I have only stayed at Worthington Stat Forest in the Delaware Water Gap area and Belleplain State Forest in Woodbine, NJ, which I think is technically in the Pine Barrens. Both are more family oriented. Belleplain has had some partying during the several times I have stayed there, but it was pretty subdued. I was there for two nights during that 70+ degree weekend we had back in November. Only a handful of lean tos and one other tent site were occupied. But the best was the old Bull's Island Recreation Area above Lambertville, NJ. The GF and I were there one Easter Weekend. On Good Friday maybe 8 sites were occupied. Everyone cleared out on Saturday and we had the entire place to ourselves. It was actually a bit spooky. I really miss that place.

I can't sleep with something like an earplug jammed in my ear. Besides that, your ear canal needs to breathe. I usually travel with two small pillows and sandwich my head between the two if things get too loud.

I stayed at a large campsite in Spain, out of season and almost empty. I left a polite amount of space (2-3 plots) between my tent and a camper van. A Spanish couple roll up in a car and pitch their tent 6" from mine, then spend the whole night going at it like alley cats. Grrrrrr.

We had something like that in one of the campgrounds in Germany ... nice roomy campground and we were there several nights because it was lovely. But one night someone decided to pitch his tent so close our tent ropes crossed ... and then he proceeded to snore at a ground shaking chainsaw level.

Happily, he was only there one night.

Heh. At the end of my trip in Spain I camped in Sevilla. It was just at the start of the city's Ferria, so there was a decent crowd. Lots of loud people. The Portuguese were the worst offenders.

Many years ago, when we were young , we decided to take the week off and camp in Canyon Lake near San Antonio. Tuesday and Wednesday we were alone, except for Duane, a young guy who liked travelling and had been as far as Beaumont, TX...

Thursday night there were 4-5 tents around, with plenty of space between each other. Two in the morning, a truck with a shell arrives with (outside) speakers blaring, a sporty (read non-existent) muffler and proceeds to park right opposite to us. Not just park, but going back and forth until the truck was parked just so... Then he turned off the lights (roll bar lights, fog lights, regular lights) and the speakers, so we thought well the worst is over, we will get some sleep!

Wrong!...

Strapped behind the shell (!) was a Harley. At three in the morning, he decided to go to the bathrooms, riding the Harley of course... and returning on the Harley, naturally.

And then his dog starts barking at the dog two tents over...

His old lady goes:

"Honey, the neighbor's dawg is barkin' at our dawg"

"If the neighbor doesn't hush his dawg, pretty soon he's not gonna have a dawg"

Neighbor moved out first thing in the morning, while the gentleman was asleep...

Good Friday now and the campground is getting full. A bunch of college kids (maybe high school? not sure) camp nearby and start drinking. An hour later they started pruning a tree by the shoreline using a AK47...

An hour and five minutes we were on our way back to Houston...

In MN our state parks don't allow drinking and don't cater to that crowd at all. I camp a lot around the state both in a trailer and by bicycle and haven't had an issue but I've only used state parks here. The private campgrounds I've been to in WI were also fairly tame but also quite remote.

I have had better luck at private campsites like KOA that hire security than at provincial sites, that seem to be mainly alcohol partying places. In Ontario the government is in on liquor sales so where is the motivation to stop the drinking. Anyway, there isn't anyone around at night. Technically I think they are there at a remote area in a house.

I prefer camping in the bush. I don't like camping in parks.

Nothing will shut them up. I've been in this situation at least a half dozen times. Tried every route - nice, call the law, aggressively pissed off - all a waste of time. So I've accepted that campgrounds are not for me.

I choose back country camping. Legal (like Nat' Forest etc) is great, but considerate stealth camping is not to be ruled out.

Steve Z

I camped/backpacked/biked throughout Western Europe in my youth back in the 70s. We were always courteous albeit pretty wiped out some nights. Nowadays manners are a thing of the past. I recommend not confronting a drinking crowd unless you wish to be abused beyond belief. Now I research and plan carefully where I want to stay and it seems to work quite well. Best of Luck, dont let em keep you from enjoying this beautiful world!

+1. If you're the only one there then other people will never be a problem.

Have you ever rode into a state park or such, grabbed a shower and moved on?

No, because every state park I have stayed at has reserved its facilities for registered campers, and I don't steal.

Fair enough!!

Interesting. I didn't realize that about MN state parks. I did ACA's Northern Tier route. We spent 2 weeks in MN because we did the longer of the two options and had a couple of rest days, including one in Minneapolis. We stayed at Lake Itasca S.P. (in the HI Hostel) and Hennepin S.P. in Isle, but I never realized that alcohol was not permitted. I am surprised since it seemed to be easy to get beer just about everywhere. We even stayed at a private campground that had it's own bar with beer on tap.

Alcohol is not permitted in PA or NJ state parks, which are what I frequent most. If you don't openly violate the rule and don't get drunk and cause problems, I don't think the rangers really mind. If you visit the recycling/trash disposal area of one state facility in NJ that I visit a couple of times of year you will find plenty of empty alcohol containers in the receptacles. A few years ago I stayed at one private campground in PA that allowed you to drink, but you couldn't display alcohol containers, and the list of rules expressly required beer cans/bottles to be in cozies. Also, you could not leave your campsite with alcoholic beverages. I then realized that the owners had a religious bent, so it made sense.

