back in Oct. of 2009 , i wrote the Park a complaint about my recent camping experience there.
here is my letter to them:
On Oct. 23, 2009, I had a campsite (space #30) in Upper Pines . when i got there in the evening, i soon realized there was a party going on two sites away from me. At the time, there were about 30 people in one site (space #32).. it appeared to be a family reunion or something, so i decide to be a good neighbor and let it go and let them do their thing (within reason) ... so then as i'm sitting around my campfire in the dark, a long line of about 15 people came walking right through my campsite (from the road behind me), just 4 feet away from where i was sitting by the fire.. i look up at them like "what the heck?" and they say nothing, not a "sorry" or anything... as time went on, more people are coming and going, by now, i realized there were at least 50 people in that one site! all drinking and being VERY loud... someone had a camera rigged on a 10 foot pole with flash, with the flash going off constantly (irritating all the other campers).
it's 9:15pm and now i'm ticked because more people keep walking through my site and don't care... so i call a number that was posted at the entry booth to complain, i get this young sounding young man on the line who starts defending them.. i said "so you're telling me that these people can be as loud as they want, AND it's ok to have 50 people in one site???!!! something tells me that is not only against park policy, but is illegal"... so he asked me what space i was at, then said he'd send someone out.. so within minutes a park vehicle (not a Ranger) pulls up, shines the spot light on my campsite, and then on my FACE! then proceeds to where the obvious party was happening, and doesn't shine it on them, nor even bothers to stop to say anything! they simply drove right by without skipping a beat!!! I’m thinkin “that’s it???!!”. They wouldn’t even stop to say that they are bothering other campers? or at least tell them to at least tone it down???
I drove a long way to have a good experience camping in Yosemite, and I still could have, had this been handled correctly, but it ruined the evening and my stay. I’m hoping that someone at least finds out who that person was (who was sent out to see about the complaint), and have a serious talk with them. This was (in my opinion) handled poorly!
BTW, I later learned that the party was part of afterwards wedding reception.
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here is the Superintendents reply to me: