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Stapylton Campground Overcrowding

nmonteith

22-Nov-2005
11:53:59 AM

Has anyone else noticed that the moderately new Stapylton Campground has reached saturation
point? It used to only be climbers - and there was always enough campsites to get a good spot every
weekend. These days it seems to be mostly familys in caravans or monstrous sized Scout or
instructional groups. The last three weekends I have been to the campground it has been totally full -
Melbourne Cup weekend it was so packed that we had to 'go bush' and find our own spot a bit closer to
Taipan - which is apparently not allowed according to Parks Vic regulations. That sdame weekend the
Arapiles campsite wa sonly half full. Last weekend over 40 scouts and their assorted 4WD's turned up
at 11.30pm and then proceeded to yell and yahoo until 1am whilst attempting to put their tents up,
construct trestle tables and proclaim the pit tiolets 'yuk!' at high volume. Isn't there some sort of un-
written rule at camping areas to be quiet after 10pm? Perhaps the recent Grampians TV ads and
assorted promotions have created a big influx of new 'tourist' visitors? In future I will be camping
elsewhere - in the bush, not in a school playground.

dalai

22-Nov-2005
12:15:31 PM

According to The Grampians National Park Management Plan 2003 - http://www.parkweb.vic.gov.au/resources/07_0938.pdf

Vehicle-based dispersed camping currently occurs throughout the park but is not permitted in specified areas (figure 4), including Urban Water Supply catchments and within 20 m of any stream, 50 m of any sealed road, 1 km of
designated campgrounds or within picnic areas.

Figure 4 at the end of the pdf displays only a small pocket in the Northern Grampians around Stapylton where bush camping isn't allowed.

Go bush and avoid the crowds.

nmonteith

22-Nov-2005
12:49:09 PM

According to that map my sneaky bush campsite within a 5min walk of the Flat Rock picnic area is
actually legal. Sweet.

Richard

22-Nov-2005
1:32:42 PM

overcrowding isn't just confined to stayplton. i was in halls gap checking out some accomodation for my sister and kids from canada, and the guy who runs the log cabins suddenely chanegd the tone of his voice - like he didn't want "someone else" to hear, and said, "look, it does not make sense for me to tell you this, as the proprietor, but don't come here on weekends over the summer, or on school holidays..it's just too crowded"

gfdonc

22-Nov-2005
3:12:21 PM

On 22/11/2005 nmonteith wrote:
>According to that map my sneaky bush campsite within a 5min walk of the
>Flat Rock picnic area is
>actually legal. Sweet.

Good one. I look forward to reading the directions to it in your upcoming guide ;-)

Super Saiyan

22-Nov-2005
6:26:22 PM

those scouts were a total pain in the ass... And by arriving at 9pm, we had the campsite RIGHT next to them grrrr

tmarsh

22-Nov-2005
7:38:04 PM

A few years ago, I had the misfortune of camping at Stapylton with a similar group of scouts. It was in the middle of summer and they were setting of fireworks and practising whip-cracking into the early hours. The rest of the campground was *livid*.

Still, it was a fairly easy matter to find the email address for the Victorian chief of the scouting movement and send an email to him, copied to the head ranger for the Grampians. They were both very interested to hear just what scouts were getting up to in the park.

richb

22-Nov-2005
7:52:37 PM

>Still it was a fairly easy matter to find the email address for the Victorian
>chief of the scouting movement...

Go Tim! Scouts will be first against the wall when the revolution comes if I've got anything to do with it. I've had the misfortune to be a scout, and its taken years to lose the pyromaniac urge.

Copper mine track which is reasonably close to the Stapylton campground also has some good bush sites and you used to be guaranteed of a nice quiet time. Also, down near Golton Gorge (off the Golton South Rd or something like that) there is a ripper spot tucked away in the trees next to a creek. We once spent a week camped there and its not far up to Stapylton or Mt Difficult and the Halls Gap crags (and some secret remote bouldering...). I'd like to categorically state that no climbing was done at G-Land.

rodw

22-Nov-2005
8:43:04 PM

Ah your all just a bunch of cranky old climbers, kids will be kids....have a few quiet beers before ya hit the hay and you wont hear shite....a bit of noise wont kill ya...if its upsets ya so much dont stay at a designated campground, go bush...

Eduardo Slabofvic

22-Nov-2005
10:41:59 PM

On 22/11/2005 rodw wrote:
>Ah your all just a bunch of cranky old climbers

Yeah! A bit of the old DK's at full bore in wee hours 'ill fix any of the aformentioned shenanigans.

AZ.Steve

23-Nov-2005
3:49:11 AM

I actually work for some of these (Scout?) school groups. Sometimes, groups (not my goups) at Stapelton can be seriously annoying and intrusive. It's not the kids fault, kids willl be kids. It's the fault of the leaders. If you have a problem with the way a certain group is behaving, find the leader and tell them their kids are being d*ickheads. I'm sure they'll find a way to quite them down and help them respect the space of other campers.

When we take groups to Stapelton we try to stay either at the sights closest to the Cave of Ghost's or the big area with the shelter. The sights just up, closest to the bouldering area seem to be the unwitten climbers or private camp.

I wouldnt suggest Golton Gorge along Copper Mine Track because that is also frequented by school groups. Go Bush, but please use the pit toilets. Another bush site I'd suggest is right by Stapelton. As you take a R out of Stapelton, keep going until the road makes a sharp 90 degree turn. There is a 4X4 track that keeps going straight from that turn and a few nice spots along there.

kieranl

23-Nov-2005
5:30:08 PM

Quite off-topic but this has jolted my brain into action. End of work day and I've some old clothes in the car so I might cruise out to Stapylton for some bouldering. Maybe Andersons. Peak-hour traffic shouldn't hold me up.

HM33

27-Nov-2005
4:45:03 PM

the campsite at stapylton was over crowded with flies all last week. and scouts.

There are 13 messages in this topic.