Running Bear Camping Area

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Whenever we've visited the campground, trash is overflowing in all receptacles. Judging from the stand-offish manner of the manager, his wife and son, they are clearly there for the dough first and foremost. They try to run the campground in addition to their day jobs. The store facilities on site are old and rarely stocked. The children's play area and vehicle for providing "hay rides" also sit out in rain wind and snow, are all decolored and worn thru in places, and seem hardly safe anymore for anyone's children. Last summer the manager himself was vaccuuming the pool while folks were trying to relax in it, and he complained that he couldn't get his help to bother cleaning it. I noticed that the pool water gave me goose pimples even though it is supposedly "heated". Probably because it is filled from the garden hose and/or the heat is turned off to save a few bucks. Currently they are in the process of deforesting the campground, and the trees were one thing I enjoyed about the place. Guess they are going to squeeze a few extra dollars from that too. Too bad they didn't talk some of the plentiful posion ivy plants instead. I talked to some folks who've lived on the premises for years and they told us the ugly truth about how unfriendly the manager can often be. In their words "The manager is by no means a people person and we have no idea why he agreed to run his old man's campground. He has no business dealing with the general public with his personality, and his wife is hardly better. His son had some promise but the manager's ways are rubbing off on him which can't be helped if you are raised by the guy. We enjoyed living here when the manager's elderly father was running the place, he actually cared about the patrons." The last thing I observed was how half the campground gets flooded when it rains. I don't know how the rv'ers get out their doors with 5" of water coming right up, and I'm not just talking about 1 or 2 campers, but several. I don't get why they would be told to park on a level of ground under the trees that floods like that, particularly if rain is in the forecast. The field is no better as it floods too, and that is the other area rv'ers are directed to park. Lastly, the coin-op washing machines that appear to have been purchased second-hand from a laundromat are rarely in working order. The nearest laundromat is miles away. Oh well, pack a lot of clothes and rain gear and a thick layer of skin and your calamine lotion if you want to come here. Actually, we recommend going down the street, also on RT 5, heading toward Bow for a different campground and you may yet find the relaxation and nature there that you seek.