Hope to see some great pics from the weekend!i I'm definitely disappointed I couldn't make it..
FCW-6 Flashaholics Camping Weekend! NJ, PA, NY + AREA on 6/10/10 - 6/13/10
- Thread starter KartRacer31
- Start date
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"Thanks" to everyone for a great trip. I only did Friday night and all day Saturday but it was worth getting the gear out again!
"Tim" Organization is the key, and you did a fine job! Everyone is busy writing their reviews as we speak! Great stuff!
"HSG" Was hoping you could have made it Sat- was looking forward to seeing the "CPF" edition Lumapower.
Always glad to " Demo" the Tactical 2000! Great trying out the Tri-V ( Thanks Karl):thumbsup: Can't wait to see a pic of the "Big" chair!
Tim,Data, Dizzy, Ray, Carrot, Karl and everyone- see you at the next one! Can you say,"Dingman's Ferry"
"Thanks" to all the sponsors! Great stuff and it is in good hands- we will get the word out!!:thumbsup:
"Tim" Organization is the key, and you did a fine job! Everyone is busy writing their reviews as we speak! Great stuff!
"HSG" Was hoping you could have made it Sat- was looking forward to seeing the "CPF" edition Lumapower.
Always glad to " Demo" the Tactical 2000! Great trying out the Tri-V ( Thanks Karl):thumbsup: Can't wait to see a pic of the "Big" chair!
Tim,Data, Dizzy, Ray, Carrot, Karl and everyone- see you at the next one! Can you say,"Dingman's Ferry"
"Thanks" to all the sponsors! Great stuff and it is in good hands- we will get the word out!!:thumbsup:
Lighthouse one
Flashlight Enthusiast
FInally got back and have a bit of time: Here are some photos:
Hanging out with Carrot his Dad and friend.
Tom doing a flip video of Carrots knife collection
Justin found an ity bity Buddy!
Data's tent setup...
Ok...there's something odd about these kids in the chair...
Time to put up the rain tarp
TIm likes BIG tarps...30x 60 I think!
See...we train the kids early . A happy campkid!
Sam and Heidi brought a telescope...they're going to look for their tax refund!
Tom attempts to give a tree an I-V...Ok, its some water filter
Bonnie demonstrates proper use of a headlamp to inspect a marshmellow
Run for the hills! There is a weird virus at this campsite.!
Time to rest and watch the campfire...
We had a bit of rain Saturday, but overall a great week-end. Next time we are going to the Delaware Water Gap to camp on the River near Bushkill Falls.
Hanging out with Carrot his Dad and friend.
Tom doing a flip video of Carrots knife collection
Justin found an ity bity Buddy!
Data's tent setup...
Ok...there's something odd about these kids in the chair...
Time to put up the rain tarp
TIm likes BIG tarps...30x 60 I think!
See...we train the kids early . A happy campkid!
Sam and Heidi brought a telescope...they're going to look for their tax refund!
Tom attempts to give a tree an I-V...Ok, its some water filter
Bonnie demonstrates proper use of a headlamp to inspect a marshmellow
Run for the hills! There is a weird virus at this campsite.!
Time to rest and watch the campfire...
We had a bit of rain Saturday, but overall a great week-end. Next time we are going to the Delaware Water Gap to camp on the River near Bushkill Falls.
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Lighthouse one
Flashlight Enthusiast
Sam....sorry I misplaced your ham sandwich. Give me a mailing address, and I'll ship it in a plain envelope. Should get there in a week or 10 days.
KartRacer31
Flashlight Enthusiast
Hi Everyone!
Well, fun was had by all!
First up thanks again to all of our sponsors for giving us so much great stuff. Everyone was able to go home with 5-6 items!!! I look forward to reading everyone's reviews, as well as doing several of my own, including some special long term testing of several items. In fact, I'm sure many of these items will be seen again at the next FCW.
Thanks for everyone for making it such a great event! You guys all rock. I appreciate all the thanks. I love doing this, and hope we can all do it again soon.
