I don’t have a lot of interaction with other canoe campers in the Quetico, so I’m not sure if this is normal behavior.

Our group was out fishing so no one was in our campsite. When we came back, there were three canoes at our site landing with four people having a snack. Two others were up past our tents in the woods taking a bio-break.

Would you take a break at an occupied site when the campers are gone?

No

Wow. Some people have really poor judgment.

Never.

In the example given, a snack break was being made, but there certainly wasn't any etiquette being used. Did they really think that was acceptable?

Sure, there are honest people out there and they may very well have had no nefarious intent while they were utilizing a spot for a short break, but find a different spot. Find a flat rock someplace or a little opening on the shoreline for lunch and for doing one's business back in the woods.

Probably made the hair on the back of your neck stand up just a bit when your campsite came into view and you saw those people there.

I would excuse their poor manners if one of their party needed a latrine "stat" and our occupied campsite was the only one around. But it would be discourteous to have more than that one person exit their canoe. My scoutmaster taught me to never enter an occupied campsite without permission.

We had a similar experience except we were the ones that had pulled off to eat our lunch in an unoccupied, non-campsite, sandy landing off Basswood. Another party had landed several hundred yards away (assumedly for the same purpose) and came stomping through our lunch spot looking for a place to relieve themselves. Why they walked back towards the water I have no idea, but one of the dudes actually stepped over our picnic lunch rather than walking around us. Thankfully we never encountered that group again.

omg.... i would have taken photos from the water, got their names and emails and then sent them a nice review of campsite etiquette.

wow, unbelievable. i wonder if you had been in camp if they'd have asked to stop.
it makes me uncomfortable just thinking about this.

NEVER

That is obviously not okay.

I will go one further and say the only reasons to ever land on an occupied campsite would be an emergency or if you were invited from the water.

Clueless and careless.

Nope, very bad form. I try not to linger too long at an empty site when taking my lunch break. I don't want people to think the site is taken.

Absolutely not.

No. Have stopped at unoccupied campsites for a break, but never at an occupied one.

Quetico is only 1800ish square miles in size. My guess is that they could have found another place for lunch. I would have educated them, firmly, and invited them to leave my campsite right now.

Mike

Blatz: "Nope, very bad form. I try not to linger too long at an empty site when taking my lunch break. I don't want people to think the site is taken."

+1. Quetico or BWCA, IMHO.

Hammertime: "That is obviously not okay.


I will go one further and say the only reasons to ever land on an occupied campsite would be an emergency or if you were invited from the water."

100% agree.

The thought would never have even crosses my mind haha what inconsiderate people you encountered!

Not acceptable.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Or, to be a little nicer, "Get off my LAWN!"

Tom

MikeinMpls: "Quetico is only 1800ish square miles in size. My guess is that they could have found another place for lunch. I would have educated them, firmly, and invited them to leave my campsite right now.

Totally agree. Quetico is huge, it's like they were trying to be obnoxious. Actually, I can't even imagine such behavior. First timers maybe?

Dave

Absolutely not. Stopping at an occupied site for anything other than a dire emergency would never occur to me. I would have had some choice words for them, if I'd been in your position.

Never, I hardly ever stop at a campsite for a snack even if unoccupied (unless we have a #2 emergency). Also, as a woman traveling solo this would have made me very uncomfortable to have people hanging out in my campsite. Very, very NOT okay.

“This is not a Tim Horton’s”

YetiJedi: "

Blatz: "Nope, very bad form. I try not to linger too long at an empty site when taking my lunch break. I don't want people to think the site is taken."

+1. Quetico or BWCA, IMHO."

+2

Nope

A friend and I were camped on an island on Crown Land. That evening, four Canadians arrived and set up their tent a short distance from ours. FYI, Crown Land has no designated campsites. They were affable and tough, making a campfire and enjoying it despite swarming mosquitoes.

We had been camped on that island all day, trying and failing to catch smallmouth, which the Ontario government had said were present. So, from our tent, we asked them if they'd ever fished that lake. They said they had. We asked them what they'd caught.

"Only lake trout," they answered.

So, the next morning, we rose and fished for an hour, catching and releasing six lake trout to confirm what they'd said, then broke camp, and moved to an adjoining lake, where I caught a bass on my first cast.

Their presence didn't bother me, but the situation I described is a little different than a designated campsite. I actually enjoyed their happy campfire banter from our tent.

Plus, it was their land. I was a visiting foreigner, grateful to Canada and Canadians to enjoy their woods and water.

I personally would never stop at an occupied campsite and would expect the same from anyone paddling by. IMO, unacceptable.

I might snap

Completely unacceptable.

Where did you bury the bodies? Haha!

An emphatic NO. This might happen on a hiking trail, but not in the BW.

Had that happen to me too in 2009 in the Q…except my wife and I were in camp hanging out when they just appeared and walked into/around our campsite…Deuced everywhere and had lunch by the landing. Told me it was “their” traditional lunch spot and I shouldn’t have camped there.

Words were spoken, nothing was solved, it was 2 men and 7 late teens to early 20 year olds against just my wife and myself. I contemplated dusting them with Bear Spray but I came to my senses :)

Wonder if it was the same A-hole group you encountered?

T

Nope, not the same group. What is disturbing about your story is that this behavior is getting passed on to the teens.

timatkn: "Had that happen to me too in 2009 in the Q…except my wife and I were in camp hanging out when they just appeared and walked into/around our campsite…Deuced everywhere and had lunch by the landing. Told me it was “their” traditional lunch spot and I shouldn’t have camped there.


