20 U.S. Campgrounds So DANGEROUS Park Rangers Refuse to Sleep There After Dark

📕 Nearly every campground in this video comes down to one choice made in daylight: where the tent goes. I wrote those choices down in one field guide, Stay Found. What to carry, what to leave on the kitchen table and what to do in the first hour if somebody doesn't come back: → https://stayfoundbook.com Twenty real U.S. campgrounds where something went wrong after dark, told by a retired search and rescue ranger. A minister in Montana watching the river run the wrong way. A cedar about 200 feet tall falling on a tent before midnight. A flood warning that never reached the valley. A grizzly that left a piece of its own tooth in a tent. They go in the order I give on air: by what became of the ground where the tents stood. I'm Cliff Hollis. Thirty-two seasons as a backcountry ranger in the mountain West, the last fifteen running search and rescue. I never worked any of these twenty. The record behind each one is below. WHAT THE GROUND IS TODAY STILL OPEN 20. Detroit Lake, Oregon. Beachie Creek Fire, 2020. Record: Keizertimes; Oregon Parks. 19. Alley Spring, Missouri. Jacks Fork flood, 2009. Record: NPS report via National Parks Traveler. 18. Hayes State Park, Michigan. Falling maple, 2013. Record: CBS Detroit; Michigan DNR. 17. Ponderosa, Tonto NF, Arizona. Two bear attacks, 2012. Record: KTAR; Arizona Game and Fish. 16. Bowman Lake, Glacier. Bear in camp, 1992. Record: NPS Morning Report 92-263. 15. Difficult, White River NF, Colorado. Tent bans, 2011 and 2025. Record: Forest Service releases. OPEN WITH CONDITIONS 14. Crater Lake, Maroon Bells. Bites through a tent, 2011. Now: permit and bear canister. Record: Glenwood Post Independent; CBS4. 13. Halape, Hawaii Volcanoes NP. Earthquake and tsunami, 1975. Now: permit, 16 a night. Record: NOAA; USGS HVO; NPS. 12. Ovando, Montana. Fatal grizzly attack, 2021. Now: food lockers. Record: Board of Review report; Blackfoot Challenge. 11. Rainbow Point, Hebgen Lake. Fatal grizzly attack, 1983. Now: food in approved containers. Record: UPI; Recreation.gov. NO TENTS 10. Soda Butte, Montana. Fatal grizzly attack, 2010. Now: hard-sided only. Record: Investigation Team Report, Montana FWP. CLOSED, BEING REBUILT 9. Mammoth Pool, Sierra NF, California. Creek Fire airlift, 2020. Rebuild to 2027. Record: Forest Service; Vertical; SFGate. 8. McCormick's Creek, Indiana. Tornado, 2023. New campground set for 2028. Record: NWS Indianapolis; Indiana DNR. 7. Big Basin Redwoods, California. CZU fire, 2020. Three campgrounds proposed for removal. Record: California State Parks; SFGate. NO OVERNIGHT STAYS 6. Horseshoe Lake, Inyo NF, California. Carbon dioxide from the ground, since about 1990. Record: USGS field guide; California Wild. 5. Stagger Inn, Idaho Panhandle NF. Falling cedar, 2013. Now day use only. Record: Spokesman-Review; Bonner County Daily Bee. 4. Albert Pike, Ouachita NF, Arkansas. Flash flood, 2010. Day use only since. Record: USGS SIR 2011-5194; NWS Little Rock. THE GROUND IS GONE 3. Upper and Lower River, Yosemite. New Year's flood, 1997. Record: NPS; NWS Hanford; SFGate. 2. Johnson's Shut-Ins, Missouri. Reservoir breach, 2005. Record: FERC; St. Louis Public Radio. 1. Rock Creek, Madison Canyon, Montana. Hebgen Lake earthquake and slide, 1959. Record: USGS Professional Paper 435; ASDSO. Stay found, folks. #Camping #ParkRanger #NationalParks