+1. I wear earplugs at home as well. I don't sleep well in general.

The OP mentions calling the police: Would they have done anything in this instance? Since it was a privately owned campground I assume they'd just deferred to the owner. I doubt since it was outside of Rochester and not in city limits that there weren't any legal noise ordinances.

I tend to ignore loud neighbors on camping trips. My biggest annoyance are dogs that bark of all hours of the night but I've never complained. Otherwise the loud neighbors are a part of the experience and they've never been loud enough to bother me. That or they quiet down before too long.

I wasn't aware of this either so I'm glad it was pointed out. My favorite camping area in Oregon, Oxbow Regional, doesn't allow alcohol either. I've drank there before but only quietly around the fire after dark. I haven't gotten drunk here like I have at other parks where alcohol is permitted. I'll have to go through my list of 22 states for my tour this year and see which states allow alcohol and which don't.

No, but took a nice swim in a pond or lake open to the public.

For the future, and anyone doing the Erie Canal, a great public campground is in Holley, about 20 miles west of Rochester. The "Canal Park" is right on the canal, features electric bathrooms with showers, and a waterfall.



There's a number of free legal bike camping on the canal Locks, another is Lock 30 in Macedon, NY (20 miles east of Rochester). But Holley takes the cake with the showers (only place like it on the canal to my knowledge). Lock operator on duty with police patrol at night, meaning fewer ruffians.

That looks amazing! If I'm going from Youngstown, NY to Rochester is this a viable option? Right now I'm planning to camp for free at a city park in downtown Rochester but this place looks amazing!

No and hopefully you're not doing that. I have, on previous tours, gone to campgrounds with shower facilities and asked if I could use them after explaining my circumstances (I.e. My campground not having shower facilities). Some say no and I move on. The ones that say yes get a great review on Yelp and I always offer to pay. The ones that say no don't get a negative review just no review at all.

Yup! It's right on the path. Which Rochester park were you planning on camping at? The whole Genesee Valley Park/Mount Hope Cemetery/Highland Park system is really large, quite nice, and very well kempt, but has lots of foot traffic, and few very truly "hidden" areas. From the canal you can follow "Lehigh Valley Trail" due south and be pretty hidden, and close to the canal. If you want to see Rochester and camp in the city, you can do a great 9 mile ride north following the Genesee River Trail to Seneca Park. This paved rail traverses the mighty Genesee River four times over paved pedestrian bridges, gives overlooks to huge waterfalls (a 96 foot drop and 110 foot cascade) , and winds through a number of Frederick Law Olmsted designed parks. In the northern section of Seneca Park you'll find a wooded dirt trail into thick cliffside acreage overlooking the river, with access to a mellow wade in the river for a relaxing swim. If you want to put a few more miles under your belt, and camp overlooking Lake Ontario, ride through the Seneca Park trail and then only four windy downhill miles to Durand Eastman Park, which features 5000' of beachy coast, with plenty of trees on the beach to hang a hammock, or go into the woods for the park's Arboretum, with an extensive pinetum and hilly patches overlooking the lake. Lots of nice options!

Also, I know you're coming from Youngstown, NY so you'll probably just shoot straight to Lockport, but there's an extensive trail system from Tonawanda to Lockport, following the Tonawanda Creek. You can see much of this system on Google Maps, mostly off-road on paved trail, but there's also a brand new section from Pendleton, NY to Lockport, following the canal on the Bear Ridge Road side. I still can't find any website for it, and it's not on Google Maps, but I know it exists because I rode it last year. Honestly the pavement was less than a week old when I rode it, and it was great.

I hate when that happens, and try to find spots that are remote or separated, I also never stay in private campgrounds. Most of the state parks around the wider Pacific Northwest and central Idaho usually don't have a problem. At least the smaller, more rural ones, where most folks seem to respect the rules. Weekends near towns can bring problems wherever you are, due to kids partying or clueless city folks that don't realize their voices travel. I generally think it's best not to confront them if they're drinking. Years ago in the Colorado State Forest some crazy guys came in late, were drinking heavily, and set up a shooting area and generator with lights and blasted away until 1am in the morning. Next morning going out saw they were off-duty cops. They even had yellow police tape strung all over the place.

I'm not sure. I'm doing my ride to raise money for cancer awareness and emailed every town along my route to ask about camping for free in their city parks. The person I reached in Rochester said the city didn't normally allow camping in city parks but they'd make an exception at either a city park, the city recreation center or get me a hotel room comped in the city. I have to call when I'm two weeks out to have it set up. It's the 58thish stop on my route.

They gave me some other options as well. What do you think about the ones mentioned in the email attached?

Thanks for all the input. I've made notes of them and will take a look further when I have a moment.

Here we go again! This sounds very suspiciously like another thread wherein fraudulent claims were made and bogus documents were posted then removed.

Readers beware taking anything Ty says as truth or ability for you to do likewise. A LOT of his posts will result in you doing illegal camping if you do as he says he does.

Cheers

A couple years ago we were at Sly Park playing poker at 10pm and the camp guy came around on a Segway and told us to pipe down... we had no music on. We laughed at him, he seemed silly, but we complied. Some places do enforce.