We had a great turn out, and pretty good weather overall. Thursday and Friday were perfect - great temsp and low humidity. Saturday we got a little bit of rain, but our super sized tarp kept us dry. And Sunday was a bit humid, but at least it was not raining.
I've been camping at Hickory Run State Park for 14 years, and I've never had an issue with a "jerky" ranger, and I use jerky in quotes, because she was only doing her job. For those who were not there, the issue is that the ranger was following the rules a bit too closely and made move most of our vehicles to the extra car parking area. It was a few minute walk away, but a bit of a pain, and most importantly not necessary. Easy fix... Next FCW will be at a new venue. Hickory Run is a great venue, but we may be outgrowing it anyway, and a change of views may be nice as well.
It was great seeing everyone. I had a really great time, and based on all the talk about looking forward to the next FCW, I believe everyone else had a great time too.
All the lights we got to play with... UH, I mean test, were great, but I also want to be sure to make mention of GoingGear's support in the way of some great camping gear as well. Some of the items we made quick use of included the 550 para cord to put up our tarp; the fire starters came in very handy; and the wonderful first aid kit... which Kid9P found very handy after cutting his finger!
Special thanks to everyone who fed me throughout the weekend; Tom for sharpening my knife; Dizzy for bringing the tarp home; Dan for fixing that one light that wasn't working (we will not mention who supplied it); Justin for the drinks; I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch here, so... and everyone else for helping make FCW-6 a geat success! :thumbsup:
Well, fun was had by all!
First up thanks again to all of our sponsors for giving us so much great stuff. Everyone was able to go home with 5-6 items!!! I look forward to reading everyone's reviews, as well as doing several of my own, including some special long term testing of several items. In fact, I'm sure many of these items will be seen again at the next FCW.
Thanks for everyone for making it such a great event! You guys all rock. I appreciate all the thanks. I love doing this, and hope we can all do it again soon.
We had a great turn out, and pretty good weather overall. Thursday and Friday were perfect - great temsp and low humidity. Saturday we got a little bit of rain, but our super sized tarp kept us dry. And Sunday was a bit humid, but at least it was not raining.
I've been camping at Hickory Run State Park for 14 years, and I've never had an issue with a "jerky" ranger, and I use jerky in quotes, because she was only doing her job. For those who were not there, the issue is that the ranger was following the rules a bit too closely and made move most of our vehicles to the extra car parking area. It was a few minute walk away, but a bit of a pain, and most importantly not necessary. Easy fix... Next FCW will be at a new venue. Hickory Run is a great venue, but we may be outgrowing it anyway, and a change of views may be nice as well.
It was great seeing everyone. I had a really great time, and based on all the talk about looking forward to the next FCW, I believe everyone else had a great time too.
All the lights we got to play with... UH, I mean test, were great, but I also want to be sure to make mention of GoingGear's support in the way of some great camping gear as well. Some of the items we made quick use of included the 550 para cord to put up our tarp; the fire starters came in very handy; and the wonderful first aid kit... which Kid9P found very handy after cutting his finger!
Special thanks to everyone who fed me throughout the weekend; Tom for sharpening my knife; Dizzy for bringing the tarp home; Dan for fixing that one light that wasn't working (we will not mention who supplied it); Justin for the drinks; I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch here, so... and everyone else for helping make FCW-6 a geat success! :thumbsup:
KartRacer31
Flashlight Enthusiast
Here is another reminder of all the sponsors for FCW-6, and direct links to their web sites so you can check out (and buy) all the great stuff they offer.
4Sevens: www.4sevens.com CPF discount: 8% off any item, $20 minimum order, Code: CPF8
BrightGuy: www.brightguy.com check out their website for special shipping deals.
Bug Out Gear USA: www.bugoutgearusa.com 10% off JetBeam lights, use code: cpfjet and you can get free domestic shipping on orders over $49.99
Dorcy: www.dorcy.com and for 20% off and free shipping go to www.dorcydirect.com and use coupon code: CANDLE
Going Gear: www.goinggear.com 10% off with coupon code ggcpf10, and free shipping on domestic orders over $49.
