Avoiding Generators

Story goes like this: Roll into Upper Pines for my Spring camping/hiking trip (I camp in the valley 4 times a year in my self-converted van, complete with solar) at 11:45, 15 minutes before check-in. Not only are the last campers still in the site, which is rare, but they are not even present much less getting ready to bail. I park in front of the site and wait- finally a Euro couple arrive and SLOWLY start packing up the CruiseAmerica rental RV. No biggie, they're newbies, let it slide. Turns out they move 1 site over, next door. Great afternoon hike, great dinner, life is good- until I am awakened at 5:45 A.M. to a wailing generator- yep, the Euro's. Put on pants, go next door, bang on RV- "It's obnoxious and against the rules to run that this early"(there were people in tents on the other side!). Well, turns out I was only half right. Talked to a ranger who told me ALL the Nat. Parks changed the generator policy to "sparingly from sunrise to sunset". WTF!?! It was 8 A.M. to 8 P.M. last year, what's with the change? Catering to the RV renting foreigners who dump money in the gift shops? Crotchety old timers please chime in.

I don't think 5:45 AM is within the rules:

Quiet hours are from 10 pm to 6 am; generators may be used sparingly during daylight hours.

http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/campregs.htm

Not a new story, but apropos to this thread:

http://www.canada.com/Travel/Elegy+Airstreamer/827971/story.html

Elegy for the Airstreamer
By Dan Neil, Citizen SpecialNovember 18, 2008
Maybe it's because I'm punchy. It's been a trying day, 10 hours on the road. The babies got carsick in the mountains, and one threw up rather spectacularly. After arriving at Upper Pines campsite in Yosemite National Park in California, I had to back the eight-metre Airstream trailer into a tight space between trees, in the dark, a nerve-racking man audition with a gathering audience of seasoned and skeptical RVers shouting advice: "Cut the wheels to the left. ... The other left!"
But now the day is done. Roz and Viv (my 10-month-old twins) are finally asleep in the trailer and my wife, Tina, with them. I'm sitting at a picnic table in the sumptuous, high-corniced night of Yosemite Valley, drinking coffee, looking at the Airstream. Just looking.
The orange lick and leap of the campfire light pours off the polished aluminum skin like lava. The Airstream hovers; it glows. Why, Miss Watson, I never noticed before, but with your glasses off, you're beautiful!.........

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

Pee Wee's Big Adventure... Biker #3 "I say we stab him, then we hang him, then we kill him!" ...

The answer is, if you're using a generator in the valley, you're a tourist, and those who want quiet in God's country don't like you very much.

I dislike music more than generators. There is no pretense that generators are purely utilitarian and white noise; music is often played loudly so that "everyone else" can share your personal cultural experience, even if that involves " Me First and The Gimmie Gimmies".

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

FF- I agree with that point of view. I just feel that if you are going to take on the responsibility of piloting a 5 ton vehichle, you should take the time time learn how to manage it's systems. Charge up in the evening and you're good until late morning- they even give you a "generator ethics" speech (similar to the "food storage" speech" in the valley when you check in if you have a large RV. It's just a common courtesy issue.

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Jmesenburg
FF- I agree with that point of view. I just feel that if you are going to take on the responsibility of piloting a 5 ton vehichle, you should take the time time learn how to manage it's systems. Charge up in the evening and you're good until late morning- they even give you a "generator ethics" speech (similar to the "food storage" speech" in the valley when you check in if you have a large RV. It's just a common courtesy issue.

roger that!

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

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Frank Furter
I dislike music more than generators. There is no pretense that generators are purely utilitarian and white noise; music is often played loudly so that "everyone else" can share your personal cultural experience, even if that involves " Me First and The Gimmie Gimmies".

I agree. I listen to 50s rock in my car, and in a campsite I listen to talk radio. Or sometimes, like last Feb. in Upper Pines, I just listened to the campfire crackle and the rockfalls fall and the ice falls ice.

We're really close to banning generators anywhere in the valley. Well, I'm really close to it anyway. Sabotage and silencers.

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Vince
Sabotage and silencers.

*sigh*

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Vince


We're really close to banning generators anywhere in the valley. Well, I'm really close to it anyway. Sabotage and silencers.

