Re: My letter of complaint to Yosemite

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.
-----------------------------

here is the Superintendents reply to me:

This is the exact same letter my parents got in 1939 When they had an unpleasant experience on the valley floor and wrote a letter of complaint.

---

Old Dude

LOLOLOL i guess they just updated the date on mine. LOLOL

Great avatar! The old Forre Stranger is back!

---

The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

Wow -- nothing like a timely response to make you feel good!

oh but Bee... didn't you notice his personal note apologizing for it being so late? lol

i only changed it for you Frank. lol

Always have a couple of stink bombs with you, just for situations like this.

The delay in response was due to inability to find the form letter used in 1939.

I like the stink bomb idea. I think I've seen this exact complaint on a post last year but yes these situations need to be dealt with immediately upon the complaint. I really have a problem with campground hosts not doing their job as far as enforcing the rules. They get a free campsite and other perks for the summer but seem to shy away from patrolling and enforcing the campground rules.

Quote
mtn man
I really have a problem with campground hosts not doing their job

The ones in the Valley seem to be especially uninterested in actually doing anything. Last time I camped in Upper Pines (it was a March or April) I arrived a little after 5pm and found the booth unmanned. So I just went to my reserved and paid for site. The next morning when I left the campground to go do things the booth was still devoid of human life. Came back about 2pm and found a note at my site telling me I must go register at the between 1pm and 3:30. So I grabbed my reservation printout and walked out to the booth. Again there was nobody home. So the only thing I know these hosts did during my trip was putting a note on my site. My conclusion: these volunteers are over paid and under worked!

So as of Feb 25, Dave Uberuaga was still the Acting Superintendent at Yosemite?

Still - sounds like he'd at least looked over the thing and someone realized that the response was rather late.

I wonder how many letters they get. Could be quite a few.

i'm sure he lost sleep over my letter. lol

If you can identify a systemic problem, try writing your Representative.
I had remarkable success writing my Representative about a Post Office problem (it was not open at posted hours).

---

The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/2010 06:18AM by Frank Furter.

Quote
Frank Furter
I had remarkable success writing my Representative about a Post Office problem (it was not open at posted hours).

Sorry to hijack this thread, but your comment on P.O. problem really resonates. I live in a small town surrounded by small towns. I have a small mail order business, and often mail out envelopes and packages. I take these to the town that I happen to be going through when I need to send them out. I use 4 Post Offices and when I first started this business I was surprised to find that I got charged a different amount for the "same" package depending on which P.O. I went to.

I had to become expert in what makes an envelope differ from a flat, and a flat from a parcel. It goes by length, heighth, thickness and weight. The people working in the P.O. often do not know these things, and they act like you're questioning God when you inform them that they have made a mistake in determining the cost of your item. Once I even caught my local P.O. charging me the new, higher rates several days before they went into effect!!

In a civil service job it is strange that there should be so much arbitrary behavior. In my case, it turned out that the employees did not arrive on time and when they did arrive, they did not want to open the lobby because vagrants would come into the lobby to keep warm in the winter. Regarding postage, it seems that once it goes past the clerk, it is clear to go without any additional checking or weighing (I had imagined that it had to pass through some mail processing machine to cancel the franking. )

---

The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

Quote
Frank Furter
Regarding postage, it seems that once it goes past the clerk, it is clear to go without any additional checking or weighing

The problem is with the clerks. Several in our towns don't know the USPS own regulations on what makes an envelope differ from a flat or a package.

One time I was undercharged (I knew this, but didn't say anything because I'd been overcharged so many times). The next time I was in there the Post Master told me that she was called by "higher up" and told that she hadn't charged enough. They didn't require me to pay, but now she often tries to overcharge. It's as if it takes too much effort to figure out what category your item belongs in, and they just "up it" to the next level to cover their back. And perhaps to finance the failing USPS system.

My perception is that Post Offices are taken to the carpet if they undercharge, but nothing is said the 90% of time when they overcharge.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2010 10:37AM by sierranomad.

After recent revelations regarding USPS financial problems we may be returning to Pony Express.

Our family experiences camping in the Valley campgrounds have been great and awful. Sadly, the rangers monitoring loud party activity are doing a poor job.
Bottom line: if you are rising early for hiking , bring earplugs and hope that the rangers will grow backbones and begin confronting those that ruin the camping experience for everyone.

Quote
jannykmac
Sadly, the rangers monitoring loud party activity are doing a poor job.

Have you tried making a phone call to the dispatch center?

Quote
eeek

Quote
jannykmac
Sadly, the rangers monitoring loud party activity are doing a poor job.

Have you tried making a phone call to the dispatch center?

Yes

I once had a double wamme bad experience in Camp 4, first a threating verbal exchange from a guy sleeping in his car when I parked too close to his car in the parking lot, and then when I got to my site a guy who wanted to crash for free for the night in our full campsite. This wouldn't have bothered me too much, but they're shared sites and someone else in the site said NO. Things got tense and we ended up calling the park cops.

This ranger or officer showed up, listened to the story, was quite nice and sympathetic, but couldn't really do much since the crasher had already left. It was a good experience. He showed up relatively quickly and listened.

He ended up having to leave quite abruptly. He zipped out of there when he got a call on the radio about someone threating someone with a GUN!

However obnoxious our camp neighbors may be, the LE officers in the park sometimes have much more important things to worry about!

Me swears does same peeps ax dem questions
at the entrance too...

---

Hey Forrestranger,

What kind of stamp was affixed to the letter? Did Dave take the time to find a nice appealing stamp at least?- you know, just as an added personal touch?

lol.

-L.

Luis,
Get to work.

---

Old Dude

ya know, i threw it away and didn't even notice, probably a bunch of 2 cent stamps. lol

You may have had some success. I though this at Lower Pines:

Emergencies include:

Where can I get my propane tank filled at 11:30 PM?
Can you tell me tomorrow's weather in Yellowstone?
We ran out of matches for our fireworks!
Where's the firing range?
Is it O.K. to feed the bears?
Some friends are arriving after midnight. Will somebody be available to direct them to our campsite?
Where is Half Dome?
Our bonfire needs more wood!
Our TV reception is poor!
Will there be a full Moon tonight?
What time does the parade start?
Do you sell ranger hats?
How deep is the river?

Don't forget:

Our generator ran out of fuel -- is there a gas station near by?

How far is it to Curry Village?
Do the shuttle buses drive through the campgrounds, or do we have to go out to the bus stop?
Where are all the bears?
Is it OK to gather firewood?
Is it OK to have a campfire in the morning?
How cold does it get at night?
Where are the showers?
Why do people keep shouting "Elmer" every night?