Lighthound: www.lighthound.com coupon code: cpf gets you an extra 2% off, and you can also get free domestic shipping on orders over $75.
Lighthouse one: CPF member donating one of his custom, hand made Drum Lights.
Lumapower: www.lumapower.com
Pacific Tactical Solutions: www.pts-flashlights.com Don't forget about the CPF discount - see Mike's post for a direct link to it.
Petzl: www.petzl.com
Phoebus Tactical Flashlights: www.phoebustactical.com 10% discount for CPF members, use code CPF10 on any purchase over $30.
Princeton Tec: www.princetontec.com
Stanley Tools: www.stanleytools.com
Now go do some shopping and get some of the great items you saw at FCW-6!
4Sevens: www.4sevens.com CPF discount: 8% off any item, $20 minimum order, Code: CPF8
BrightGuy: www.brightguy.com check out their website for special shipping deals.
Bug Out Gear USA: www.bugoutgearusa.com 10% off JetBeam lights, use code: cpfjet and you can get free domestic shipping on orders over $49.99
Dorcy: www.dorcy.com and for 20% off and free shipping go to www.dorcydirect.com and use coupon code: CANDLE
Going Gear: www.goinggear.com 10% off with coupon code ggcpf10, and free shipping on domestic orders over $49.
Lighthound: www.lighthound.com coupon code: cpf gets you an extra 2% off, and you can also get free domestic shipping on orders over $75.
Lighthouse one: CPF member donating one of his custom, hand made Drum Lights.
Lumapower: www.lumapower.com
Pacific Tactical Solutions: www.pts-flashlights.com Don't forget about the CPF discount - see Mike's post for a direct link to it.
Petzl: www.petzl.com
Phoebus Tactical Flashlights: www.phoebustactical.com 10% discount for CPF members, use code CPF10 on any purchase over $30.
Princeton Tec: www.princetontec.com
Stanley Tools: www.stanleytools.com
Now go do some shopping and get some of the great items you saw at FCW-6!
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KartRacer31
Flashlight Enthusiast
Here is a re-post reminder, so you don't have to go back a few pages to look it up.
OK, it's time for me to post some rules for our FCW-6 "Free for a Review" raffle.
I'm not trying to be a jerk here, but these rules must be followed. I have agreed to the following terms from the sponsors. These sponsors have provided thousands of dollars of items for us, and proper reviews must be completed in return.
I'm planning on holding the raffle early Saturday evening (probably between 5-7pm) This will give everyone ample time to handle all of the lights on Thursday night, all day/night Friday, and Saturday before the raffle begins. It will also give ample time for anyone who is coming up for the day to know when they need to be there by.
OK, it's time for me to post some rules for our FCW-6 "Free for a Review" raffle.
I'm not trying to be a jerk here, but these rules must be followed. I have agreed to the following terms from the sponsors. These sponsors have provided thousands of dollars of items for us, and proper reviews must be completed in return.
I'm planning on holding the raffle early Saturday evening (probably between 5-7pm) This will give everyone ample time to handle all of the lights on Thursday night, all day/night Friday, and Saturday before the raffle begins. It will also give ample time for anyone who is coming up for the day to know when they need to be there by.
- Any paid adult who attends FCW-6 is welcome to join the raffle.
- Names will be placed in a hat and drawn at random. The first name drawn will get the first choice of all the items. The second name drawn will get to choose from the remaining items, etc, etc. When we get to the end of the names, we will put them all back in the hat, shake them up and start over again fresh.
- If you enter the raffle, you must provide a comprehensive review of the item(s) you have won at FCW-6, of CPF by 7-14-10.
- Reviews Forum Policy
All "reviews" threads are to be posted within their applicable forums. If administrators or moderators wish to have them published in the Reviews forum, they will move them there. If the reviewer, when posting, wishes to request inclusion in the Reviews forum, they may attach a notice as the first line in their post such as "for submission in the Reviews forum". Alternatively, they can omit such a first line, and simply PM a moderator or administrator asking that it be considered. - A non-CPF member who is with you (example your wife, or your friend who came with you), is welcome to participate in the raffle, however, you will be responsible for doing the review for whatever they choose.