A new radical movement?
Needs a name:

Yosemite Liberation Front
Humas ( Humming rather than singing)
All Quiet-a ( in favor of Quiet-a throughout the Valley)
Troglyodytes for Tranquility
Valley Girls for Like Quiet

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

Bwaahaaaahaaa! Sign me up. I'm bringing tiny potatoes for those tiny little exhaust pipes next time. Long live All-Quieta!

What' really frustrating is you really don't NEED a generator. They are only needed for microwaves (so use your propane fed stove or oven in the rig instead), TV's (you can use an inverter that will run a TV off your batteries), or air conditioners (So go outside and sit in the shade instead). If your rig is set up right you should have 2 batteries for the rig which are charged as you are driving. I have a 24ft. trailer and don't use a generator. My two rv batts. on the tongue charge from my tow vehicle's alternator while I drive. They are good then for about 5 days if you are careful with your lights at night. If I haven't pulled the trailer in about 5 days and am going to be staying in the same spot for longer I just use jumper cables forom the car's battery to the rv battery and after about 10 minutes of idling they are good for a few more days!

Colter Bay campgrpound in the Tetons has campground loops that are generator free! Might not be a bad idea. Yes, I too HATE generators. Ever notice that when prople run their generators they don't sit outside of their rigs? They stay inside so they don't have to listen to the noise either. I've often wondered if the old banana up the exhaust pipe of the generator might work to stop it?

And yes it seems like you can't find a campsite anymore that isn't bombarded by people's music (or so called music). I have a little trick that usually works. I walk up to the person, who's car is blasting away so called music, with a cd of my own and say, " Since I have to listen to music coming from your car could I listen to something I would like you hear?" and hand them some Andy Williams Christmas music cd. They usally look at that and say something like,"Oh is it too loud?" I say yes and they usually turn it down. If they don't I usually find the campground host and that usually works. Although quiet hours are say 10 to 6 if you look at the fine print under the audio devices section it usally says that audio devices should not be played at a level that can be heard in other campsites, or somehting like that. It would be nice if the campground hosts would actually walk through the campgrounds in the evening, and other times and talk to people who are making noise and violating other rules. I rarely see them do this. One time I complained to a ranger after some idiots next to me started getting noisy around midnight. They found out the guys had set up in a campsite that wasn't theirs. I also told the ranger I thought I smelled marijuana coming form their site. Thus the rangers questioned these guys and ended up searching their car. They found drugs, fireworks, etc. They took these guys to the jail in Yosemite and impounded their car. Chalk up one for the good guys!!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/02/2009 08:32AM by mtn man.

My most memorable experience with disruptive morons was a group of drunk guys who pulled into a National Forest campground site and continued to "party" through the night by firing their handguns and shotguns until 4am. I filed a complaint with the Sheriff but I suspect their primary punishment was some fierce hangovers. I am personally glad I didn't have a handgun with me on that trip.

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

Frank;

one of my most memorable took place at least 15 yrs ago in Yosemite.... i was camping with my family when another large group of idiots drank alcohol all into the night, acting like jerks (being loud etc, even with music) making all the campers mad.. not a Ranger any where to help... they finally went to bed, but left all of their food etc out! i noticed it, and was grinning from ear to ear..... so sometime in the early morning (when it was still dark) a large bear came into their camp and torn all of their ice chests, cooking stoves, and you name it , to pieces! all the surrounding campers were actually laughing and applauding. lolol (a wonderful payback to say the least). they were yelling at the bear, but the bear didnn't budge until he was done... everyone finally felt some satisfaction. lol

MM is right- I have the same setup in my van (converted Dodge Sprinter) and a 3 amp solar panel on the roof (which charges great EVEN in the valley under trees) and I can run TV/radio, 3 lights and a fan for 3 days. One ranger I spoke with last week said with all the budget cuts to the parks, they just don't have the manpower to patrol anymore. One ranger at a park near my house (Napa area) said they now have only 2 rangers to patrol 3 DIFFERENT PARKS! He also said break-in's and people not paying were way up.

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Jmesenburg
Bwaahaaaahaaa! Sign me up. I'm bringing tiny potatoes for those tiny little exhaust pipes next time. Long live All-Quieta!

Honey might work well.

5-minute epoxy.

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szalkowski
5-minute epoxy.

Honey is easier. You just smear it on and let the bears do the real work.

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eeek

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szalkowski
5-minute epoxy.

Honey is easier. You just smear it on and let the bears do the real work.

I meant to really make the potatoes secure.

One of the great things about Yosemite Creek Campground is the road. You don't see many big RVs down there.