Risky Neck of the Woods : Most Campgrounds Safe, but Officials Warn of Rose Valley

The tent may help keep the bugs at bay.

The air mattress may provide much needed padding for your knees and hip bones.

And a pillow may help align your neck properly for a good night’s sleep.

But if you plan on schlepping a van full of folding chairs, two-burner stoves, bikes, coolers, canoes, lanterns and oversized dome tents to a Ventura County campground for Labor Day weekend, there is one small gadget that you probably have overlooked: a pair of earplugs.

That’s right. Area campgrounds, like others throughout the country, can be loud on a busy weekend. Minivans drive by in the middle of the night, kids scream, dogs bark and sometimes neighbors party.

But with the exception of a handful of campgrounds in the Rose Valley Recreation Area where safety is a serious concern, noise is about the only annoyance you are likely to come across in county campgrounds, according to both campground operators and police officials.

With it’s unregulated campsites and lack of regular law enforcement, the Rose Valley’s three camping areas have attracted gang members and teenagers whose idea of a good time is an all-night party, officials said. The facilities have been vandalized, campers have been threatened and, on occasion, weapons have been drawn, officials said.

But the Rose Valley area is unusual, and most county campgrounds are safe family retreats.

“This year has been very good,” said Sgt. Rod Thompson of the Sheriff’s Department’s Ojai station. “We have had few incidents on our campgrounds compared to previous years.”

That is not to say campgrounds are completely calm. With about 350 sites, Lake Casitas Recreation Area is the county’s largest campground. This year, the Sheriff’s Department has been called to the area 53 times, mostly for minor disturbances. But with up to 10,000 day users during busy weekends, that is still a small number, Thompson said.

“Casitas is a pretty safe campground,” Thompson said. “They have a patrol that will call us.” The campground has exercised good crowd control and denies entry to minors unless they are accompanied by a responsible adult, Thompson said.

Pam Dutton is a Casitas regular. The 38-year-old Ventura resident grew up in a house just above the lake and has been camping on the lake shore since she was 6. She now uses her $50-a-year frequent visitor pass on a monthly basis.

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On a recent weekend, Dutton sat on a lawn chair near her mobile home watching her 11-year-old son play in a portable Jacuzzi--a small inflatable pool equipped with a battery powered bubble maker.

“It’s safer here than in town,” Dutton said. “I love it here. It has changed a little bit over the years. Now there’s a lot more people from out of town.”

Only once, Dutton said, did she have somebody rummaging through her ice chest. Her dog barked, and the intruders left.

Casitas is popular with families. Kids run freely between the oak-covered campsites and the recently built playgrounds. Many parents say it is a good place to bring children.

“They can run around by themselves,” said Gabriel De La Torre of Oxnard. “We come once in awhile to get out of the house. It’s nice. There can be party-goers here and there. But I never had any complaints.”

Along the coast, several of the campgrounds operated by the state parks also boast of family atmosphere.

“Campgrounds pose minimum problems,” said Frank Padilla, a supervising ranger with Point Mugu State Park. The park has a zero-tolerance policy on noise after 10 p.m. and minors caught with alcoholic beverages, he said.

“If there is noise, we take the necessary action,” Padilla said. But park rangers have only had to evict a handful of rowdy campers this season, he added.

But with no camp hosts, no reservations and not much of a police patrol, the Rose Valley Recreation Area remains one of the county’s most troubled outdoor destinations. Lions Camp along the Sespe Creek is particularly bad, officials said.

“It’s not like it happens every weekend,” said Don Turner, a law enforcement officer with the Forest Service, who patrols the campgrounds in the Los Padres National Forest along California 33. “But at times, Lions camp can be pretty rough.”

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On a recent weekend, Lions turned out to be fairly quiet.

At one end of the campground, Allen Otenell, an oil rig worker from Ventura, sat around a campfire with three friends. A plastic bucket full of ice kept their beer keg cold. A boombox quietly played a mix of soft country music and oldies.

“During summertime it gets kind of loud,” said Otenell, who comes to Lions a few times every year. But nine times out of 10, he said, people cooperate when they are asked to lower their voices or keep their music down. “There’s good and bad people everywhere,” Otenell said. “There are no rowdies who are looking for fights here.”

Despite the presence of a group of Oxnard and Camarillo teenagers who said they had come to Lions to party, most of the noise that weekend came from Troop 261--a group of 11- to 14-year-old Boy Scouts from Oxnard.