- You will need to contact both the sponsor and me by email, and let us know when your review is posted. Please provide us with a link to your CPF review so that we can easily find it.
- Shortly after the FCW-6 weekend, please post within the FCW-6 thread about what you won, what sponsor donated it, and to keep an eye out for your review(s) in the reviews section.
- Every review needs to include the name and brand of the item you won, and what sponsor provided it.
- Every review needs to state that the item was provided by the sponsor for review at FCW-6, and that you were the lucky winner who got to take it home.
- Some sponsors have specific requests, which I will discuss with the winners of those items.
- If this sounds like a pain in the butt, or you don't think you want to bother doing it, please don't enter the raffle. You will still be welcome to check out all the lights prior to the giveaway.
KartRacer31
Flashlight Enthusiast
Not all lights... I believe everyone ended up with 5-6 items (some ended up with 3-4 lights), and at the end we had a few things left over, so some people actually ended up with 6+ items. Among the items Lighthound provided were keychain lights for everyone, and a bunch of holsters and lanyards. Going gear provided a bunch of great stuff, including a bunch of Keep2Go tubes, and some great whistle zipper pulls. And along with a great array of lights, Dorcy provided enough batteries for all of their lights and all of the rest of the sponsors lights that needed batteries! Dorcy also provided a ton of their PR-base led upgrade "bulbs" in two different configurations, allowing pretty much everyone to get one.
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AyeMayanor
Enlightened
Unpacking the goods on the first day.
It got crowded on that table.
So many goodies!
Found this dragonfly on Dan's stove and it didn't want to fly away.
Tiny fire because we didn't have any wood!
Setting up the tarp. It was really big. That's what she said.
Question: What do you get when you have three Quark RGBs in one place, each set to a different color?
Answer: Awesomeness.
The humidity wreaked havoc on my camera that night.
A decent fire on the last night.
It got crowded on that table.
So many goodies!
Found this dragonfly on Dan's stove and it didn't want to fly away.
Tiny fire because we didn't have any wood!
Setting up the tarp. It was really big. That's what she said.
Question: What do you get when you have three Quark RGBs in one place, each set to a different color?
Answer: Awesomeness.
The humidity wreaked havoc on my camera that night.
A decent fire on the last night.
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loks like a great time was had! That table with all the goodies is crazy!!
Lighthouse one
Flashlight Enthusiast
Items won:
Lighthouse One : 2 AA ICON led light from Lighthound
Fuel Headlamp from Princeton Tec
2 Keep to go bottles from Going Gear
Jet Beam Laynard from Bug out Gear
Doug : Jetbeam holster from Bug out gear
Phoebus 2 level led light
Dorcy 2 AA Led flashlight from Dorcy
Dorcy Led replacement for mag bulb
Lighthouse One : 2 AA ICON led light from Lighthound
Fuel Headlamp from Princeton Tec
2 Keep to go bottles from Going Gear
Jet Beam Laynard from Bug out Gear
Doug : Jetbeam holster from Bug out gear
Phoebus 2 level led light
Dorcy 2 AA Led flashlight from Dorcy
Dorcy Led replacement for mag bulb
Items won:
ITP Headlamp from Going Gear (see review)
Remix Headlamp from Princeton Tec (see review)
Keep2Go bottle from Going Gear (see review)
JetBeam lanyard from BugOut Gear
Keychain light from Lighthound
ITP Headlamp from Going Gear (see review)
Remix Headlamp from Princeton Tec (see review)
Keep2Go bottle from Going Gear (see review)
JetBeam lanyard from BugOut Gear
Keychain light from Lighthound
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AyeMayanor
Enlightened
ziptrickhead
Newly Enlightened
Items won:
EagleTac P100a2 from Pacific Tactical Solutions (hope to have a review for this up in the next few days)
4sevens Prism from 4sevens
Small and medium Keep2go tubes from Going Gear
Jetbeam lanyard from Bugout Gear
Keychain light from Lighthound
EagleTac P100a2 from Pacific Tactical Solutions (hope to have a review for this up in the next few days)
4sevens Prism from 4sevens
