I finally made it over to the camp sites and found the following information that should better help us make a decision:

Chips Folly is a bust for the most part:

For starters there's a sign that says 'no motorcycles' at the front gate.. I did get a chance to talk to one of the property caretakers... The owner "Paul" seems to be a nice guy, but is in Florida until mid-March... Don't think we want to wait that long to begin discussions....

I walked the area and most sites (90%) are fixed trailers, so I'm thinking they kind of have their own little community already:




the few campsites they do have are all the way in the back, so we would have to come and go past all the 'residents'...



On the way to check out what WAS available at the Bass River State Park Campgrounds, I stumbled onto a place called Pillgram Camp Ground.

I spoke with the owner, Scott, who at first was not very warm to the idea of bikes, but also thanked me twice for even asking (guess a lot of folks just park on his property and ride dirt bikes into the woods - its amazing what showing a little respect will get ya...) and said that there were a series of sites, 8 or so, at a "back loop" that he would consider letting us use since we could ride out an access road that was away from the other campsites.

Again, there were mostly trailers, but these camp sites at least looked a bit better and also had hot showers, bathrooms etc - ($24 a night):





I then went to Bass River State Park Campground. I asked if there were any camp sites available for Memorial Day weekend. Apparently there are some very large sites (same $20 anight rate as the smaller sites, just double the size..!!)

There were also lean-to's available for $30 a night, and they ended up being much more then a lean-to as they are completely enclosed, raised floor, windowed/screened. They seem like they would be very good if we got any kind of weather since they could easily accomodate 2 guys with lots of room for gear bags etc. and we could come in with all our gear on if its raining or whatever and be standing while changing etc.. which gets a bit tricky in a tent...(they say you can have up to 6 in them, but that would be VERY TIGHT in my opinion... I would think two or three max)

This is what the lean-to's look like:









On the outside of each lean-to is a large lot with a picnic table and grill....



The large camp sites are in fact very large, and like the lean-to's, they sit away from most other campers so either onewould server our purposes well....







More then enough space for us....

I worked with the ranger using one of their campsite maps to ID the sites that are currently taken (marked with a red X) both in the lean-to area (line of sites to the right) and the large camp sites (top circle of sites) :



The large campsites can have up to 6 people, up to 2 tents and up to 2 vehicles on them. On the map, thats designated in red as (6P) (2T) and (2V). The lean-to's can have up to 6 people, zero tents, and 2 vehicles.

Just like the other camp sites, the state park has hot showers anddecent facilities. Its also the closest to the highway and the closest to the trails which start about 200 yrds out from the gate house.

The ranger said that if our group decides to camp here over the Memorial Day Weekend, that we should decide ahead of time which person will take which site or lean-to and have that person call in the reservation individuallybeing sure to statethe exact campsite number. Reservations can be made over the phone, using Visa, Mastercard or Discover card.

My personal vote is to go with Bass River State Park Campground since it appears to me to be the best campground around.

What do you guys think????

 

Wow if you guys pull off this trip sure looks like it will be a good time.

Good luck and don't forget the riding and camp fire pics. [sm=icon_cheers.gif]

 

Dave,

Thanks for all the effort on this recon mission. It sounds like you might be on to something with the lean-tos.

 

+1 on the lean-to

 

There is no IF here... its going to happen...

Well guys, it doesnt really matter to me, yea the lean tos look like they would be cool. Im gonna let the people who know New Jersey make the decision on where we should go... Dirtsurfer, Patrick, and his guy Jimmi.... you guys tell me where is good, im easy to please. I just would like us all in one place for BS-ing and hanging out and such, but if we are not close no big deal.... Dont forget Patrick and Jimmie are probably going to sleep in a camper. So if you think Bass river is the way to go im all for it.

 

I think that both Patrick and Jimmie were OK with Bass River since I think they were planning on leading the ride from there anyway when we were thinking about the cabins a few threads ago.

Provided they weigh in and that theory still holds, my recommendation would be for the folks who signed up on the web-site to pair up (I try to keep things simple.. like from the list, #1 & #2 pair up, #3 & #4 pair up etc). on the lean-to's since they offer the best protection from the cold and potentially rain. Also, using the lean to's, there is less to bring in terms of equipment and they offer an excellent "mud room" of sorts when you first enter...

I think that when we create the groups (which I feel we should do soon...), we can assign a lean-to camp site to each (based on the map).Each groupcanthen PM each other andidentify the ONE person who will call down and make the reservation. That way each twosom would be responsible for making and confirming their own reservations for the weekend. They can then post back that they have reserved their assigned site, and we can keep track of whats leftif others join in the ride (provided they are still available... which is whyI think we should move quickly with whatwe currently have...

Thoughts??

 

Sounds good to me.... ok so what happens if we get more than 14 people? guess we will have to overflow into tents...

Im guessing chris and brian will be paired up, being that they are carpooling all the way up.... So who wants sleep with me..... wait... you know what i mean...... in the lean to..... damn..... i mean...... lol....

 

There are 8 lean-to sites currently open, so thats 16 folks...assuming they stay open... (man I hate assuming...)

With Patrick and Jimmie's intent to use a camper, that leaves 12, so we still have some room for 4 more folks.

If Chris andBrian are riding up, yeah, they might want to share a lean-to. Why not just go down the list you had on the other thread, from the web site responses,pair us up in order, assign a lean-to site, and repost so folks can start talking and making reservations.

That would be my recommendation...

 

I'm ready to reserve a lean-to, just waiting to hear back from Chris to make sure that's OK with him. I agree that we need to get these reserved in order to hold our spots. Otherwise we'll be hard pressed to do it later due to the busy Memorial Day holiday weekend.

 

Thatscool with me... ill wait and contact patrick for the most up to date list. So we wanna run with bass river? Thats what we all planned on in the first place... so i would assume that its no big deal to just plan on there.

ThumperTalk store charged me 4 times for that moose bag..... grrrr....... i only bought one..... wtf....