'06 Redwood Gathering... Site Selected

[Guest]

Here's a preview of Pamplin Grove, located near Carlotta, CA in Humboldt County, along Highway 36...


Pampling Grove has one of those entrances... If you blink, you'll drive right by, but don't worry... we'll make sure you can find it.


Driving into the grove before you reach the kitchen dining area, you will pass a handful of campsites like what is shown in the following picture below...


All of the campsites near the entrance of the grove can easily hold more than one or two teardrops.


The old growth redwood trees in this grove aren't the largest ones around this area, but comparing my full size F-150 to this tree will give you a pretty good idea how big these trees are...


Here's a shot of the kitchen, there is also two large above ground barbeques... one with a hood, one without. Best of all... there is also an underground pit that will really put the smoke into the meat...
There are also two bathrooms located at this area.


This is the outdoor dining area, the group fire pit is in the background... it has an inside diameter of 5 1/5' and 2' tall walls...plenty big enough for a decent sized social fire.
BTW-That fence surrounds the underground pit...


As we continue on past the kitchen/dining area, we come up on this huge field. I'd say it's a bit bigger than a football field and there are two sets of horseshoe pits and a volleyball court. Behind the trees on the left is the main group camping area, which is about about as big as this field, except with trees scattered around. This field can be used for overflow, but I doubt we will run out of room.


Back near the kitchen dining area, you can walk down these stairs into the main group camping area, which runs beside that field. There are two bathrooms located out in the middle of the group area, one is visible at the back of this shot.


Here's the other end of the group camp area. The bathrooms are visible again at the back of this shot as well.


Here's a shot of the swimming hole, taken at about 6:00AM this morning...


This is looking upstream a few minutes earlier...

Last but not least... Here are my 3 favorite shots I took on this quickie overniter...


Evening sun rays piercing through the trees...


Big Tree, Little Trees...


Let's take a walk, Shall we?

The exact date for this gathering will be announced during the first week of January of '06... (We will be placing our reservation on the first business day of '06)
Gene Barker has graciously agreed to wait on announcing a date for his Shelter Cove Gathering until after we have our reservation.
I still need to get in touch with Lee Bryant, so as not to end up with a conflicting date with his Clear Lake Gathering...

A small group of us are going to be doing an Early Bird get together this summer at the end of July at Swimmer's Delight, which is located right next to Pamplin Grove... More information will be posted after our Early Bird get together.

[Chip]

Just an observation,,, Tha big man upstairs sure knows how to decorate a bed room, dont he.

absolutely beautiful country,,,

chip

[Guest]

Chip,
I'm one lucky guy to have grown up here with all these wonders around me...

For all you Early Birds...
I talked with a fellow from the Public Works Department and I've got a good feeling that our group will be able to take a tour of Pamplin Grove during our outing at Swimmer's Delight at the end of July...
Turns out that someone has the grove rented from Friday to Sunday for a wedding. Public Works is going to pass my name and number over to the person that rented it, so hopefully... I'll be getting a call shortly. Worse case scenario... Wait until noon on Sunday to tour the grove.
BTW- I also learned that this renter was the first person in line for making a reservation on the first business day of '05. I'm told that he went to their office the morning before to get a place in line.
Hey Kevin, are you ready to camp overnight with me at the Public Works Office to get our reservation?
(I say we shoot for July 28th, 29th and 30th of '06)

[tupelosue]

dean, nice pics. i imagine the trees at swimmers delight are just as gorgeous, and there are paths to take walks? It's really inviting.

I was thinking about the wedding group at pamplin, d'ya think they would mind if we hid behind trees and popped our heads out to take a look?? I do love an outdoor wedding!

[Guest]

Sue,
Swimmers delight has nice trees too. One nice thing about Swimmer's is there are coin opperated hot showers in the bathrooms near the campsites I'm going to try and snag.
I didn't ask that gal what day they were getting married, but I doubt that it's on Friday and that's when she told me our group could take a tour.
She also told me that their deal is also going to be like a family reunion, so I wouldn't feel right about hiding in the trees to watch their wedding.
Doug and I have been talking about eats, I'm going to be doing some barbequing and showing him what the Flamineta can do. He's going to "build" an apple pie...What's your expertease?

