Last weekend was the 2016 Summer Camp Out and while there were a few last minute logistics related issues, I think everyone would agree that the event get together was nothing but a success.
So what happened? Camping in a National Forest can sometimes create some issues, the main one being that you can’t exactly reserve a camp site. Unfortunately for us, someone decided to park their 35′ trailer smack dab in the middle of the site we were planning to use. And while we could have easily showed up and run them out of dodge, they had just as much a right to be there as we did. So with a little last minute scrambling, we re-routed everyone to one of our backup locations.
Vehicles started rolling in around 11 AM on Saturday, and this year we had the widest varieties of rigs to ever show up. From a Ford F-250 with a flatbed mounted Hawk Four Wheel Camper (also towing a motorcycle trailer) to a Ural with a sidecar, we pretty much had every base covered. The only vehicle that has yet to show up is a Land Rover, but we’re going to assume that as long as we keep camping more than 25 miles from a dealership, we’ll probably never see them.
In addition to the 30 rigs and 40 plus people, we also had an awesome 2 hour rain storm. This is when I realized that I was glad we brought the E-Z Up, and that the people that follow the blog/come out to our Camp Outs are just absolutely awesome. Part of the reason we love hosting the Camp Outs is that we get the opportunity to meet so many amazing people, and I can honestly say there has yet to be a person that has shown up that I wouldn’t want to grab a beer with. Well except maybe Tony D because he’ll make me buy all of them. So thank you to everyone that came out, and thank you for being awesome. Put it this way, no one has ever complained about the weather, and everyone is prepared with so much gear, we could open an REI in the middle of nowhere.
We won’t go into too much detail about what went down for insurance purposes and to force you to come out to the next one, but here’s some great photos courtesy of Ashley H. for you to get an idea of what you missed!
How can you join in the future? We’re already working on the logistics for a Fall Camp Out, and we’re going to hopefully have a few of our Day Trips lined up for September. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the system, all we do is release an e-mail 30 days out that gets you on a list, and then a week before the trip, we send you a set of coordinates. The rest is up to you to figure out.
Special thanks to Nate for heading out early and determining that the site was not viable, to Greg for riding through one of the worst rain storms of the summer to get to the Camp Out, and to Chris and Brittany for the big ass chair!
Wish I could have joined you guys again, Looks like you had a blast this year!