Although I grew up on Clarks Hill Lake in Georgia and still have a lake house there, my favorite lake of the dozens I visit each year is Lake Martin in Alabama. I have been fishing the lake and camping at Wind Creek State Park since my first club tournament there in 1975, at least once a year and often four or more times each year.

Last month I went to a club tournament there. Wind Creek has improvements made to the ramp and parking as an Alabama Tournament Lake and it is a great facility. The staff at the campground office and marina were extremely nice and helpful.

Four rules there confused me so I checked them out after I got home.

One, my partner and I were to set up a tent he was bringing but he was delayed until Thursday morning. I slept in my van Wednesday night. When he arrived early the next morning we went fishing, leaving both vehicles and boat trailer on the campsite I had paid for, with coolers, a grill and other camping things on the site. At 2:00 pm I received a call from the park saying my site was not in compliance since there was no tent on it and it would be considered open. That was no problem since there were only three sites in use in the whole area of over 40 sites, but they insisted I come in and set up a tent immediately.

I called and talked to Bruce Adams when I got home. He is a ranger at the park. He explained the rule about a tent was for the convenience of other campers to know the site was open but they would make exceptions if you were in an RV since that might be the only way to travel. That seems strange – You can leave a site completely empty if you drive off in an RV but you can’t leave a bunch of stuff on your site without a tent or it will be considered vacant. Seems an empty site would give others coming into the park the idea it was available much more than one with a bunch of stuff on it.

Two, we stop the second day of our annual two day tournament at 1:00 on Sunday since the rule has always been we had to vacate the campsite by 2:00 and we could pack up after weigh-in. This year the rule, printed on the front of the park pass under Campsite, Visitor, Cabins, is you have to vacate the site by 11:00 am. I found out the 11:00 checkout is only for cabins – on the back it says checkout of campground after 2:00 requires an additional fee. We did not notice the note on the front only applied to cabins when we saw it just before going to bed Saturday night.

Three, there is a rule only one camping unit can be on a site. That meant my partner and I have to sleep in the same tent, no matter how much one of us snores or any other problems that may cause. That does not seem very tournament friendly. And it seemed several sites around me had more than two units with many people using them.

I was told that was also for other campers convenience and the park was in the business of selling campsites, so two men to sleep in different units would have to get two sites.

Fourth is you must camp in a “real” RV or tent. Does that mean my van, which I have built a bed in and carry microwave, coffee pot, heater, fan, radio and other camping equipment, is not “real?”

I was told my van would be a real RV since it is set up for camping.

These rules apply to all campgrounds in all Alabama State Parks.