UPDATES ON HANG NEXT WEEK, PLEASE READ:
Hello all! The hang is just one week away! I can’t believe this is finally here!
Just a few things to go over…
1) Arrival/Highway Closures:
Yarrow (the largest site) is reserved for Wednesday and Thursday night. The other two sites will be open to us on Friday and Saturday. Please do not set up in the other sites until Friday or Saturday.
Please note below on which date you plan to show up. The gates open at 2:00pm.
The link below is taken from the reservation website and says the Highway will be fully closed every weekday night between 10:00PM and 5:00AM. Between 8:00PM and 10:00PM there is single lane guided access but that could take a really long time to get through. The site says 1-2 hours. If you aren’t on the highway by 8:00PM, I would advise waiting until the morning. There is some conflicting information because the main site below says closures will be from October 11-15th, but the “Read More” link says “Until Further Notice”. I would assume that means they update it every week but it is likely there will be weeknight closures.
If you use the “Read More” link on the site there is more specific information. AT THIS POINT it looks like no weekend closures. I will be going up on Wednesday and it is unlikely I will be able to update the event from there so please update the thread below with information in my absence.
https://sr-74-ortega-highway-widenin...tactsites.com/
2) Fees:
Please pay ahead of time if at all possible so I am not fumbling around with payments. You can use Paypal with the user name “WillieCash” or Venmo with “@socalhangers”. If you need to pay at the event, please have exact change.
3) Campfires:
As of today, fire restrictions are still in place. I contacted the Ranger Station and they say the following are not allowed:
No campfires of any sort including propane powered fire rings/bowls. Propane stoves with a quick shutoff valve are OK. Gas grills are OK (I plan on bringing my BBQ from home).
It may be that the Rangers at the site could be persuaded to allow a gas fire ring if they take a look at it but I cannot guarantee it will be OK. If you have one, feel free to bring it and we can at least ask them to see if they make an exception.
4) Raffle:
As there have been some question as to I the site would be open, if there would be Covid restrictions, etc. we have not been able to pull the trigger on the raffle item promotion in a timely manner. We couldn’t start down the road and have to pull it back at the last minute if the sites were closed up so I am making the decision to hold on to the raffle items until the hang in the Spring when we can do a full promotion of the items. It just isn’t fair to the vendors who have given us items to raffle for us to hold the raffle without the promised promotion.
5) Haunted Hammock Contest:
We will be judging for the Haunted Hammock contest on Saturday evening. I have some donations from ENO which will be the prize(s).
6) Potluck:
Out of an abundance of caution regarding Covid, we are going to cancel the potluck on Saturday and bring it back in the Spring. I know there are folks who will disagree with me about this and I really do try to make sure we run things as close to democratically as possible but I am not certain we can do this in a 100% safe way at this juncture. Feel free to bring food to share throughout the event if you like, I know I am bringing some stuff, but I can’t in good conscious have a formal part of the event in which everybody is standing shoulder to shoulder going through a buffet line. If Golden Corral can’t do it yet, we can’t either.
7) Covid Stuff:
Everybody is going to have different levels of comfort in regard to precautions surrounding Covid. I know I will be wearing a mask at certain times and not at others depending on proximity to others, wind, etc. I am assuming others will be doing the same. I am also assuming others will not wear them at all. I have to be a bit more cautious than some because of family members who are immuno-compromised. There is no need to get into arguments about mask/social distancing efficacy or necessity. I personally get enough of that on Facebook and Twitter. I hope we can all agree to respect everybody else’s comfort level regardless of how it relates to our own.
8) Politics:
We have a longstanding rule that “Politics are for Ground Dwellers” at SoCal Hangers Hangs. Leave ALL that stuff at home. Especially in recent years, I cannot overstate this. I will say it again to be sure it is clear “Politics are for Ground Dwellers”.
9) Weather:
At this point, it looks like the days should be in the high 60s and the nights will be in the high 40s. Looks like we will finally get a chance to use some (relatively) cold weather gear at one of these things! As of today, it looks like there is a chance of rain on Sunday in Lake Elsinore so that means there is a chance at the campground as well. We are proceeding rain or shine so bring appropriate gear. This may change as we get closer to the date but I wanted to let everybody know there is a chance.
