Reservation No-Shows: Hoarding Sites Others Desperately Want It’s 7:01 p.m. on a perfect Friday evening. Somewhere, a family is gathered around a crackling campfire, toasting marshmallows under a star-dusted sky. But at the nearby campground, Site 14 sits empty. Not just tonight—it’ll sit empty all weekend. Not because of weather, an emergency, or a sudden change of heart. It sits empty because someone booked it months ago and simply… didn’t show up. Welcome to one of the most infuriating, yet entirely preventable, scandals of the modern outdoor experience: the reservation no-show. This isn’t a simple oversight. It’s digital-age hoarding. It’s the outdoor equivalent of ordering five entrees just to take a bite of one and sending the rest to the landfill while someone else starves outside. With a few clicks on a booking platform, someone has locked down a precious piece of public land, a site another family desperately wanted, and then treated that reservation with the respect of a used...

The Great Outdoors Entitlement Epidemic: Why Do Some Campers Think the Rules Don’t Apply to Them? Seriously? Is it just me, or has the campsite become the epicenter for a special breed of “Main Character Syndrome”? You know the ones. They roll in late, slam car doors like they’re announcing royalty, then proceed to blast their Bluetooth speaker at 2 AM because  their  playlist obviously enhances everyone else’s starlight experience. Quiet hours? Pfft. Mere suggestions for lesser mortals. Then there’s the trash fairies. They meticulously pack in gourmet snacks but somehow forget how bags work on the way out. “Oh, that candy wrapper? The squirrels  wanted  it!” No, Karen, the squirrels want you to use the bear-proof bin  15 feet away . Fire rings become personal incinerators for plastic bottles, leash laws are ignored by their “perfectly friendly” off-leash menace, and reserved spots? Just a loose guideline if  they  really like the view. What’s the deal...