• First of all, follow the rules of your campground. These rules apply to everyone.
  For example:
   
  • If it says, "No pets" then you will need to find a place for your pet.
  • If pets are allowed, clean up after your pet. Be a responsible pet owner. Irresponsible pet owners are what's causing many campgrounds to not allow pets.
  • If your campground has designated quiet hours, abide by them.
  • If there's a posted speed limit, abide by it! What's your rush ... after all, didn't you come out to relax and get away from the rat race?
• Use the proper trash receptacles for your garbage - recycle items in the recycle bin and garbage in the garbage container.
  * When walking around the campground with a beverage, throw your empty can or cup in the proper receptacle, not along side the road. These things are not part of the nature you have come to see.
• Do not chop on still standing trees.
  * Bring your own firewood, so you don't have to rely on what may or may not be at the campground.
  * You may even want to call the campground to find out if they sell firewood and, if so, what is the price and time of sale.
  * If the campground doesn't sell firewood, many local gas stations or stores sell firewood bundles. It may be a little pricey and you may need to buy quite a few of these little bundles - do what you've got to do, but please don't chop on the trees. Even the dead trees are home to many nature animals. You may be destroying an animal's home and effecting a part of nature's balance.
• Do not pound nails or anything else into the trees.
  * There are inexpensive hangers you can purchase to safely hang your lantern from trees without damaging them.
• If you are a smoker, please put your cigarette butts and package wrappers in the firepit.
  * The firepit is like a huge ashtray, and it won't take much effort on your part to put the butts in the firepit. The next campers may not smoke and will very much appreciate the little effort it took to put your cigarette butts in the firepit. Cigarette butts are not a part of nature and don't belong on campground roads or trails. After a walk or hike, bring your cigarette butts back to your firepit. I've met campers who really do this! You can too!
• Beer bottle tops need to go in the trash, not the firepit or the ground.
  * Beer bottle tops on the ground will cause an injury and/or possible damage to someone's tent if they don't see the top. Plus, beer bottle tops are not a part of nature and don't belong on the ground.
• Don't burn anything but paper or wood in your firepit.
  * Plastic only melts and puts bad fumes into our air - the air you left the city for! Aluminum foil and aluminum cans don't burn.
• Leftover sparklers from the Fourth of July don't burn either, so please take a few minutes to toss these in the trash.
• Mark via e-mail reminds campers to respect each others campsites.  Families in essence "rent" out the site they use during their camping trip.  This space is theirs to use during the period they have paid for.  Please don't cut through other's campsites on the way to the bathrooms, showers, trails, etc.
• Not exactly "etiquette" but it will help you (and everyone else!) have more fun ... if there is any kind of a problem in your campground do not hesitate to contact the Rangers immediately. Your Campground Hosts usually are able to contact the Rangers directly. If your campground does not have a Camp Host, contact numbers for Rangers are usually posted near the check-in/registration area. If your Host is not available at the time you stop by to report the problem, leave a note. Please don't wait until the morning to report noisy campers from the night before. If campers are really obnoxious they can and do get evicted! However, it is best if the Rangers witness this, so telling them the next day won't often help. If campers are too drunk to drive that night, they usually are given a time in the morning to be out. Don't worry about these obnoxious campers thinking it was "you" who told the Rangers. An obnoxious camper could have been reported by anyone!!
• Now on to the gross, but necessary .... please don't potty in the woods.
  * It is so disgusting (and unhealthy!) to walk into a beautiful site and find the edges of it dotted with white tissue. Or consider this scene .. campers cruising the campground to find just the right campsite. They finally find it and are proud. Then as their weekend or week goes on, as they sit anywhere in their camp, you can't help but notice all the tissue that is now dotting the perimeter of their site. If you really do not want to walk to the bathrooms, please consider bringing some sort of port-a-potti.
  
• More indelicate, but necessary ... ladies, please properly dispose of your "feminine hygiene products."
  * Believe it or not, these too are found dotting the edges of the campsites. Will you pick this same campsite, the one where you left these products at the edge of the woods, the next time you come out camping? Most bathrooms have receptacles for these products. Please use the containers! The next time you use the bathroom, which stall are you going to pick? The one where you know you left your used sanitary product on the back of the toilet or the next one???
• More gross, but necessary ... and gentlemen, please properly dispose of your prophylactics. Yes, believe it our not, these too, are found not far from where tents are pitched.
• From Lilias via e mail: "Don't throw Prophylactics in the water. Last year, in my first trip to one of the northern spots in Canada I saw beautiful clear water. You [could] even see the bottom, including the prophylactic, about 10 feet out, resting on the sand along with the other growth."
• From Lilias via e mail: "Your family is on holiday. So are all the rest of the families. Teach children not to play in the shower rooms. It is most annoying to go to the washroom and have children yelling, in fun and exuberance to be sure. The acoustics in washrooms magnifies sound so it can really hurt to go into a washroom where children are yelling at the top of their lungs. They can do it outside, or in the lake or river facilities where it is expected. Also this is very unfriendly to take up time in the showers when you aren't using them. Remember, everyone else uses those showers too, and some use them during the day so the lines won't be so long at night or in the morning."
• Lastly, many campers have their favorite campsite. Think before you leave. The next time you come to this site, is this how you want it to look? Do you really want to walk into your favorite site with your beer bottles still heaped in the fire pit, white tissue dotting the woods from where you pottied, and trash left scattered around your site? Wouldn't you prefer the campground staff is spending their time making improvements at your campground rather than spending their time simply picking up after campers. Just take 15 minutes or so and do a group effort to quickly pick up your campsite.