Small and medium Keep2go tubes from Going Gear
Jetbeam lanyard from Bugout Gear
Keychain light from Lighthound
carrot
Flashaholic
Items won:
Princeton Tec EOS headlamp from Princeton Tec
Dorcy 5-LED rechargeable crank light from Dorcy
Stanley 3D LED flashlight from Stanley
Jetbeam lanyard from Bugout Gear
Keychain light from Lighthound
Dad's items won:
ICON Rogue 1 from Lighthound
Princeton Tec EOS from Princeton Tec
Medium Keep2go tube from Going Gear
Jetbeam lanyard from Bugout Gear
Keychain light from Lighthound
Princeton Tec EOS headlamp from Princeton Tec
Dorcy 5-LED rechargeable crank light from Dorcy
Stanley 3D LED flashlight from Stanley
Jetbeam lanyard from Bugout Gear
Keychain light from Lighthound
Dad's items won:
ICON Rogue 1 from Lighthound
Princeton Tec EOS from Princeton Tec
Medium Keep2go tube from Going Gear
Jetbeam lanyard from Bugout Gear
Keychain light from Lighthound
KartRacer31
Flashlight Enthusiast
Wow, 6,100+ views of this thread and still climbing! Excellent exposure for our sponsors! Everyone can see all the great products they sell, and also see that these companies are supporting our CPF community! :thumbsup:
KartRacer31
Flashlight Enthusiast
OK - Due to the "wicked ranger" at Hickory Run, and the parking situation, I took a day off from work yesterday to check out some campground locations for future FCW events.
Along with Dingmans Campground, I did some research on a few other possibilities, and was able to physically check out several campgrounds yesterday.
I'll start with Dingmans since their has been much talk about how nice it is etc. Yes it's nice, no nicer than Hickory Run in my opinion. One of the best features of Hickory Run is the running water of the stream right in the campsites. This is going to be hard to reproduce. Dingman's does have the river, but honestly it's just not the same - the river doesn't make any real rushing water sound like the stream does. And the sites which are closest to the river (the ones you can actually see the river from) are not really good for the layout of our event. Meaning, there isn't any good large group area to work with in those sites.
Their are a few sites which they call river sites, but you don't really have any view of the river, which will work. Here is a link to the campground map so you can see what I'm talking about.
www.dingmanscampground.com/images/DingmansCampgroundMap2010.pdf
OK, so all the "forest" sites, the ones not along the Delaware River, are nice, but nothing special, and don't really offer us anything for our event. Sites 112-127 have some river views, but don't really lend themselves to work well with a group of our size.
Sites 133-128 will work. Although they call these river sites, 128 is the only one in this group which has any view of the river, the others are really just wooded sites.
What you don't see on this map, and they don't tell you unless you make friends with someone there, like I did, is that there are actually two more sites which aren't on the map, and are only for VIP's. They are about 500 feet past site 129, nicely wooded with river views. They cost the same as the rest of the river sites.
Anyway to do this right we would need to book several sites. This is because these sites are a bit smaller than Hickory Run's and they are also ball busters about the parking and how many cars you can have per site, and how many tents you can put up on each site.
So at a minimum we would need sites 133-128, which is 6 sites. The sites cost $37 each per night. So it would cost a total of $666. Getting those two VIP sites so that no one is behind us or walking through our area would be a good idea too. This would also make sense because we wouldn't have to worry about sharing any of the parking area with who ever took those sites. So if you add those sites in that's another $222, which brings the total up to $888.
Now if I'm crafty, I don't need to book all the sites or all three nights. Not all of us show up on Thursday night, so I can save us some money by not paying for all of the sites for all three nights. If I don't book two of the sites on Thursday night, that saves us $74, but still gives us plenty of room for the Thursday night arrivals to spread out anywhere without any issues, and brings the total down to $814.
