RED "Mud" Clay Sand being used in camp sites

[Sinclare]

Ok, first our setup: 2 11*17 tents with a 10*10 canopy tent in the middle with artificial rug over the sand.

Setup like this D()D with the tent doors opening into the canopy tent so that pretty much the whole sand pad was being used.

Now, during the heavy rains we had this portion of the site turn to mush D()D. You would just sink into the ground when you tried entering either of the tents at that end and we had to take them up and put heaters/fans on them for 2 days to get them back to normal. Even after my parents/sister left and we took up one of the tents it still became like that every time it came a good rain which made things difficult because you had to walk through it to get to the rug inside the canopy tent.

The first time it happened I called about it and a real nice maintenance CM came by. He said it was some new stuff a "engineer" sitting behind a desk came up with. He said that it was so bad when it was hard that everytime they would setup a rented tent, they would break so many stakes that they would have to bring double the number needed. I had that problem myself when setting up my tent on that end, I thought that I had hit a tree root or something (and I was using a heavy duty steel stake and big claw hammer).

If they continue to use this stuff, the fort will be a mess to camp in. I talked to another camper in the comfort station who had the same problem with it under his tent. What was wrong with the good old original sand that they had to replace it with this junk/gunk? I mean the rest of the site with normal sand drained good, staked good, and was never a problem. I see this stuff becoming a real problem in the future if it continues to be used. Even pop-up/pull campers will see the problem eventually if it gets under their wheels. I can just see them sinking into the stuff and being hard to pull back out. Not to mention that you need to keep them level so the fridge/air conditioner will work on older models.

Anyone else encountered this stuff? I think I'm going to write guest relations and let them know. I having all or most of a site pad in this stuff would be a nightmare.

 

[becky1960]

I have not seen that, most of the sites were were at used the sand with crushed shell mixed in. We were there in June and it rained hard a couple of times and the sand/shell held up well. We have that type of ground in Texas and when it rains its soft and dry its very hard.( Its called Colitchie, spelling might not be right)
They need to leave what they have alone as it works well.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

It's hard enough to keep the camper clean inside without some sort of mud being added to the mix. I was just in one of my storage compartments last weekend and it is pretty full of the sand/shell mix from FW. I left it in - made me nostalgic.

 

[Tent Camping Mom]

Was it just that one site they were experimenting on? I live in red clay city and that stuff is horrible, horrible, horrible! If it's like what we have here, it will stain everything! It's evil stuff. I hope they stay with the coquina/sand pads. BTW, what loop were you in?

 

[Sinclare]

It was 2000 loop, site 2057 and the red clay stuff was some they had added to the the front section of the pad. Apparently, they are using it as fill to shore up sites that need sand now. When I first called and complained I requested more "sand" but when he got there he said that it couldn't be added while it was wet and it would be the same stuff that was already there so I told him it wouldn't be any point in doing that.

Some has been added to many other sites in 2000 though from what he said but I think it was most likely in patches to fill in areas. If they keep using it though it will get worse. It wasn't just red clay, it was supposed to be a mixture of sand and stuff too but even so it was nasty. I still have it on the bottom of one of my tents in storage. Instead of that nice crunchy/sandy feel when walking in the old stuff when it's wet you get a sinking muddy clay. And if it rains really hard the stuff just absorbs it and you feet sink down into it. Not nice stuff at all.

 

[Colson39]

Ugh, I hope they don't use red clay, I don't see that being a good idea anywhere at any campsite.

The sand itself is bad enough when it gets wet, has been forever, but at least it drains somewhat. The clay will just get mushy and allow the water to pool, that's no good.