Camping Trip: June 11-13, 2010

I'm in the process of organizing a Star Wars group camping trip and would like to invite SFFF members to join us. So far we have RL and 501st members attending, and I think it would be great if we could have add Fan Force and have a great camp out together.

As of this time, it sounds like we'll be camping the nights of June 11 and 12. That would mean arrival on Friday, June 11 and leaving on Sunday, June 13. Of course, the length of time is optional - if anyone would like to come for just one night that would be fine as well. For those who aren't into camping, there is also the option of coming out for a day trip.

We're looking at going to Henry Cowell Redwood State Park. The park is located in Felton, just north of Santa Cruz. It's a large and gorgeous park with plenty of fantastic redwoods - just like Endor! There is some really fabulous hiking. I believe the campground itself is in a chaparral section of forest, rather than redwood, but just a little hiking (or driving) gets you to some fabulous redwood areas. Some of the RL and 501st members are planning to stage some Endor photoshoots at some point. I'm looking forward to hiking, checking out the river, and having some good cookouts and campfires. Another activity option is the Roaring Camp train, which leaves from nearby and goes through the forest down to the beach by the Boardwalk.

Cost is $35/night per campsite, with a maximum of 8 people per site. The actual cost per person per night will of course depend on how many people attend. Very roughly, the basic cost will vary from $5-$8/night /person. This is just for the site; I don't have info yet on reservation fees or whether they charge park entry fee to campers.

If you are interested in joining the camping event, please post here. I'm hoping that we will start making reservations soon.

[image=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3628/3399589086_6375f46c5f.jpg]

Edit: Added current confirmed and tentative attendance list. This includes RL, 501st and SFFF. Updated 6/2/10

Please note that the common sites have room for one more person on Fri night. There are 4 open slots for Sat night.

Confirmed attendance - updated 6/2
Alison
Eva, her brother, Angelica and Joey Ford
Matt
Dale
Don +2 - Fri night only
Rachel
Russ and Gaby (site 65, not a common site)
Darksaber + 1 (site 65, not a common site)
Debi and kids (2?) (501st) (site 60, not a common site)
JediZabrak (Lloyd)
Ciscotiger (Anthony)
skye_solo
Ming

total confirmed Friday night: 22
confirmed Friday night at the common sites: 15

total confirmed Sat night: 20
confirmed Friday night at the common sites: 12

Tentative attendance - updated 4/13
nebelwerfer
Scott and Jessica
Kathy
Shea
Hollis DZC (Sat night)

Tentative people: If we have slots left over then it will be available to those on the tentative list. If we run out of open slots, then people can be free to either get their own site themselves or join us for the day but not camp overnight.

I'm definitely interested in coming up to hike and see the area and any photoshoots. I might camp overnight on the 12th if I can rustle up some supplies.

What a photo shoot might look like (also shot at Henry Cowell Park):

[image=http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b20/Anasian_Skywalker/TB%20Pics%20Santa%20Cruz%207-10-08/DSCN8826-1.jpg]

Costco and Sportsmans Guide have got specials on camping gear now.

I'm hoping to get my Luke Endor costume finished in time for this!

It would be great to have you come, Krissy! You might not need as many camping supplies as you think- for example, I'm sure there will be plenty of tent space, some camping stove, lanterns, tarps... that sort of thing. You'd probably need personal things like a sleeping bag and such, of course. As the time gets closer we'll coordinate on general supplies and equipment.

I'm lazy, I'll just sleep in my car

Or is it that you are really afraid of the ewokes Tom?
I would like to come for the weekend. I grew up camping but have not done it for several years. I have a bunch of supplies though.

Hehe. Anyone have one of those old ewok dolls?

Rachel - same with me. My family went camping every summer, and I went a few times out in Colorado. The last several years I keep saying I want to go, but never get around to it and before I know it summer is over. This year I really want to make sure I go. I'd also like to go up to Butano at some point... very pretty redwoods, and the beach is just a few minutes away as well.

Tom - keep in mind that your car might not be right at the campsite. It depends on how we end up arranging cars. I believe we're limited to one car per site at the site, and I think I remember reading that extra cars have to go to some overflow parking area. I know what you mean about it being easier, though. I've done the sleeping in the car thing myself once or twice, though that was for "camping" in line for movies! (How weird is it that we have different grades/levels of line camping? Some are all out with tent, tables and chairs, sunshades, ect. And some are not quite as involved, so it ends up easier to just sleep in the car!)

I made a day-trip scouting run to Henry Cowell Redwoods today for an extensive search through the campground. This is one of the campgrounds where you reserve a specific site (rather than pick your site at arrival), so I wanted people to have some info on which to base their selections. Armed with my camera, the voice memo recorder on my phone and a list of available sites (but alas, not a sweater), I took pictures and notes.

