riceboy72
Member
Greetings everyone,
As spring approaches, our family enjoys camping at a lake and small resort about an hour south of Tacoma. We camp in two tents (one for me and my wife, and let our daughter and whichever friend she brings stay in the other tent). The sites nearest the lake are designed for tents, and will easily accommodate a family. Two small cabins are set on the perimeter that lead to the road, and can be rented by guests. It's pretty mellow, and in a farily decent area.
Last summer, I was awakened by my wife who noticed two men at the cabin next to our campsite standing on the porch and smoking something at 3 am using a pipe and a torch. Her primary concern was the safety of our daughter, who was asleep in the next tent. They were outside for about an hour, then went inside. We saw them the next day and they were less than stellar in appearance and character as they roamed around the area and were mouthy with other people and their families. They left later that day and we saw them again two weeks ago when we went there to fish for the day. They approached us and would not leave us alone for a few minutes until I told them we could not help them and they needed to leave us be, which they did.
Which leads me to the reason for my post: For those of you who camp in tents, either in the backcountry or car camp, what safety and security measures do you take around a campsite? How do you secure a pistol at night if you have one? Do you leave it in a holster next to or in your sleeping bag, or secure it in a Maxpedition or other case next to you? Do you sleep with your head away from the door so you can use your feet to kick at someone trying to get into your tent, or at least buy a second or two to react? Do you arrange tents with doors facing each other, or have another configuration which works best?
When I walk back to our site, I always notice each family or guest with the traditional pile of firewood, axe sticking out of a stump, and a pretty relaxed atmosphere overall, which is the idea. Without locking up the axe in the trunk, what do you do to ensure your campsite is safe at night from others? We have always thought of the resort as safe and very comfortable, but the tweekers we ran into made us think otherwise on our last visit. Obviously we're not going to zip and lock ourselves into our tent, but this brought up a good discussion with me and my wife as we plan our summer trips. Lastly, the resort owners were made aware of the issues, but I am not sure of the follow up that was done, if any. Your thoughts?
As spring approaches, our family enjoys camping at a lake and small resort about an hour south of Tacoma. We camp in two tents (one for me and my wife, and let our daughter and whichever friend she brings stay in the other tent). The sites nearest the lake are designed for tents, and will easily accommodate a family. Two small cabins are set on the perimeter that lead to the road, and can be rented by guests. It's pretty mellow, and in a farily decent area.
Last summer, I was awakened by my wife who noticed two men at the cabin next to our campsite standing on the porch and smoking something at 3 am using a pipe and a torch. Her primary concern was the safety of our daughter, who was asleep in the next tent. They were outside for about an hour, then went inside. We saw them the next day and they were less than stellar in appearance and character as they roamed around the area and were mouthy with other people and their families. They left later that day and we saw them again two weeks ago when we went there to fish for the day. They approached us and would not leave us alone for a few minutes until I told them we could not help them and they needed to leave us be, which they did.
Which leads me to the reason for my post: For those of you who camp in tents, either in the backcountry or car camp, what safety and security measures do you take around a campsite? How do you secure a pistol at night if you have one? Do you leave it in a holster next to or in your sleeping bag, or secure it in a Maxpedition or other case next to you? Do you sleep with your head away from the door so you can use your feet to kick at someone trying to get into your tent, or at least buy a second or two to react? Do you arrange tents with doors facing each other, or have another configuration which works best?
When I walk back to our site, I always notice each family or guest with the traditional pile of firewood, axe sticking out of a stump, and a pretty relaxed atmosphere overall, which is the idea. Without locking up the axe in the trunk, what do you do to ensure your campsite is safe at night from others? We have always thought of the resort as safe and very comfortable, but the tweekers we ran into made us think otherwise on our last visit. Obviously we're not going to zip and lock ourselves into our tent, but this brought up a good discussion with me and my wife as we plan our summer trips. Lastly, the resort owners were made aware of the issues, but I am not sure of the follow up that was done, if any. Your thoughts?
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