Ok now we have a total of $814. Now I need to figure out how many of us will be coming, so I can estimate the cost per person. History has shown over the past 6 FCW's that I can expect between 15-40 people. We had a few more sign up for this last FCW, but that may have been due to the raffle. So if it's 20 people we can count on, it's going to cost $41 each person. If we only get 15 people then it's $55 per person. Even at $41 it's getting kinda expensive.
Here is another issue. It may be a big issue for some and no issue for others. There is no cell phone coverage at all at the camp sites, and anywhere on the campgrounds that I found. I had two phones with me, one with Verizon and one with ATT, and neither had coverage at all. Not weak coverage, NO SERVICE. And I didn't get service again until driving about 1/2 mile out of the campground, and even then it was very weak service. Like I said, for some of us this will not be an issue, but for others we would like to be in touch with family, etc while we are there just incase something went wrong at home.
Something else to know. The place is covered in poison ivy. One of the first things the guy there told me was to watch out for the poison ivy. He told me to watch out for it before he mentioned anything about bears. Apparently they have a serious poison ivy issue. Not a problem if you stay out of the woods? He tells me it's right on the edge of the campsites, so even walking in a foot or more to stake down a tent or for us guys to walk in and take a leak, could find us in the itchy stuff.
Other issues: they have two port-a-potties right in the area, but the real bathrooms are a long walk away. And the garbage dumpster is a very long walk (really a drive), away.
Contrary to popular belief, Dingmans is not a private campground, it is run by the National Park Service, which means that there is no drinking allowed. Hickory Run also has a no alcohol policy, and some of us slipped drinks, no biggie, but I wanted to make note of the policy.
So while Dingmans Campground sounded good, I'm thinking it may not be a great choice for us. Any one of the issues alone we could deal with, but when you start adding them together, maybe not. The cost is the cost, it's expensive, and it might drive some of us away from going. The ivy issue isn't an issue until it is, then it really sucks. And the phone issue is kinda a big one. The bathrooms and garbage would be bit of a pain too. And finally, yes it's nice, but it's no nicer than Hickory Run, and while that may be hard to top, it doesn't seem to offer enough to overcome it's issues. We can find other equally nice, or almost as nice locations with no issues.
While I was up there I also stopped into a KOA campground, which was useless, and two private campgrounds. The private campgrounds were Delaware River Family Campground (DRFC), and Triple Brook Campground. While both were better than the KOA, neither were a great location for us.
Then I went to Voorhees State Park. It's a small state park, way smaller than Hickory Run is, but nice. They have two group camping areas, area A & B. They are both right next to each other, and say they can hold 50 people each, but they would have to be sleeping standing up for that to work out. However, if we took both sites we would have plenty of room.
So here is the positive stuff about Voorhees: We can get both group sites and have all the room we need for camping and for parking, no issues with our vehicles, and they will be nice and close to us. The modern flush toilets are only a very short walk away, as is the dumpster for our trash. Both of my cell phones worked perfect there, and the group sites are in their own section, so it will be private for us, and noise should not be any issue. The cost will be significantly lower than Dingmans, and even lower than Hickory Run. I'm estimating only $15 per person if we have 20 people.
So it seems like Voorhees has everything we want, and no downside? I guess so. One kinda downside is that it's not quite as attractive as Hickory Run, or even Dingmans. There is no stream or river, and the area just isn't quite as "deep-woods" feeling. But it's ok, and the bathrooms and garbage are very easy to get to and the parking and phones are good, and I didn't see any poison ivy. Also we would be in our own area, so I doubt we would have any noise issues, or any issues from the rangers. It's located in Glen Gardner, NJ, which is easy to get to right off of Rt. 78. As with any place, it will be closer for some and further for others. The PA location was great for the PA residents for the past few events, and this location will be closer for the NJ and NY people. However, it's still a pretty central location for all of us.
