Northern California Get Togethers

[Weinel, Alan]

At first blush, you could say... heck for 5 bucks extra take the hookups. BUT there is also a different ambiance in a state park to a more organized campground. Just feels.... better. More like camping, i suppose.

Michele and I are good either way. We will probably extend on one end or the other (or BOTH!) and explore that part of the state more fully.

Joy-

So far we have only checked on places to camp between Eureka and Crescent City and thought we might try that first. When Berry & I started talking about this last year we thought we might try 1 year North of Eureka and the following year try South of Eureka and try to switch off every other year and maybe move around like Donna does with the NOG. Right now we are just in the thinking/planning stages and want as much input as possible.

I also agree with you about keeping the cost down. Most private campgrounds we found start around $35.00 a night with a 10-15% discount for large groups. We have also been watching to see what State Parks old Arnold is going to take from us. I did see on the news fees for the CA State Parks that will remain open will be going up soon so by the time they get done we could be looking at $30.00 or more a night for State Parks with no hookups. We are just watching, waiting and taking in feedback as of right now.

Thanks and keep the feedback coming.

Ellen B.

[curtis c]

as someone who lives in Arcata, ca. full time. I would suggest a fall camp rather than a spring if its north of eureka on the coast. The weather is a little more predictable here in the fall than the spring. The weather is the best here during September or early October. If you camp farther south, Standish hickey, Richardson's grove, avenue of the giants etc, the best time for those is in the spring. It gets hot fast the farther you go inland or south on the 101. Also for the doggies the spring is best because of the green blue algae we get in the late summer/fall on the eel river and van duzen. Its poisonous to dogs and will kill them if they drink the water, happens every year the water level is low . If you need any help or specific info feel free to ask. I have lived in this area my whole life and have most likely camped at all of the places that would suit a larger group. We would love to take our little litehouse out for a camp to see some other little fiberglass trailers. My vote would be for a state park or a spot with no hookups Cheap and you get the feel of "camping" Hope the gathering works out.
curt

P.S. I would really like to see that mity lite of yours... I want one so bad!

[Linda R002]

It is not just that hook ups are only 10 dollars more a night but some of the best campgrounds in the heart of the Redwoods have no hook ups so it is camp there with no hook ups or go somewhere else. But they do have reservable sites. That to me is more important than hook ups. No one wants to drive to a campout and find the campground full or that the only spaces are way out in the boonies from the group.

[BuzzardsBurro]

Curtis-

Good point about the blue-green algae. Even though I am aware of that problem, I did not take that into consideration. Had no idea we had a Northern Lite in Arcata. We like in Eureka. We would also like to see the mighty lite. Hopefully we can plan something for next year for all of us to get together.

So far it is sounding like hookups are not as important to others as I would have thought.
Linda-

We will make sure that the spot we pick will let us make reservations. That is just a must in my book. Hookups and showers are nice but we, like you guys, can go either way.

Thanks and keep posting your 2 cents worth.

Ellen B.

[Alexandra B]

i agree about the hook ups not so important, but reservations a must. Keep the planning coming we might be able to make it way up there!

[Earl Arrants]

My husband and I have kicked around the idea of getting a Northern Ca gathering together for the past year or so but have not got around to nailing anything down. We live on the coast of Ca about an hour from the Oregon line. We have had thoughts about a gathering somewhere in the Redwoods maybe sometime next spring. How close are you to the Oregon line?

Ellen B.

On my way to Bandon for the gathering in July I stayed at an RV park - Hiouchi - just 4 miles north and 5 miles east of Crescent City. It was a large beautiful grassy site with hookups. I don't think it was too expensive considering State Parks are probably $30 now. One of the state parks was adjacent to this RV park.

[Rick Hansen]

HELP US SETTLE THE DEBATE.........So we can get on with planning a gathering.

In the past when Berry and I have discussed planning a gathering among the Redwoods we have always come back to a few issues we have not been able to settle. We need everyone's input on these issues. The big question is this.......should we find a spot that has hookups or is everyone willing to dry camp.

So everyone think about the following and chime in on what you think.
Hookups vs drycamping?????
How many would be interested in a Redwoods gathering????
What time of the year should we do this??????? Berry and I have leaning towards Sept/Oct but don't want to plan it to close to the fall NOG.

Your input is needed so we can stop just talking about this and start doing something to get this together for next year.

Ellen B.

Ellen, Dry camping is good for me, I don't have a toilet. I can live off the power on my battery for a weekend so no probs there. It is nice to have power, but not essential. I will go either way.

Somewhere in Nor Cal redwoods would be great. I don't like the parking lot set ups like side by side like the big coaches go to. But set it up and hopefully I can come. So far on the Fall Get Together we have 6 now coming including myself. Not bad, but I hope to have a few more join us. I think Alan or Earl was mentioning this is a good start and maybe we can continue what was started there to the spring one for next year, or even a Winter Camp somewhere. (My heater works ok, but not sure for how cold.