I'll post my notes on each site here once I have transcribed them. I'll put up some of the pictures, but probably not all of them. People are of course welcome to email me to request additional pictures of the sites.

Thanks for your legwork on this, Alison. I know how much work goes into it, having to do it myself for events and such.

As for an ewok, I'll see about borrowing a Wicket statue from a GGG member.

Here are the first set of campsite descriptions. It's going to take me a few runs to finish, so I'll be adding to this post as I have time. I hope that these brief descriptions, and the pictures to follow, can be of some assistance in helping people pick out their campsites. The size, quality, tent space, privacy and surroundings vary a lot across the different sites.

Please feel free to share the link to this post with other groups/boards that will be joining us. So far I believe that includes RL Endor and Sunrider bases and some 501st.

Please note that these campsites were available as of Saturday, March 6. Any of these sites could be reserved at any time. You will need to check ReserveAmerica for up to date availability.


4. Somewhat small site, no real good space for a tent. The parking is (comparatively) small and slightly sloped.

6. Has a much better pull-in spot, but again a small tent area that is pretty much right up against the picnic table.

10. Looks fairly nice, has a good pull-in area for a trailer, an area for a decent sized tent and then an area that might sit a small tent. The picnic table is farther back from the road compared to the last two.

13. Is nice. It backs out away from the edge of the campground so that you?re not right up against everyone else and have wilderness out the back. The parking is decently long; it?s not quite flat but has a bit of a slope. The picnic table is away from the road and there?s a semi-decent area over to the side for having a tent that isn?t right up against the picnic table.

16. Is nice in that it has a nice background facing away from the campground. It has a short, slightly sloped pull-in area, but no real decent place to put a tent unless it?s an extremely small one (pup tent?) right next to your table.

19. Not so ideal. It has a wide parking area; you might even be able to get two narrow cars parked if they would allow you. The back of the site backs up right to the shower building. There is a small tent area offset a little bit from the table.

23. Is a handicapped spot. It is across the road from the showers, has an asphalt pull-in, long and relatively flat. There?s an area sort of like a mini meadow behind the site where it would be semi-even ground where you could put a tent, as well as a separate area in the dirt that is kind of behind the picnic table.

24. Is another handicapped spot. Relatively open, it has an area kind of behind that could be used for a tent but it?s unclear how much of that area is shared with the camping spots that are behind it.

25. Is right next to the showers. It has a long pull-in spot, decently level. It has an area that could be used for medium-sized tents offset from the picnic table.

26. Has a decently long pull-in area, slightly sloped going up. It has bushes somewhat surrounding it, giving it a bit more privacy from some directions. There?s an area for a small-medium sized tent off to one end of the picnic table.

30. Has a good length pull-in, relatively flat. It has an area for a decent-large sized tent. The site overall is very open and exposed to view the road and around.

32. Long pull-in area, slightly sloped down. There?s not a clear good area to put a tent, with the exception of off in the trees off to the left there is a tiny little nestled area. It?s not clear whether that belongs to this site or the site next to it.
43. Is out of the forest and more in bushes. It has a decent pull-in. There is a slightly sloped area for a small tent, and then a real small pup tent ? or maybe chairs or a short table or something.

48. Has a medium to shorter parking area, more or less flat. This is kind of at the edge of the forest. It has an area for a decent medium sized tent, but it is kind of right near the roadside. There?s another area behind the food storage cupboard that is slightly more back and private, but might belong to the site next to it.

51. Has a set of 3 steps leading up to it. There?s an area that could be used for a decent sized tent off to the right as you go in, then your table is on the lef

I've uploaded the first set of pictures corresponding to the site descriptions above. Pictures can be found here. Some sites have more than one picture, such as to show tent areas or a section not visible in the main shot. Please feel free to ask me if you'd like a closer look at some of them.

I've transcribed the rest of my notes and added them to the post above. I've also uploaded more (if not all) of the pictures.

Personally, sites 62 and 58 are at the top of my list. They're nice, private, and pretty close to each other. I think Eva and/or I will probably go ahead and reserve two sites to start. Technically 2 sites can take up to 16 people total. If numbers get larger than that, then additional people can take responsibility for picking out sites and making reservations.

I will go if I dont have to work that weekend... I probably wont have to, so I guess you could say I'm
(tent)-ative

[image=http://sbvasce-ymf.org/galleries/solar_tent.jpg]

Today, I am reserving space number 58 and space number 60.
Alison is reserving space number 62 so that we can be next to each other, all in a row.

Dale & I can be in one of those spots, Eva.