For now I think we should go with Voorhees State Park and the group sites A & B. Here is a link to it: www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/parks/voorhees.html
I'm sure there are other options out there, but I can't keep taking time from work to check them all out, and my weekends are already booked with other stuff to do for most of June and July, so this may be it for now. These places book up fast, and I'll need to book now if we want to do another FCW in October.
I say we try Voorhees this time, and we can keep looking for other potentially better locations for the future.
The date will be early October. The weather will be good, hopefully cooler and less humid than we just had, but not too cold. PLEASE DON'T TELL ME WHEN YOU CAN AND CAN'T MAKE IT IN OCTOBER! I don't want to know. It puts me in a very uncomfortable place to know that you can't make it on a particular weekend, but others can. I rather just pick the best weekend I can for us, and let the schedules fall where they do. It's usually far enough in advance for everyone to clear their schedules, and hold the date.
Some quick feedback if you want to give it is welcome. I'll need to move on this quickly before the sites get booked up. --Tim
Along with Dingmans Campground, I did some research on a few other possibilities, and was able to physically check out several campgrounds yesterday.
I'll start with Dingmans since their has been much talk about how nice it is etc. Yes it's nice, no nicer than Hickory Run in my opinion. One of the best features of Hickory Run is the running water of the stream right in the campsites. This is going to be hard to reproduce. Dingman's does have the river, but honestly it's just not the same - the river doesn't make any real rushing water sound like the stream does. And the sites which are closest to the river (the ones you can actually see the river from) are not really good for the layout of our event. Meaning, there isn't any good large group area to work with in those sites.
Their are a few sites which they call river sites, but you don't really have any view of the river, which will work. Here is a link to the campground map so you can see what I'm talking about.
www.dingmanscampground.com/images/DingmansCampgroundMap2010.pdf
OK, so all the "forest" sites, the ones not along the Delaware River, are nice, but nothing special, and don't really offer us anything for our event. Sites 112-127 have some river views, but don't really lend themselves to work well with a group of our size.
Sites 133-128 will work. Although they call these river sites, 128 is the only one in this group which has any view of the river, the others are really just wooded sites.
What you don't see on this map, and they don't tell you unless you make friends with someone there, like I did, is that there are actually two more sites which aren't on the map, and are only for VIP's. They are about 500 feet past site 129, nicely wooded with river views. They cost the same as the rest of the river sites.
Anyway to do this right we would need to book several sites. This is because these sites are a bit smaller than Hickory Run's and they are also ball busters about the parking and how many cars you can have per site, and how many tents you can put up on each site.
So at a minimum we would need sites 133-128, which is 6 sites. The sites cost $37 each per night. So it would cost a total of $666. Getting those two VIP sites so that no one is behind us or walking through our area would be a good idea too. This would also make sense because we wouldn't have to worry about sharing any of the parking area with who ever took those sites. So if you add those sites in that's another $222, which brings the total up to $888.
Now if I'm crafty, I don't need to book all the sites or all three nights. Not all of us show up on Thursday night, so I can save us some money by not paying for all of the sites for all three nights. If I don't book two of the sites on Thursday night, that saves us $74, but still gives us plenty of room for the Thursday night arrivals to spread out anywhere without any issues, and brings the total down to $814.
Ok now we have a total of $814. Now I need to figure out how many of us will be coming, so I can estimate the cost per person. History has shown over the past 6 FCW's that I can expect between 15-40 people. We had a few more sign up for this last FCW, but that may have been due to the raffle. So if it's 20 people we can count on, it's going to cost $41 each person. If we only get 15 people then it's $55 per person. Even at $41 it's getting kinda expensive.
Here is another issue. It may be a big issue for some and no issue for others. There is no cell phone coverage at all at the camp sites, and anywhere on the campgrounds that I found. I had two phones with me, one with Verizon and one with ATT, and neither had coverage at all. Not weak coverage, NO SERVICE. And I didn't get service again until driving about 1/2 mile out of the campground, and even then it was very weak service. Like I said, for some of us this will not be an issue, but for others we would like to be in touch with family, etc while we are there just incase something went wrong at home.