[tupelosue]

sorry dean i was kidding about hiding behind the trees

i'm hoping to become a dutch oven aficionado. so far, i've bought one and seasoned it. my first attempt to try it was squelched by no bbq rules, including dutch ovens. maybe i'll give it a try this wknd sometime

[JunkMan]

Wow, those trees look awesome! Are you talking about Grizzly Cr. Redwoods state park (that's all I can find on my may in that area)? Might have to make the drive from South Dakota for that meet

[Guest]

Jeff,
Swimmer's Delight and Pamplin Grove aren't shown on mapquest, but Grizzley Creek State Park is.
I gotta tell you a funny story from when me and my brother were out visiting our oldest brother in Rapid City S.D., he was staioned at Fort Elsworth... worked on the missle silos.
We went to a local muesum in one of the little towns somewhere near Rapid City...
My brother and I were looking at this small table made from a slab of a tree trunk.
I guess we were talking too much or something because the curator of the museum came up to us and asked what all the commotion was about.
I told him we were just comenting on the table and my brother asked him what was so special about this table....
The curator exclaimed, "Well just look at the size of it, can you imagine how big that tree must have been?!!!"
My brother responded, "No offense sir, but where we come from, we have trees as big around as this room."
With that the curator exclaimed, "Alright... You smartalicks must leave at once!"
The guy thought that we were just getting smart with him and had no idea we were telling the truth... That little table might have been a bit over two feet in diameter tops...
I hope you can make it out, it's shaping up to be quite a nice gathering...
We won't be able to announce the exact date until after the first of the year, we have to campout in line at the public works office to stake our claim on the reservation... (I'm shooting for the 28th-30th of July '06)

[JunkMan]

Dean,

We just got back from the Minden gathering (ITG) and had a blast, even though we haven't finished our tear yet. Thought the teardrop people were really great, and look forward to future teardrop events with our own tear (which should be done this month).

Depending on the dates, we will try to make it. We habe a big motorcycle rally here (Sturgis) the 7th - 13th of August that we work, so if it is too close to that, we won't be able to make it. (If we go out there, we will want to be able to take the time to see the other sights on the coast too.)

I had a buddy that worked on missles, and got to take a tour of one of the training silos before they closed them all down in the 90's. It was very interesting. Sadly, Ellsworth is on the base closure list. It is the 2nd largest employer in the state and the Rapid City area could loose over 9% of it's population if it closes.

[doug hodder]

Dean....I just reviewed the photos to remind myself of where we are going. I'm set!!! I guess now I need to get the oven out of the tent trailer and definately plan on that apple pie....I sure hope that I can pull it off. I'm planning on getting there on Thurs, early afternoon. Mike Ahearn is also planning on going per our conversation this afternoon. He may need to take off early though. Doug Hodder

[Guest]

Doug,
I just got in from a trip with the kids... Took them to a special place over in Trinity County where my family has camped at for over forty years.
Don't stress about that pie... Martin & Shirley's will have some good vanilla icecream to go with it, that store is only a few minutes from camp.
I don't think anyone is going to starve.

[billnut]

Dean have you ever heard of Beth Clark she lived in Arcata ?
Bill

[Guest]

Bill,
The name sounds familiar, but doesn't ring a bell... (Half-Hiemers)
I'm related to about half of the people in Humboldt County.

[s4son]

Dean,

Looking at the pictures I assume there are no water or electrical hookups, is that correct? I am planning the wiring for my trailer. At first I thought I wanted to do only AC for now and DC later. But I really want to come to Pamplin Grove next year if possible so I want to be prepared.

Scott F.

[Guest]

There's water, but no electricity at Pamplin.
There are RV sites at Swmmer's Delight right next door to Pamplin Grove and they have electricity. (Closer to the coin opperated hot showers too)