Chapter 4: Rules

A couple camping alone can learn the rules from the sign at the entrance. A group cannot. By the time fifteen people have arrived in six cars, the rule about vehicles has already been broken. The organizer's job is to find the rules early, plan around them, and tell everyone before they pack.

There is no national rulebook. Each agency writes its own rules, and campgrounds and individual sites add more. The examples on this page come from named agencies and show the kinds of rules to look for. Your campground's own page is the one that counts.

Eight rules that catch groups

1. Occupancy, both ends

Group sites publish a maximum and often a minimum. Yosemite's group campsites are for 13 to 30 people. Its standard campsites allow a maximum of six people, and the park is explicit that children count.

Ask: Do infants count? Do day visitors count? What happens if we arrive under the minimum?

2. Vehicles

Parking is usually tighter than the people limit suggests. Yosemite says up to five vehicles can park near a group camp that holds as many as 30 people, and it allows two motor vehicles at a standard site.

Plan: Build carpools around the vehicle limit and find out where extra cars may park before anyone leaves home.

3. What people may sleep in

Yosemite's group camps are tent sites, and its regulations state that RVs and trailers are not allowed at group campsites. One relative with a camper van changes which site you can book.

Ask: Tents only? Any limit on the number of tents? Is sleeping in a vehicle allowed?

4. Pets

Yosemite permits pets in its campgrounds with two exceptions, and group campsites are one of them. Dog owners tend to assume the answer is yes.

Plan: Ask every household about pets in your first message, before you choose a site.

5. Quiet hours and generators

Yosemite's quiet hours run from 10 pm to 6 am. Texas State Parks publishes the same hours. Yosemite also limits generators to three windows a day: 7 to 9 am, noon to 2 pm, and 5 to 7 pm.

Plan: A large group is louder than it thinks. Name a time when music stops and voices drop, and make it earlier than the posted hour.

6. Fires

Rules cover where and when, and they change with conditions. Texas State Parks allows campfires only in designated rings. From May through September, Yosemite allows wood fires in Yosemite Valley and at Hodgdon Meadow only between 5 pm and 10 pm, and they must be fully out by 10.

Plan: Check current fire restrictions in the last three days before arrival. Have a cooking plan that works without a fire.

7. Alcohol

This one differs sharply between agencies. Texas State Parks states that public display or consumption of alcohol is prohibited. Other agencies write different rules, and some campgrounds add their own.

Ask: Look for the word "alcohol" in the park's rules page, and if it is not there, ask. Do not assume from another park's rules.

8. Food storage

Where a park requires food storage, it is a rule and not a tip. Yosemite requires food to be properly stored 24 hours a day. For a group, that covers every household's coolers and snacks, not only the shared kitchen.

Plan: The kitchen lead owns food storage. Find out how much locker space the site has before planning the menu.

Arrival and departure

Check-in and checkout times bind the whole group. At Yosemite both are noon. A party there that has not checked in by the morning after its first night has its reservation cancelled, which is a reason to make sure the first arrival is someone reliable. Ask your campground what its late-arrival rule is and whether anyone but the reservation holder can check in.

Events that need a permit

A camping reservation covers camping. A ceremony, an organized program, or a gathering the park classes as a special event may need a separate permit. Yosemite lists organizational special events, religious gatherings, ceremonies, and large group activity camps among the events that require a special use permit. Its application carries a $100 non-refundable processing fee and must be submitted no more than six months and at least 30 days before the event, and paying the fee does not guarantee approval.

If your trip includes a wedding, a memorial, a baptism, amplified sound, or a hired caterer, describe it to the park in writing and ask whether a permit applies.

Where to find the rules

1. The site's reservation listing. People, vehicle, and equipment limits for that exact site.
2. The campground or park regulations page. Quiet hours, fires, pets, food storage, generators.
3. The park's alerts page. Temporary restrictions and closures.
4. Your confirmation email. Check-in rules and the cancellation terms that apply to your booking.
5. The campground office. Anything the pages leave unclear. Get the answer by email if you can, so you have it in writing.

The one-page brief

Send this three days before arrival. Fill it in from the official pages, keep it to one page, and put the rules people are most likely to break at the top.

• Trip: campground and site name, dates
• Arrive after / leave by: times
• First on site: name and phone
• Cars: how many are allowed at the site, who is driving, where other cars park
• Sleeping: tents only or not; where tents go
• Dogs: allowed or not
• Quiet hours: posted hours, and the group's own earlier time
• Fires: where, when, and who puts it out
• Alcohol: the park's rule
• Food storage: how it works at this campground and who is in charge of it
• Emergency: nearest hospital, who has the first-aid kit, where there is phone signal

Checklist: rules

The checklists on this page print cleanly, one box per line.

• Minimum and maximum occupancy confirmed for our site
• Vehicle limit confirmed; overflow parking arranged
• Equipment rules checked against every household's plans
• Pet rule checked
• Quiet hours and generator hours noted
• Fire rules noted; current restrictions rechecked before arrival
• Alcohol rule found in writing
• Food storage method and capacity known
• Check-in, checkout, and late-arrival rules known
• Permit question asked for any ceremony or event
• One-page brief sent to every household