[BuzzardsBurro]

Rick-

You are off to a great start and it should be lots of fun. I wish we could attend but my husband has to have minor surgery this week on his wrist and will have to take it easy for a week or two after that. Hopefully we can catch the next one.

As far as a gathering in the Redwoods we are hoping to have one. We are kind of waiting to see what the state is going to do with out State Parks. We have a wonderful State Park in mind but want to make sure it is not on the list to be closed. We also are watching to see how much they are going to increase the camping fees per night. I just got an email this morning asking for my comments to the proposed fee increase. We don't mind a small increase but the $15-$40 increase a night they are talking about is too much in our book. We also are like you, don't care for the parking lot style of camping either and want find a place that is more like a campground than a parking lot with hookups.

Good luck on your gathering and we will be working on getting something together around the Redwoods.

Ellen B.

[Lynn Peters]

Rick-

You are off to a great start and it should be lots of fun. I wish we could attend but my husband has to have minor surgery this week on his wrist and will have to take it easy for a week or two after that. Hopefully we can catch the next one.

As far as a gathering in the Redwoods we are hoping to have one. We are kind of waiting to see what the state is going to do with out State Parks. We have a wonderful State Park in mind but want to make sure it is not on the list to be closed. We also are watching to see how much they are going to increase the camping fees per night. I just got an email this morning asking for my comments to the proposed fee increase. We don't mind a small increase but the $15-$40 increase a night they are talking about is too much in our book. We also are like you, don't care for the parking lot style of camping either and want find a place that is more like a campground than a parking lot with hookups.

Good luck on your gathering and we will be working on getting something together around the Redwoods.

Ellen B.

Ellen, I'm back in the area now - Blue Lake - towing a Scamp 16'FB and would definitely be interested in a No. Cal. gathering. I think it's a great idea. Fall would be good - just plan for cool nights! Dry camping is fine for a 2-3 day weekend. I was in Boise Cr. Campground(near Willow Cr.) over Labor Day weekend and got a lot of lookers at the Scamp.

[BuzzardsBurro]

Lynn-

Welcome back to the area. Were you by chance up North of Orick this weekend, pulled over looking at a herd of Elk? On our way to Oregon on Friday we saw a 16' Scamp pulled over with a bunch of other people pulled over as well looking and taking pictures of the wildlife.
If you are in Eureka and have time stop by and see us sometime. My dad lives in the same place and we are right next door on the corner.

We will get a gathering together and will post it here for sure. If we don't see you soon we will hopefully see you at a Redwoods gathering in the future.

Ellen B.

[Rick Hansen]

Thanks Ellen for the reply. Just let me know how things are going and where I can help.

I did not realize that the fees were going to go up that much. That would suck. I guess you have to wait and see.

Thx. Rick

Rick-

You are off to a great start and it should be lots of fun. I wish we could attend but my husband has to have minor surgery this week on his wrist and will have to take it easy for a week or two after that. Hopefully we can catch the next one.

As far as a gathering in the Redwoods we are hoping to have one. We are kind of waiting to see what the state is going to do with out State Parks. We have a wonderful State Park in mind but want to make sure it is not on the list to be closed. We also are watching to see how much they are going to increase the camping fees per night. I just got an email this morning asking for my comments to the proposed fee increase. We don't mind a small increase but the $15-$40 increase a night they are talking about is too much in our book. We also are like you, don't care for the parking lot style of camping either and want find a place that is more like a campground than a parking lot with hookups.

Good luck on your gathering and we will be working on getting something together around the Redwoods.

Ellen B.

[Lynn Peters]

Lynn-

Welcome back to the area. Were you by chance up North of Orick this weekend, pulled over looking at a herd of Elk? On our way to Oregon on Friday we saw a 16' Scamp pulled over with a bunch of other people pulled over as well looking and taking pictures of the wildlife.
If you are in Eureka and have time stop by and see us sometime. My dad lives in the same place and we are right next door on the corner.

We will get a gathering together and will post it here for sure. If we don't see you soon we will hopefully see you at a Redwoods gathering in the future.

Ellen B.

Nope! Wasn't me - I rarely pull over for the elk - they make me salivate! Sometimes I stop near Dry Lagoon and watch the calves.

I'll try to stop by sometime - I seem to spend a lot more time in Eureka these days than I want to. I would be glad to assist in the planning of a gathering - had you considered Brookings? There's a really nice, if smaller, state park (I think it's called Loeb State Park) right on the Chetco River - very clean and well laid out and has hot showers! The only problem would be steelhead season - it tends to fill up with fishermen. I'm not sure when it is, but coule find out easy enough.

[Joy A]

Loeb SP.....I love Loeb. I never travel 101 without stopping at Loeb. It fills on weekends and doesn't take reservations. Strictly first come first served. Also just enough further I wouldn't come for a weekend.

Oh by the by, it wouldn't be a No. Cal. gathering. Brookings is in Oregon.