Words were spoken, nothing was solved, it was 2 men and 7 late teens to early 20 year olds against just my wife and myself. I contemplated dusting them with Bear Spray but I came to my senses :)


Wonder if it was the same A-hole group you encountered?


T"

Entitlement has become a problem with the outdoors. Just went on a public cabin overnighter where 16 people showed up in 1 group at 9pm in driving snow and 10 degrees. Half were young children. The mother brought a 6 month old infant up the 2.5 mile snowshoe hike in. They told us they do it every year and we have to let them stay. There was an unoccupied cabin .25 mile away. But we already cut firewood and had the stove going. That night was utter mayhem. Smoking and drinking in a tiny cabin with kids screaming. It was child abuse. I made sure to get the group leaders phone number so this will not happen again with this group. I understand that feeling you had.

timatkn: "Had that happen to me too in 2009 in the Q…except my wife and I were in camp hanging out when they just appeared and walked into/around our campsite…Deuced everywhere and had lunch by the landing. Told me it was “their” traditional lunch spot and I shouldn’t have camped there.


Words were spoken, nothing was solved, it was 2 men and 7 late teens to early 20 year olds against just my wife and myself. I contemplated dusting them with Bear Spray but I came to my senses :)


Wonder if it was the same A-hole group you encountered?


T"

Unreal !!
I would have packed up, and followed them.
They would not have any canoes, in the morning.

Stumpy: "

timatkn: "Had that happen to me too in 2009 in the Q…except my wife and I were in camp hanging out when they just appeared and walked into/around our campsite…Deuced everywhere and had lunch by the landing. Told me it was “their” traditional lunch spot and I shouldn’t have camped there.



Words were spoken, nothing was solved, it was 2 men and 7 late teens to early 20 year olds against just my wife and myself. I contemplated dusting them with Bear Spray but I came to my senses :)



Wonder if it was the same A-hole group you encountered?



T"

Unreal !!
I would have packed up, and followed them.
They would not have any canoes, in the morning."

+1 What Stumpy said.

Stumpy: "

timatkn: "Had that happen to me too in 2009 in the Q…except my wife and I were in camp hanging out when they just appeared and walked into/around our campsite…Deuced everywhere and had lunch by the landing. Told me it was “their” traditional lunch spot and I shouldn’t have camped there.



Words were spoken, nothing was solved, it was 2 men and 7 late teens to early 20 year olds against just my wife and myself. I contemplated dusting them with Bear Spray but I came to my senses :)



Wonder if it was the same A-hole group you encountered?



T"

Unreal !!
I would have packed up, and followed them.
They would not have any canoes, in the morning."

Good idea but I was going the opposite way…I’m too lazy for revenge…I’d have to reverse course and redo the Meadows portages :)

T

Actually, I'd leave them one canoe, so they could find the others.

We stopped once on a small island in Quetico's Sunday Lake to get rid of some coffee my (then) 65+ year old prostate was insisting I eliminate. We had seen NOTHING that suggested the island was occupied, or even had a campsite, or we wouldn't have stopped there. As we were yakking after the much-needed 'coffee break', a solo paddler came through a gap in the trees, and we apologized for our intrusion. Turns out he was on a 30+ day trip as a campsite volunteer whose tasks included cleaning up firepits. If I remember correctly, he had done more than 40 Quetico trips, and had spent several summers visits as a campsite volunteer. We had wonderful discussions about his campsite work and watched a couple bull moose videos he had taken during his stay. He also told us about Boy Scout Order of the Arrow work on the nearby Meadows portages. I don't think he'd spoken with folks for a couple days, we all enjoyed our brief visit.

That said, we would NEVER enter an obviously occupied campsite, paddlers present or not, even if I considered the site a 'traditional stop'.

TZ

I can’t believe this happens, I read and hear about it every year. My campsite is not a rest stop, lunch stop, site inspection for future trips. You need to relieve yourself go into the woods, also plenty of spots for lunch. It really needs to be addressed in the permitting for both countries. Now get off my lawn.

TrailZen: "We stopped once on a small island in Quetico's Sunday Lake to get rid of some coffee my (then) 65+ year old prostate was insisting I eliminate. We had seen NOTHING that suggested the island was occupied, or even had a campsite, or we wouldn't have stopped there. As we were yakking after the much-needed 'coffee break', a solo paddler came through a gap in the trees, and we apologized for our intrusion. Turns out he was on a 30+ day trip as a campsite volunteer whose tasks included cleaning up firepits. If I remember correctly, he had done more than 40 Quetico trips, and had spent several summers visits as a campsite volunteer. We had wonderful discussions about his campsite work and watched a couple bull moose videos he had taken during his stay. He also told us about Boy Scout Order of the Arrow work on the nearby Meadows portages. I don't think he'd spoken with folks for a couple days, we all enjoyed our brief visit.


That said, we would NEVER enter an obviously occupied campsite, paddlers present or not, even if I considered the site a 'traditional stop'.


TZ"

Your example is a great example of what if my experience was handled differently?…an introduction, an apology, asking to share…I am pretty easy going… but the leader walked right into camp, barked out orders to the others, they take their trowels out, my wife comes running back from our tent “their are men everywhere in our camp.” I confronted him and he said they wanted to view the falls…as I explained the falls viewing was further down he bit my head off and said I know I’ve been doing this for 30 years…then proceeded to tell me this was his lunch site and not a camp site.

T

I don't think that kind of attitude would have been used by a crasher in one of our camps. Several men in each of our camps open carry. Some former military, and one active police officer.