If you don't read the rest--my number one complaint--10pm Quiet Time on Saturday night is unreasonable. If you violate this, you will be screamed at, you will not be warned, you will be threatened.
I spent this weekend at Pemi River Campground, prior to that I hadn't been there since the late 1990's. Back then, I had camped there a good amount with my friends-we were in our twenties and liked to go for river trip and tubing aspect of it. The campground was bare bones, somewhat run down, affordable and the customer service was poor. It had been run by one person back then and it was no wonder she could seem cranky. She'd rent you a tube or kayak, throw it in the back of her truck and drive you up the river herself.
I returned with some friends this weekend, we are now in our 40's, along with children, mostly older teenagers. Once again, we went for the tubing and river aspect.
Some things have changed for the better. They are under new ownership. They have what appears to be a staff of multiple people, who are friendly and courteous.
They have a basic store where you can get coffee and odds and ends, including water shoes for the river. They now have mini golf, the playground is spruced up. They now have seasonal campers there. The place once seemed dead and now seems alive! I don't think they offer any organized activities, in many other ways, it is still extremely basic. What's cool is that they now have vans with canoe/kayak/tube trailers and many drivers for them. So everyone who wants to take a river trip gets transported in a timely manner and they even drive around and pick you up at your campsite for this. That's a nice feature. We were close to the rear bathroom, nearest the beach, and although I saw a man go into to clean it, he did not wash the floors. They smelled extremely foul and of urine at all times. PU!
I had no major complaints until Saturday night. It was one of my friends daughters 18th birthday party. We were all sitting around a campfire, adults and children alike playing guitar and singing. I'm sure we were not quiet, and neither was the rest of the campground. Out of the darkness, we start getting SCREAMED AT to "SHUT UP, OR LEAVE NOW". He said more than that, but his approach was the rudest I've ever encountered. It was 10:15pm on a Saturday night, no one was watching a clock. There was a loud blues festival going on right down the street. Yes, we were breaking a rule. I understand that they can set whatever rules they desire. Their approach and customer service skills in that situation were the worst I've encountered at a campground in that moment. No one in our group was out of hand, or drunk, reckless or careless. We were singing around a fire, with kids. We stopped playing, singing and quieted down.
Let's be realistic about something here. People who like to camp like to sit around a fire and laugh, it's fun, some like to sing. It's about being together. Summer is short. Don't kill the joy. Most people who are camping do not have tiny babies or aren't elderly and go to bed at 8pm--that's reality! Be honest about the kind of people who camp and what they do. Otherwise you are in denial.
The next morning, before leaving I did tell the owner that I had observed lots of positives and improvements in the campground, but that his approach the night before was quite rude.
To put things into perspective, I have a seasonal campsite at another campground. These two campgrounds can't be compared, they are apples and oranges. One is bare bones, one is about the customer at every turn with top notch facilities. At my home base seasonal campground, our quiet hour is 11pm, which is a little bit more reasonable. I've never seen our campground owners scream or act in such a rude way to their guests. At our campground, we keep a nice balance of having a lot of laughs and not having things too out of control.
In summary, Pemi River Campground is a great basic campground for tubing down the river with friends, they take care of the rental and transport part of this very well. Their pricing is somewhat high for the campsites and the equipment rentals.The facilities are basic. You can have a great time here, but they take the 10pm quiet time a little too seriously, as long a you are conscious of that, you will be okay. read more