we repacked everything and off we went. The place looked promising with nice pics and decent reviews. We get there and the owner has an I just don't care anymore attitude said we had to pay online or in cash and the price was rediculous for just a parking place. $33 per person per night plus a fee for the dog. He showed us a nice secluded spot with only a couple of families around. It was quiet we were on our own pretty little spot and Saturday into Sunday was very nice we relaxed and enjoyed ourselves.
Then: Sunday happenned. Everybody in our whole area of the campground packed up and left and we were alone. I thought well now this is peaceful and pretty cool. We took a walk to the river and poked around for a while then went back to our spot. A "cleaning crew" had shown up consisting of 2 guys and a woman who looked to be strung out on something and just hanging around "cleaning" for hours what was only a small building where there were bathrooms. The woman came up into our camping area supposedly dumping trash which she never dumped, pale, jittery, and real antsy. We noticed one of the guys stayed in the vehicle sleeping and the other two had brought their back packs and stuff into the building and looked to be prepared to stay there. If they saw us they would start running around and acting as if they were doing stuff and very antsy. The last time I went down there I saw the dude still alseep in the vehicle but the others were nowhere around then we heard gunshots randomly in the woods. When I got back to the campsite the dog started acting funny and watching the woods as if alerted. We both were kinda wierded out and said fuck this and within about 10 minutes had litterally thrown everything we had in the camper and truck and were hooked up and headed out! We weren't taking the risk of waking up in the middle of the night to three paople trying to do us harm.
Over reaction on our part? Some may think so but I don't care. We didn't feel safe just too many weird vibes going on to be comfortable and I don't carry protection when we go places I have never felt a need until yesterday evening. Ths will change. Lesson 2 learned. Honestly even if I had a weapon we probably would have still have left as there is just no sense being somewhere you are uncomfortable no matter how pretty it would not have been relaxing anymore.
Spent this morning taking everything out of the camper and the truck and getting it all sorted out and put away something we usually do when packing up then its just a quick clean up when we get home. It's all done and the trailer is ready to go again. Just another reason why I like being around other people when we camp.
The payment for camping should have been a solid indicator as to how this was going to go. The owner says he wife isn't there and she does the credit cards so we needed to pay cash. We didn't have enough cash so he says here call my son and we can pay him. He wanted us to drive to where we could get WIFI and pay him via paypal which we didn't have our info with us it was going to be $150 for 2 nights for pretty much just a parking place. We told him no access to wifi or paypal but we had $100 in cash his response was ""Well cash is king so we go just go pay his Father that and it would be ok. Honestly we should have just left then as when we saw their prices it said $20 per erson per night but when we got there it was like $33 plus tax.

Lessons learned reservations will be made or we will find safer free spots or have others with us in the future and I will have some sort of protection with us from now on.

 

Another fun trip

 

It had it's good points and bad but the bad outweighed the good and we came home.

 

Dang, wasn't expecting to read a horror story today, but sounds like you were living in it!

On the other hand, those shrimps looked pretty darn tasty, and it does look like a pretty nice site.

 

Echo this, sorry to hear. @Casper66

 

It is what it is I guess we made it home unscathed maybe we did over react IDK but I will err on the side of safety any day. All we lost is a night's sleep and I doubt we would have slept much anyway. Hard learned lessons so @EricL when you come this way I still like the parks on Skyline drive but if you are interested up there maybe see if you can get a reservation. It was a pretty spot the camp itself was kinda sad as you could tell it had once been very nice but due to a big lack of maintenance it has gone down hill. What a way to make money though a little maintenance on some facillities and keep the grass mowed and get paid $33 a day for people to park and sleep.

 

The shrimp are in foil packets really good and easy camp meals. We just cut up some new potatoes, onion, zuchinni, or whatever veggies you like and throw in some shrimp. Wrap the packets up and cook on the grill for like 15 minutes on medium heat on one side then turn them over for maybe 10 minutes and they are done. Easy, no big mess, and yummy

 

Sorry your weekend was ruined. At least you had some good food. People like that were the primary reason we started dispersed (boondocking) camping in the national forests. Leaving is always the best choice when either of you feel uneasy.

 

Easy is always nice with a camp meal

 

You got snow yet?

 

so if we can be plagued by people like that in a campground, albeit not a very well run one and we may as well have been boondocking, then what is to say it couldn't happen out in the wilderness somewhere with nobody around anywhere? WE still plan on getting there but trying to figure out all the ins and outs first

 

We do that a lot with sliced sirloin and potatoes and veggies, but the shrimps looked really good in the foil packets.

 

I've had a couple experiences similar to yours. If it doesn't feel right, then the best thing is pack up and be safe.

 

Thanks yep I don't regret the decision a bit. Christie was second guessing it a little but we were getting some really bad vibes better safe than sorry

 

Trust me brother. Out of 15 years of dispersed camping I've only had one incident of shady people causing issues. It certainly can happen outside of a campground but it happens a lot less just because most people aren't willing to go too far out in the wild

 

Good point. I just went and pulled out the Gazateer so going to start some research. I don't like research but that is what it is going to take.

 

James I can think of 2 good starting points. 1st I am going to take a run up into Rapidan I believe Justin wants to poke around also. Then I am going to look at the camping spots around Switzer lake we drove past on our way to FPK unless you have some better ideas. These just seem close and good starter places to look into

 

Nope. Rain and very high winds. We came down out of the mountains where they're predicted a foot of snow. Hiding out in a motel until the storm passes, hoping our water tank doesn't freeze

Rapidans a good start. Look on the gazeeteer north of 33. See Long Run Road, Vepco Road and Rough Run road? There are sites along those, at least there were a few years ago.

Also check out Wiggins Spring Road and Alhambra Road outside of Alto, some good sites along there.

Don't be afraid to drop the trailer in a decent site then look for more. Its faster without and if you find better you can go pick up the trailer and move, if you don't find better you make camp at the trailer. We typically do this about every week now

 

I sent you a couple of texts with more information

 

Got them thanks trying this figure out how to read them. I need to figure out coordinates also