If you were going to do Brookings the campground out at the mouth of the harbor would be better. They take reservations, somewhere in the neighborhood of $30/$35 if I remember correctly. I drove out there this last July.

[Anne3358]

Sorry I 'lost' this tread for a while. We won't be able to make the September date our schedule is already set for Sep and Oct.

As for a place for the rally?
What about the Pinnacles National Monument. It's a fairly small campground but it has some 'Electric' sites. The sites run about $22 a night. The Pinnacles are about an hour east of 101 near Hollister.

Hendy Woods in the Anderson Valley is a good place: It's located between Highway 1 and 101. Since it's a State Park, the fee is now $35 a night and no hook-up but has nice bathrooms and a dump station.

And then there is Big Basin Redwoods State Park. My favorite, the park is located in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Has anyone ever stayed at Kamp Klamath? I think the rates are $30 for full hook-up.

If you're considering a 'private' RV place maybe it would help to find out when their 'slow' season is ...... we might get a better price.

Just a few thoughts.

[Rick Hansen]

as someone who lives in Arcata, ca. full time. I would suggest a fall camp rather than a spring if its north of eureka on the coast. The weather is a little more predictable here in the fall than the spring. The weather is the best here during September or early October. If you camp farther south, Standish hickey, Richardson's grove, avenue of the giants etc, the best time for those is in the spring. It gets hot fast the farther you go inland or south on the 101. Also for the doggies the spring is best because of the green blue algae we get in the late summer/fall on the eel river and van duzen. Its poisonous to dogs and will kill them if they drink the water, happens every year the water level is low . If you need any help or specific info feel free to ask. I have lived in this area my whole life and have most likely camped at all of the places that would suit a larger group. We would love to take our little litehouse out for a camp to see some other little fiberglass trailers. My vote would be for a state park or a spot with no hookups Cheap and you get the feel of "camping" Hope the gathering works out.
curt

P.S. I would really like to see that mity lite of yours... I want one so bad!

Thanks Curt. I am going camping this weekend at the Fall Gathering for Northern Cal. It is really informal, just tried to get a few people together to start getting to know people in the fiberglass campers world. There are 6 confirmed for the weekend. Hopefully the one the Ellen puts together later will be much bigger and we can get lots more campers to come.

[Chris B]

We camped at a few of the coastal state parks over the past two weeks. It seems that the average increase has been $10 per night with the going rate at $35/night. Pfeiffer Big Sur was charging $50 per night for the river campsites, but the rest were $35.

From my experience, some of the parks have great facilities, but they aren't being maintained and cleaned very well like they used to be. We stayed at Van Damme just north of Mendocino and their showers were filthy. It seems that they don't clean them daily. Russian Gulch was closed for the season beginning Labor Day. I thought that was a bit strange because camping season in CA should be longer than that.

Anyways, from talking the the rangers, the increase was about $10 throughout the system from what they told me.

[Lynn Peters]

Loeb SP.....I love Loeb. I never travel 101 without stopping at Loeb. It fills on weekends and doesn't take reservations. Strictly first come first served. Also just enough further I wouldn't come for a weekend.

Oh by the by, it wouldn't be a No. Cal. gathering. Brookings is in Oregon.

If you were going to do Brookings the campground out at the mouth of the harbor would be better. They take reservations, somewhere in the neighborhood of $30/$35 if I remember correctly. I drove out there this last July.

Oops! Silly me - I always sorta felt Brookings was part of 'No. Calif.' What about a National Forest campground? They may not offer all the hookups (the smaller ones) but don't seem to be hit quite so hard by the economy. I guess I'd better get out my No. Calif. campground guide.

[Kathy Davisson]

If you get a location I would be interested. I've lived in Eureka and Crescent City. Any place you get a few miles inland is going to be warmer than on the coast. I would prefer an electric hookup because the only heat I have now is electric. Maybe I could afford a generator and then hookups wouldn't matter. I would like to join you, but think and inland site in the fall probably would be preferable. I am definately interested.

[Earl Arrants]

We have been tossing this subject around for awhile now. Many suggestions of places have come forward. It seems that NOW someone needs to make a decision on when and where we can all try to get together and where. Someone step forward and volunteer - - -

[Weinel, Alan]

THANKS EARL!!! I think [b]you JUST VOLUNTEERED!!!

"Book=em, Danno" Pick a time and place, and run it up the flag pole.

Count Michele and me in if we are free.

North Coast. Gold Country. High Sierra. Wine Country. ALL are good.
Hookups or Dry. It all works for me.

Thanks again for taking this on. Truly appreciate it!!! (I assume you know that means you will ALSO coordinate the pot luck - but if we go to Mendecino, perhaps you should clarify what the "pot" in potluck refers to.... lol)

We have been tossing this subject around for awhile now. Many suggestions of places have come forward. It seems that NOW someone needs to make a decision on when and where we can all try to get together and where. Someone step forward and volunteer - - -