I will definatly come Saturday night. Friday will depend on whether I can get it off of work or not. I will have to let you know. I have a bunch of camping gear so let me know what I need to bring.

Eva, unless you know about more people coming than I do, I don't believe we have enough people to get 3 sites. As it is, we're only at 12-15 people for Friday night (enough for 2 sites) and 10-12 people for Sat night (again, only enough for 2 sites). Plus, I am of the opinion that site 60 is not useful for groups. It is very small. Very cramped. And the only possible tent spot is for a very small tent right up against the picnic table.

If anyone knows of more people coming (such as 501st or Sunrider), please let me know. We need to know whether they are reserving their own sites, or if they are counting on fitting in at the site we are reserving. If it is the latter, that makes a big difference and we will have to re-evaluate everything.

I went ahead and have reserved site 62 for us.

We've been making reservations for our Endor camping trip, but I'm getting nervous about whether we are reserving the proper number of sites.

Dates: Friday, June 11 - Sunday June 13 (camping Fri and Sat nights)
Location: Henry Cowell Redwood State Park

I really need to know now whether people are planning to camp at the sites we are reserving for the group, if they are getting their own sites, or if they are not coming. We have been reserving sites based on the number of people who had previously indicated they were coming. If we do not have that number of people, either through them not coming or by reserving separate sites, then we are reserving too many sites. We only get a partial refund for canceling a reservation, so I'd like to avoid having to do so if possible.

Please let me know the following by Tues, March 16:

1. Are you planning on coming camping?
2. how many in your group?
3. are any of your guests tentative?
4. which nights will you be camping?
5. Are you going to stay at the group site, or are you getting your own separate reservation?

If you are still tentative, that's fine. Just let me know that you're tentative (if you haven't already in the past few days). As indicated above, we will not be counting tentative people for the reservation tally. However, we might not completely fill the sites we area reserving. If we have slots left over then it will be available to those on the tentative list. If we run out of open slots, then people can be free to either get their own site themselves or join us for the day but not camp overnight.

I have already reserved one site (#62) in my name. I am not sure yet what the status is on the reservations Eva said she was making.

Costs

Cost for the campsites is a total of $39/night/site. A site can take a maximum of 8 people per campground rules. (That does NOT mean that each site can FIT 8 people. Some of the campground's sites are very small.) Cost for the sites will be divided among the number of people at that site. So for example, if we have 5 people at a site, the cost per person per night will be $39/5= $7.80. For two nights that would be ($7.80)*2=$15. 60.

Each site comes with one day use pass for one car. Any additional cars must pay the $10 day use fee for each day they are there. We are allowed a total of only two cars per site.

I will be in attendance, and am firm about the dates. I will be staying both nights, and would like to stay at the group site.

Russ

Fabulous! It will be great to have you both there.

My wife and I are looking forward to camping with you all. we are good on the dates and will be there both nights. We would prefer to camp next to Irishjedi at the group site. See you guys there.

-X.D.

Oh, and it's just the 2 of us. the kids will be staying with family.

Cool! Sounds great, and we look forward to meeting your wife.

I think my terminology about campsites may have been a little confusing. The sites are regular campsites. They are not large group sites. Each regular site is allowed up to 8 people and is your typical family site. The ones that I picked were the best I could see, balancing factor such as space, layout, privacy and proximity to each other. Everyone please look at the pictures and descriptions above for sites 58 and 62 so you have a clear idea of what to expect. I picked sites that had options for more than one tent, some of them medium to large sized, but we don't have lots and lots of tent options. We will have to figure out how to juggle the space. As more confirmations come in today, we will get an idea of the size of the group. I will reiterate the site descriptions. From there we can decide if two sites are sufficient or if we want to pay a little more to spread out over 3 sites.

That's cool. I will defer to Russ on which campsite we want. He makes the plans, I go along for the ride and fix what ever he breaks. Like we said, I'm basically Chewbacca.

-X.D.

After much debate the 4 of us have decided on space 65 to camp at. If you could reserve it that would be awesome. Again our party consist of Russ, Gaby, Myself, and Beth my wife. This is going to be fun!

-X.D.

Hi XD - since you guys are doing a separate site, it might make sense for one of you to make that reservation. That way the site will be in your name and we won't have to deal with reimbursements. Does that sound ok?

You can reserve the site through Reserve America, either by creating an account and reserving online or calling them at 1-800-444-7275. The campground is at Henry Cowell Redwood State Park and we are reserving for the nights of Fri Jun 11 and Sat Jun 12. If you have any questions I'd be happy to assist.

I also have additional pictures of site 65 that I can upload, if you guys would like to see details like the potential tent sites. Just let me know.