So this May I took a road trip out west and stayed at a lot of different campgrounds of all types. Primitive dispersed camping, primitive designated camping, improved campgrounds at national parks, improved campgrounds in national forests, and with the odd exception of the near-glamping at Mesa Verde where they almost do everything except pitch your tent for you, they all had this in common - it was loud.
In the case of primitive dispersed, that was only technically dispersed because we didn’t have designated spots: it was an every-runner-for-themselves scramble at the site of the Bryce Canyon ultramarathon. Being the day before and the day after the race, I was assuming people would pitch their spot and then settle down for a quiet night of sleep. And I thought I picked the perfect spot: just far enough from the other campers that we wouldn’t disturb each other, but close enough that I thought other campers would camp around me, but more campers arrived and several parties encamped between me and the other campers (I’m reminded of being part of a line of cars in the passing lane, not being able to go faster due to the cars in front of me, when some jackwad swerves around me and occupies the “safe” space between me and the car in front of me (“safe” in quotes because in this situation I sometimes only leave 2 or so car lengths in an unsuccessful attempt to discourage this)) They noisily set up and talked until night time, which would be tolerable in a normal camping situation except we had to get up at 5 am sharp for the race.
The rest of the experiences were similar. Not extremely loud, but not something I want to experience every day. The RV’er next to me spending 2 hours talking his truck setup with passerby, the remote campground where it was only me and another party who had both reserved spots and they put us next to each other and they proceeded to talk and play loud music until exactly nightfall, and the baby at Capitol Reef who continued to cry until well after nightfall. That last one was not so bad because babbies [del]can’t frigth back?[/del] can’t help themselves and it was actually quieter than I expected for a completely full campground.
Are KOA’s like this as well? Even if they are this (relatively moderately but consistently) loud, Kamping would still be cheaper and more enjoyable than a Motel 6, but if they are generally pretty quiet I might be more tempted to try them some time.
Q: Are KOA’s quiet?
A: Not particularly. IME it’s like the Days Inn of campgrounds: lots of families with young children, all there to have fun because it’s their vacation.
Ludivoc, try those foam earplugs they sell at walmart. You can get used to sleeping in them surprisingly quickly. I’ve slept in a crowded barracks from 7pm until morning on many a night with them before.
Earplugs don’t do anything for me personally. I guess it would have been a wash or even mildly improved in the case of the campers at the ultra site, because it would have cut down on their steady but low talking but that has to be balanced out against the irritation of the plugs. The other situations, the sharpness of the sounds were such that I wouldn’t be able to hear anything except the loud noises.
It’s been many years since we stopped at KOAs, but I don’t remember them as being particularly noisy if well run.
One that sticks out in my memory was near the Badlands in South Dakota. The “noisy” part was coyotes howling not that far off for a good part of the night.
I’ve been to exactly one KOA campground in my life and that was nearly 25 years ago. I found it full of loud, rude people who stayed up all night making all manner of racket. In no way would I call it much of a “camping” experience.
I’m used to camping way out in the mountains on National Forest land, miles from anyone, so perhaps my perspective has some bias.
I informally looked for out of the way places on my trip, and all of the pre-disturbed areas on the dirt roads that I saw that I would have been able to drive my Prius onto already had an RV on them. That’s part of what lead me to post this, since if I hadn’t made reservations at campgrounds ahead of time on my last vacation, it would have been difficult for me to find a spot in the particular places I was in. (Although of course in a different place and time of year the options may have been higher.)
Fortunately, the only place I’ve found loud, rude people is most of the times I’ve stayed at Guadalupe Mountains National Park. The sites are far enough away from each other that people feel free to be loud, but the lack of background noise and trees to dampen the noise means it carries for a long ways. It’s just that 4 of the 5 places I stayed at it this May were not even as quiet and peaceful as a decent hotel room until night fell. (But like I said before, more quiet and peaceful than a Motel 6. Although considering the input from the people in this thread, KOAs might not even be that quiet!)
I had a similar experience at a State Park campground in Morro Bay, California. There are two campgrounds in the area, one within the park itself, and one by the beach, which is also administered by the park but is technically outside of the park. I thought it would be fun to camp by the beach, so I reserved a site by the beach one. When I got there I found that campground is really just a parking lot with campsites around the parameter. The only advantage was that it was by the beach, I think the other one would have been nicer in every other respect. But more to the OP’s point, there was a group a few sites away from me who would stay up late playing music and talking loudly. And they never actually seemed to leave the campground from what I could tell. They just stayed there, grilled burgers, threw a football around, drank beer, occasionally went to the beach (which was about the only time they left). I concluded that there are two kinds of campers: To me, the campsite is mostly a place to sleep and cook some meals while visiting someplace, and I’ll spend the the rest of my time hiking or sightseeing or whatever I came there to do. But for the other kind, “camping” is the activity. Meaning going to the campground, hanging out, and basically treating it like a tailgate party but without the sporting event.
Frequent KOA camper here. We use KOAs as stopping points enroute to a destination. We’re in an RV, and when both A/Cs are running the white noise drowns out all but the loudest neighbors. They’re not quiet.
We generally don’t use KOAs or other commercial campgrounds as a destination site. Commercial operators are incentivized to crowd in as many customers as possible, so things end up too crowded for us. We use state or national campgrounds at our destination, since they usually have more room between sites. Are you considering tent camping, or using the small cabins at KOAs? FWIW: The cabins have no water or plumbing (pretty sure of this).
It sounds like you were there during an “event”, which always brings out the assholes, imo. I’m further assuming you were in a tent. We use battery powered white noise makers, and battery powered small fans when we dry* camp – maybe those would help your sleep next time?
Tent camping. I was under the possibly incorrect assumption that cabins would be nearly $100 at which point I might as well upgrade to a Hampton Inn, but if I’m mistaken and they are cheaper I might keep that in mind.
That’s actually a great suggestion. I sleep with a fan for white noise in my apartment as it is so I will indeed look into battery-powered ones: they would also be helpful for those times when it is only slightly too warm in the tent.
We stay at one every year that has deluxe cabins which include a full bathroom & a small kitchen. One bedroom, pullout sofa & a loft area means we can sleep more people in there & have a full sized fridge so it’s much cheaper than a hotel for the 8-10 of us (but only 2 married couples, the rest are non-dating individuals, so no bed sharing) that go.
There are plenty of white noise apps for your phone as well, and many of them offer a free version. Of course having it playing on your phone all night without being plugged into a power source will probably run down the battery; I’ve only used the white noise app on mine in places where I can have it plugged in. But maybe if you have it plugged into a power bank and recharge in the car while driving during the day.
The only KOAs I’ve camped in were extremely crowded and the spaces small. They rack 'em, pack 'em and stack 'em. Lots of kids and barking dogs. Crowding means you’re going to be choking on someone’s campfire smoke. Speaking of which, what is the obsession with campfires? It can be 80 degrees and people still feel the need to ignite dead trees.
That’s part of the camping experience, don’cha’know? The kids expect to be able to burn hot dogs and make smores around the fire, even if it’s 106F, and everyone likes to be able to indulge their inner pyromaniac in a way that they can’t at home.
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