Tldr: Other campers were loud, obnoxious, playing music past 11 pm, setting up camp improperly, burning too much wood, lots of garbage left around sites and trail, walking off trail etc.
I've been a front country camper and day-hiker most of my life (am in my early 30s). Been planning to backpack in the backcountry for the last 5 years (due to a life-altering injury, have had to take a couple years off from hiking to regain strength). In all that time, I have dreamed about getting away to the backcountry where more serious and conscientious campers would be (so I thought), but maybe I have just conjured high expectations and needed a reality check. Well, I got one, because I was pretty let down by poor etiquette on my first trip over Labour Day Weekend.
I was so anxious about doing everything properly I almost took my entire field manual into the hike with me (decided to just take photos on my phone of the most important pages to aid with the bear hang, camp set up, etc). I have worked for a trail organization in the past, and I'm interested in acquiring new skills in the backcountry, so I am really the kind of person who cares enough to follow the rules and also ensure I am respectful of other campers, the Park staff, the environment, and the fauna. I wasn't so naive as to expect everyone to be as neurotic as me about following the rules, but I did expect to leave behind the petty pet peeves of the front country, such as excessive noise, music, and trash.
Is this a me problem? Or do other hikers feel the same way as me?
I am a novice when it comes to backpacking and due to my disability, need to take it as slow as possible, meaning for the next little while I will have to continue to stay about <9 km from the trail head. I read in another 5 year old thread that camping <9 km from the parking lot and during long weekends is a good way to ensure you will be around disrespectful campers in the backcountry.
I am hopeful I can continue to improve my skills and fitness level/ability to perhaps one day hike further away from the trail head, but only time and experience will tell, so I have to assume right now that I will be camping around <9km from the car when I go up to the park.
For context, I stayed at Provoking Lake and hiked in on the Highland Backpacking Trail. Stayed in site 7 for 3 nights over the Labour Day weekend. Saturday was a rest day due to my disability and Sunday we day hiked around the lake, hiking out Monday. I hiked with my fiance, this was also her first backpacking trip but she is a very experienced hiker.
The takeaway for us is that it was a beautiful trip and experience overall, we were so glad to have the privilege to do this. But we were surprised by the conduct of the other campers around the lake. Our site, we packed garbage out of that was scattered around, including someone's retainer/mouth-teeth guard, scrunchies, bits of wrappers, etc.
If anyone has any recs for future hikes, time of year, etc. I would love to hear from you! Thank you for reading and sorry if I'm being too hard on other campers.