Nitinat Update

[arturo]

Where the hell on earth can you find such an amazing kiting site amongst the gint ancient trees in a rain forest and camp for 5$ a day If the toilets dont meet your high standards then tidy them up and don,t bitch about the small things . You can always go to one of the provincial campsites with no kiting and a line up and twiddle your thumbs. I love nitnat

[more force 4]

camp for 5$ a day... If the toilets dont meet your high standards then tidy them up and don,t bitch about the small things

With the fees going to $15 a day seems like we should at least get toilets swamped out once every couple of days. Staying at lots of similar BC Forest camps you get way more services (garbage pickup, water) either for free or for a much lower nightly rate. If the cost is just for the wind they should say so, and apparently Nimpkish has all the above plus wind and mowed lawn rigging areas, for free. Too bad its another 3 hours driving from Victoria!

[eksrae]

who do i see about paying five bucks?

[UnusuallyLargeRobin]

I love Nitnat ...but it doesn't mean you have to accept a crappy service (no pun intended) for your fees rendered. $15 at Nitnat is the upper limit of the stated typical $10-15/night fees charged at Forestry campsites (some are free!). Just think, we're a top paying site, maybe we can expect something. Interestingly, the website says the site is $13/night but there is $2 premium on waterfront sites! I/ve been charged $15 every time. I guess they think every site is a 'premium waterfront site' !

The Min. Forest site states the site is maintained to standard. The standard apparently may include; on site supervision, daily maintenance,facility/structure maintenance. I don't believe they provide any of those(?) in any consistent fashion.

If you conservatively estimate the 53 designated sites are occupied 45 nights a year/season, which at $15 per site generates $36,000 of revenue. As we all know, there is far in excess of 1 paying customer per site on average. How much money does it cost to keep the toilets stocked in paper, and what the heck, maybe even pump them out more than once a season.

You can also express your comments, good or bad about the site with Min.Forest at:
http://www.sitesandtrailsbc.ca/contact-us.aspx

[nanmoo]

ULR and others are right. Ambivalence about the fees is only natural but don't feel guilty if that feeling also feels more like pilferage . If people just sit back and take it regardless of what product is delivered then the fees will continue to increase and what we get for those fees will continue to decrease.

Hey, Nitinat is great, it is a nice spot in the wild for sure, we get it. But we are paying for something, and thus should get something. If we get nothing, then return it to the people, and we will sort it out, much like is the case now anyways.

[AC]

But it could be 35$ a night and u could still get nothing .

[abetanzo]

I'd rather help fix up the road and clean up some trails for my camping fees...
I've read the book, "How to Shit in the Woods" but I don't want to destroy the natural area with my poops! hahaha

[otisdadog]

Not sure what everyone is complaining about with respect to fees, I've been there about 4 times and I've only paid once since no one has been collecting fees.

Personnaly I'd just like to see some enforcement of how long someone can use a camp spot, setting up shop for the summer is somewhat unfair to the rest of us.

Some more spots would be nice.

[jim mckenzie]

It's an odd situation. The people who control the camp (the forest service and the locals) would seem to have no interest at all in the place. But the people who love it are willing to put up with just about anything for nothing more than the wind. By the sound of it, the lake is just going steadily down hill from it's heyday, something like 10 or 15 years ago. I'm wondering if I should even go this year. Crowds, site monopolizers, dog poop, the road, no water, and I assume the outhouses are even worst? (hard to imagine). I guess I'll probably put up with it too but I won't bring anyone with me, forcing them to endure a rather unpleasant campsite. Though we pain over this, the fact is that the situation is and has been for some time now, ridiculous. And I don't see the slightest indication of change for the better. Too bad, Nitinat is a treasure to those of us who love it.

[morewind]

Has anyone made the effort to get a personal contact in the government who has authority over this campsite? That might be a constructive start -- to open a direct dialogue with a real person and try to influence, or at least get some facts on the maintenance policy for the site.

[arturo]

oh great idea yea lets get the goverment and provincial bueracrats to make all those needed changes and regulate the campsite and put a great big f#%^&& list of rules and regulate how many people can camp and tell us when and what to do . You know the old saying if it aint broke don,t fix it and you complainers out there , take two minutes of your precious time , roll up your sleeves and wipe down the toilets ocassionaly and be thankfull to God that there are no rules , that we are self regulated and quit your whining , NitNat is Paradise , you can park and camp anywhere on the beach or in the forest or at a camp , How good is that Yea lets turn the entire place into an ashphalt parking lot with 10 campsites and a waiting list .Ditch the thought about getting other organizations involved

[UnusuallyLargeRobin]

Hmmm...maybe we're talking about a different site? Nitinat is regulated by government, there is a list of rules, and a "service provider" who can tell us what to do. The site is government owned and managed by our tax paying dollars..you do pay taxes ...and your camp fees don't you?

The issue is I'm paying a fee for what I perceive to be little or no service value as defined by the service conditions for the site. As I said, many other Forestry camp sites are free or have a lower camp fee with better service and amenities.

Regular (every other day?) stocking of toilet paper and cleaning of outhouses would go a long way to appeasing the "whiners"...or the other unlikely solution, take away the fee and there's nothing to whine about.

[eksrae]

People can have their own opinion of what is acceptable outhouse cleanliness. Maybe it's cleaner than your own home and your happy. But me I think in a years time some of the fees could go to a new toilet seat and a clean once in a while. I guess I'm a whiner

[thankgodiatepastafobreaky]

BYOToilet paper and enjoy. Pay the occasional humble Dididaht that comes around to collect. There are no REAL problems here, just people looking for something to talk about on BWD. Enjoy this GEM before the Gov decides to change it.

..and there were 4 bears cruising around with one trap set. Be sure to keep your food in a secure place so they are not encouraged to stay. And dogs that chase bears away do help.

[nanmoo]

oh great idea yea lets get the goverment and provincial bueracrats to make all those needed changes and regulate the campsite and put a great big f#%^&& list of rules and regulate how many people can camp and tell us when and what to do . You know the old saying if it aint broke don,t fix it and you complainers out there , take two minutes of your precious time , roll up your sleeves and wipe down the toilets ocassionaly and be thankfull to God that there are no rules , that we are self regulated and quit your whining , NitNat is Paradise , you can park and camp anywhere on the beach or in the forest or at a camp , How good is that Yea lets turn the entire place into an ashphalt parking lot with 10 campsites and a waiting list .Ditch the thought about getting other organizations involved

Have you been to the other Forest Service sites that dot the Province? It is the exact same situation, except if there is a fee, the poop stools get pumped and there are shit tickets to clean your ass. Sometimes the site is twice as remote as Nitinat and it is still in better shape. ULR is right on.

Apathy is not the right attitude here. Sure the fees could be $35 and we could still be getting nothing, but at what point do you stop bending over and taking it? The first stage after that is complaining, which we are doing quite well, which eventually should lead to an attempt at something being done and possibly some sort of resolution.