“Unfortunately, most disturbances usually come from our troop,” said leader Bruce Darley, who brings the boys to Rose Valley campgrounds on a regular basis.

But law enforcement officials paint a different picture. Lions Camp and the Rose Valley Recreation Area are not places to take a family, they say.

“This year we have had reports of fights, weapons being drawn, people being threatened,” Turner said. Lions attracts gang members from Oxnard to Santa Paula, skinheads from Ventura, and teenagers in general who hope to party through the night, Turner said.

The Forest Service and sheriff’s deputies patrol the area from time to time, he said. But due to lack of resources, the law enforcement is not sufficient. “We are stretched pretty thin,” Turner said. “There are not enough of us and we can’t be up there 24 hours.”

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The troubles in the Rose Valley area are not new, but a solution has eluded officials for years. After Lions Camp was the scene of a slaying in 1994, Forest Service officials tried to hire a private operator to run the campground. A private contractor would maintain facilities, charge admission fees, employ an on-site manager and possibly install a phone, officials hoped.

But so far, no one has come forward to take over the concession. The nearest phone remains miles away, and the area is out of reach for most cellular phones.

But privatizing Rose Valley may be the Forest Service’s best bet.

A similar effort on the far eastern edge of the county has paid off. The Blue Point Campground near Lake Piru was closed three years ago due to lack of personnel, particularly law enforcement personnel, said Charlie Robinson, a recreation officer with Los Padres National Forest. The 42-site campground had become a magnet for rowdy youngsters, vandals and gangs, he said.

Blue Point reopened May 18 under the management of the United Water Conservation District, which also operates the 200-site Olive Grove and 28-site Oak Lane campgrounds.

“They are doing a great job,” Robinson said. “The public is glad that it’s reopened and it’s safe.”

Blue Point offers primitive campsites, similar to those in the Rose Valley. But rangers supervise the area almost around the clock, said Doug West, the district’s park and recreation manager. The campground has once again become a destination for families, he said.

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A private operator also runs the Forest Service’s Wheeler Gorge Campground along the Matilija Creek just north of Ojai. A camp host lives at the campground’s entrance and the area has been free of troubles.

“I like it here,” said Richard Aguirre of Montebello. He and his family have been annual Wheeler campers for the past six years. “There is enough shade and a beautiful creek,” he said. Leaning against his orange 1974 Volkswagen bus, Aguirre added: “Sometimes neighbors don’t go to sleep on time. They have their radios on. But you put up with a little inconvenience everywhere in life.”

Nothing a pair of earplugs won’t fix.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Area Camp Sites

Here is a roundup of the county’s most popular campgrounds. Reservations are recommended for holiday weekends.

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County Parks

For reservation and information call 654-3951.

* Hobson Beach Park, 31 sites, no hookups, reservations recommended, $16.

* Faria Beach Park, 42 sites, no hookups, reservations recommended, $16.

* Foster Park, 48 sites, no hookups, no reservations, $11.

* Rincon Parkway, self-contained recreational vehicles only, 112 sites, no reservations, $12.

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County Parks Leased to Private Operators

* Kenny Grove, reservations, 524-0750.

* Oak Park, reservations, 527-6886.

* Steckel Park, reservations, 933-3200.

* Dennison Park, reservations, 656-6753.

* Camp Comfort, reservations, 646-2314.

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State Parks and Beaches

For reservations call (800) 444-7275.

* McGrath State Beach, 174 sites, no hookups, Friday and Saturday $18, Sunday $17.

* Emma Wood State Beach, no reservations, 61 sites, no hookups, $12.

* Sycamore Canyon Campground, 47 sites, no hookups, $18.

* Thornhill Broome Campground, 63 sites, no hookups, $11.

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Los Padres National Forest

No reservations and no drinking water at Lions Camp, Middle Lions and Rose Valley Campground in the Rose Valley Recreation area or at Beaver, Pine Mountain and Reyes campgrounds off California 33. Camping is free.

* Wheeler Gorge, 72 sites, no hookups, reservations (800) 280-CAMP, $12.

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Lake Casitas Recreation Area

For reservations call 649-1122. For information call 649-2233.

350 sites from full hookups to tent sites. From $12 to $37. Day Use Fees.

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Lake Piru Recreation Area

For reservations call 521-1500.

* Olive Grove Campground, 200 sites, including hookups for $16, $19, $22.

* Blue Point, 42 sites, no hookups, $16.

* Oak Lane, 38 sites, no hookups, $16.