help me plan another CT gathering

S

siguy

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Aug 26, 2006
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hey all CTers (or is that connecticutians?) and anyone else interested in coming;

i want to try to get another small gathering in CT for all of us knife lovers and woods bums.

i am looking at a few state parks for preliminary planning, and want your advice and feedback on these areas. i am looking at an older book, and state park/forest websites aren't always the best for info. it would be great to have info from people that have been in and around these areas.

the prospective date that would be prime for me would be right around August 15-17 or 22-24.

i was thinking maybe this gathering could focus on field made shelters like brush huts and things of that nature. also maybe a good time to test out your BOB and get real-time feedback about different gear. of course, it would certainly be cool to bring along gear for trades and selling.

so here are the parks i am looking at:
paugussett state forest (http://www.stateparks.com/paugussett.html)
McLean game refuge (looks promising)(http://www.mcleangamerefuge.org/)
nassahegan state forest (http://www.stateparks.com/nassahegan.html)
meshomasic forest (http://www.stateparks.com/meshomasic.html)

so guys, it would be great if we could get at least a handful of people together and do a gathering in CT. let me know about these state parks, let me know if you know of private land that would be good for this that we could be allowed on (any volunteers? ;) ), let me know anything that could help.

any help or advise would be great on this.
 
The only one I have heard of is McLean Game Refuge. Its about a 20 minute drive from my house although I have not been there in many years. I am not sure if they allow camping (you would have to look into that) but you could probably find some places to practice skills.
 
andrew, thanks for that note.

i just emailed the director to see if we could camp there...

i just thought of another possible option; to set up a car camping area and then from there do some day-hikes to different spots that we could practice skills. for this, we would want a park that has alot of open land but also easily accessed car camping sites...
 
i think i am going to focus on pachaug forest, it looks like it would offer us the most flexibility and there are no fees.

on one hand this means free camping, on the other a chance that we will have nowhere to camp...
 
American Legion is also known as People's State Forest. This is about half an hour from me. I have been hiking up there a few times and its pretty nice. There are not a whole lot of people on the trails. I pretty sure its campground only camping, but this may be good for this type of gathering.
 
andrew7978 said:
American Legion is also known as People's State Forest. This is about half an hour from me. I have been hiking up there a few times and its pretty nice. There are not a whole lot of people on the trails. I pretty sure its campground only camping, but this may be good for this type of gathering.
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AFAIK all the camping on CT state land is going to be camp-ground camping of some-sort or another, unless you are on one of the primitive backpacker sites.

i think i am going to focus on pachaug forest, it looks like it would offer us the most flexibility and there are no fees.

on one hand this means free camping, on the other a chance that we will have nowhere to camp...
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Pachaug is $11 to $13 per night according to the DEP site.
 
Also, for me, the 15-17 would definetely be better. I probably (almost definetely) would not be able to do the 22-24.
 
mp, thanks for the help, i will look more into those...

that weekend would be better for me too, but the second is a possibility depending on availability of stuff and people...
 
I would love to go Simon, but I will be taking Marty's course from the 10th - 17th After that I will want to spend time with my family. Have a great time fellas!
 
tony, will you be getting up to WAR?

its a bit of a stretch for me, but if you will be there i might bump into you...

mp, i don't know how i missed that...must have been looking somewhere else on that page somehow. i will look into possibilities at pachaug.
 
Peoples State Park is on the east side of the Farmington river. American Legion State
Forest is on the west side. Two completely different areas with different regs. State parks have more restrictive regs concerning pets, alcohol use,overnite camping,firearms,etc--KV
 
so we should try to aim for a state forest over a park? for more freedom for the gang...sounds good.
 
Simon,

Just spoke with my former employer, Jack, at Main Stream Canoe Corporation right up the road from you on Rt. 44 in New Hartford. There is an island right behind the shop he said he wouldn't mind letting us use for a gathering. It is kind of small being only 8 acres but we'll have access to the river which is a whole new dimension on gatherings. We would also have plenty of room to make a few shelters and we'd only be a few minutes away from People's State and American Legion. We could also use the shops canoes (for a discounted rate) do a 10 mile paddle or I could teach some basic canoeing and kayaking if anyone would be interested.

I think we have a winner here. What do you guys think?

By the way, I'll be away teaching the Basic and Advanced courses at Marty's from the 20th of this month through August 2. Then I'll be away from the 9th through the 16th again at Marty's. Other than that, I'm in!
 
Whoa that sounds sweet!! Damn if you do this in Sept, I'm in.

The only down side is I would have to see Kevin's ugly mug again:eek::p:D
 
alright so with kev's very awesome help here (kev, i think that would be perfect, thanks!)

and considering the dates that are being tossed around...how does the first weekend in september (after labor day weekend) sound to everyone? that would be the 5-7.

i don't really want to do it that late, but i can handle it. would that jive with everyone? if not, we can take another look at this and try to work it around some more.
 
DOn;t forget that Marty's WAR Rendezvous is the weekend before. Might be hard for many to get away for two of them in a row.
 
Count me in as long as the WARDEN lets me out!;)

k_estela said:
Simon,

Just spoke with my former employer, Jack, at Main Stream Canoe Corporation right up the road from you on Rt. 44 in New Hartford. There is an island right behind the shop he said he wouldn't mind letting us use for a gathering. It is kind of small being only 8 acres but we'll have access to the river which is a whole new dimension on gatherings. We would also have plenty of room to make a few shelters and we'd only be a few minutes away from People's State and American Legion. We could also use the shops canoes (for a discounted rate) do a 10 mile paddle or I could teach some basic canoeing and kayaking if anyone would be interested.

I think we have a winner here. What do you guys think?

By the way, I'll be away teaching the Basic and Advanced courses at Marty's from the 20th of this month through August 2. Then I'll be away from the 9th through the 16th again at Marty's. Other than that, I'm in!
Click to expand...
 
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