Something else to know. The place is covered in poison ivy. One of the first things the guy there told me was to watch out for the poison ivy. He told me to watch out for it before he mentioned anything about bears. Apparently they have a serious poison ivy issue. Not a problem if you stay out of the woods? He tells me it's right on the edge of the campsites, so even walking in a foot or more to stake down a tent or for us guys to walk in and take a leak, could find us in the itchy stuff.
Other issues: they have two port-a-potties right in the area, but the real bathrooms are a long walk away. And the garbage dumpster is a very long walk (really a drive), away.
Contrary to popular belief, Dingmans is not a private campground, it is run by the National Park Service, which means that there is no drinking allowed. Hickory Run also has a no alcohol policy, and some of us slipped drinks, no biggie, but I wanted to make note of the policy.
So while Dingmans Campground sounded good, I'm thinking it may not be a great choice for us. Any one of the issues alone we could deal with, but when you start adding them together, maybe not. The cost is the cost, it's expensive, and it might drive some of us away from going. The ivy issue isn't an issue until it is, then it really sucks. And the phone issue is kinda a big one. The bathrooms and garbage would be bit of a pain too. And finally, yes it's nice, but it's no nicer than Hickory Run, and while that may be hard to top, it doesn't seem to offer enough to overcome it's issues. We can find other equally nice, or almost as nice locations with no issues.
While I was up there I also stopped into a KOA campground, which was useless, and two private campgrounds. The private campgrounds were Delaware River Family Campground (DRFC), and Triple Brook Campground. While both were better than the KOA, neither were a great location for us.
Then I went to Voorhees State Park. It's a small state park, way smaller than Hickory Run is, but nice. They have two group camping areas, area A & B. They are both right next to each other, and say they can hold 50 people each, but they would have to be sleeping standing up for that to work out. However, if we took both sites we would have plenty of room.
So here is the positive stuff about Voorhees: We can get both group sites and have all the room we need for camping and for parking, no issues with our vehicles, and they will be nice and close to us. The modern flush toilets are only a very short walk away, as is the dumpster for our trash. Both of my cell phones worked perfect there, and the group sites are in their own section, so it will be private for us, and noise should not be any issue. The cost will be significantly lower than Dingmans, and even lower than Hickory Run. I'm estimating only $15 per person if we have 20 people.
So it seems like Voorhees has everything we want, and no downside? I guess so. One kinda downside is that it's not quite as attractive as Hickory Run, or even Dingmans. There is no stream or river, and the area just isn't quite as "deep-woods" feeling. But it's ok, and the bathrooms and garbage are very easy to get to and the parking and phones are good, and I didn't see any poison ivy. Also we would be in our own area, so I doubt we would have any noise issues, or any issues from the rangers. It's located in Glen Gardner, NJ, which is easy to get to right off of Rt. 78. As with any place, it will be closer for some and further for others. The PA location was great for the PA residents for the past few events, and this location will be closer for the NJ and NY people. However, it's still a pretty central location for all of us.
For now I think we should go with Voorhees State Park and the group sites A & B. Here is a link to it: www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/parks/voorhees.html
I'm sure there are other options out there, but I can't keep taking time from work to check them all out, and my weekends are already booked with other stuff to do for most of June and July, so this may be it for now. These places book up fast, and I'll need to book now if we want to do another FCW in October.
I say we try Voorhees this time, and we can keep looking for other potentially better locations for the future.
The date will be early October. The weather will be good, hopefully cooler and less humid than we just had, but not too cold. PLEASE DON'T TELL ME WHEN YOU CAN AND CAN'T MAKE IT IN OCTOBER! I don't want to know. It puts me in a very uncomfortable place to know that you can't make it on a particular weekend, but others can. I rather just pick the best weekend I can for us, and let the schedules fall where they do. It's usually far enough in advance for everyone to clear their schedules, and hold the date.
Some quick feedback if you want to give it is welcome. I'll need to move on this quickly before the sites get booked up. --Tim
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