10) Parking:
Please park as close to each other as possible and use all spaces. You will need to back in. If we run out of parking, we can use the entrance to the campground as overflow with either yearly wilderness passes or daily passes.
11) Fun:
Have it.
Last edited by WillieCash; 10-13-2021 at 11:25. Reason: Spelling Errors
HANG UPDATE!!
I'm so sorry to announce this but I have been sending out individual messages to folks who had previously confirmed and people are backing out left and right. No hard feelings at all to those folks, things come up.
But we're at a point where the attendee list is so small compared to the cost of the site I think it's better to cancel and use the funds we have to schedule for April.
My concern is that if we move forward with this, then we will have trouble raising the considerable costs for the Spring hang.
I was really looking forward to seeing everybody and I don't take the decision lightly. I went shopping today for the hang and bought a bunch of food which is now going in the freezer, hopefully.
If you were planning on coming please respond below so I know you're aware.
Again, so sorry.
Let's regroup and start getting prepared for the Spring.
Much love to you all.
Two here that were planning to be there. Had to make a trip out to Cali and figured we'd do the hang while we were here.
Super bummed as we just planned our next two weeks around it.
Was about to send funds this evening.
Well, . . . anyone want to do some kayaking?
Hello Lowtech,
So sorry this ended up this way. We were down to about 6 people and the cost of the sites is around $900. Even if we just reduced it to the main site it would have been about $480 for 6-8 folks or so to camp and I'm not sure if there would have been more cancellations.
Hello,
Hello WillieCash.
I'm trying to find a hammock friendly campground for myself and my daughters for a quick overnighter on the weekend.
I've been reading through your FB group's April/October bi-annual, reading about your Covid-weather-scheduling woes. Sorry to hear about that.
You are a very large group, and I don't have FaceBook anymore, but I would like to ask if you would mind sharing with me what you know regarding weekenders hanging at Blue Jay, or Falcon, in a single site. Would we be muscled by the rangers to go to the ground because we'd just be 3 hammocks versus a larger group over the entirety of the campground?
I'm not interested in succumbing to the uninformed antiquated laws of the land that think I'm going to chain-saw piano wire cut through the bark of every tree I see, and try to convince Dudley Ranger that my UHMWPE straps are tree-friendly. -But as a single parent with 2 minors, I'd be a push-over.
I know BJ and Falcon are both first come, first serve - but do I have a chance?
@LowTech Thanks for the reply.
Everyday, honestly, hour by hour, I'm trying to learn as much as possible, with the intention to have useful knowlege of where to go and what to do, to be as LNT, and nature-friendly as possible. Teach my girls about those things as time passes, but first - to give them a great camping experience.
I've got them as eager as I am to hammock in camp, while my wife is unsure and feeling uneasy about them, falling back on her own past experiences over her perceived conveniences to tents.
So, I've finally stumbled upon the jargon about what it is that I have been feeling is inevitable for hammock camping among all these SoCal scrub trees/bushes..."creeping". "Camp Creeping" is what I feel like I'd be doing to get to hang my hammocks. Most sites, as per the NFS, allow for tents, thus they've gone and washed the natural layer of grass or vegetation at these sites due to expectations for tents. Utah has a specialized hammock stand designed to hang 10 hammocks to a single device at a camp site. (Wish CA would take a hint).
The overwhelming vegetation of these forests are Pinyon Pines, and scrub brushes. Feel free to disagree with me. In fact, PLEASE disagree and orient me in the direction of a "dispersed camping" site from a trail or from a roadway that has what I like to refer to as "real trees" that aren't hollowed shells of bark and a stump of it's former glorious self. Tell me where you've seen more than one of these healthy trees spaced at least 13-15 feet apart from each other in a single camp. (Im actually not joking.) [Sorry if I sound gruff or rude.]I'm just feeling like it's never going to happen, that I can find a naturally hammock friendly site in ANY of the surrounding Nat.Forests to L.A. where I can set up 2, maybe 3 hammocks for a single overnighter with the kids, with "real trees" where I camp and enjoy the peace and tranquility of getting away from it for a few hours.
Chula Vista looks promising. But not in a Honda Coupe. I'd have to rent something 4x4.
Hopeful,
Old_Man.
Sorry to dust off an old thread, but I am curious if there are any plans to do another SoCal hang in 2022 around the same time?
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