Let's discuss Campout 2012

http://forum.ndbrewers.com/t187-campout-photos

I also put them in the gallery: Slideshow (click start slideshow at the top) or Main Event Gallery

yes, thanks joel! i enjoyed the porter!

that would be me the guy from fargo

joelmacdermid69@yahoo.com for facebook

I had a great time, I want to thank everyone. My boys had a good time, and so did my bride. It was fun with family and friends.

Beers that stood out to me.

I really liked the barrel porter (from the guy in Fargo, sorry)
Ryan, I like the spruce beer
Dean had a nice bottle of "Belgian something or other" he called it.
And I enjoyed many of the numerous pale ales.
Randy’s wee heavy was nice, and so was Jayme’s oatmeal stout.

Thanks again all!

I all most forgot, Mike the river brew was a very interesting experience. The combination of river rocks, rain water and whatever other water you used was pretty cool. I hope the beer turns out. Your dedication was nice to see!

I am! I've got a brand new tent to try out.

So far the forecast looks good:

Only 8 more days to go!!! Who's as excited as me!!!!

This is my work around for the "no glass containers" rule. I tore apart my countertop kegerator (which was about on its last leg) and made it into a cooler/refridgerator/tabletop kegerator. With the coozy and wraparound icepack it will stay cold for 24 hrs on an 80 degree day! 13L is about the same a 1.25 gal of tasty homebrew! CHEERS!

On the subject of camping, the Prairie Homebrewers campout will be on June 8th - 10th at the Clausen Springs Campground south of Valley City:
http://forum.ndbrewers.com/t183-phc-clausen-springs-campout#838

While this is organized by the PHC, other homebrewers are welcome to attend, especially if you want to get some practice camping with homebrewers before the ND Brewers campout a couple weeks later.

Sure! I'll get up in the attic and check it out. No reason to keep it when it could go to someone that'll use it

Hear hear!

I'm going to go through the ol' tenting supplies this weekend and dust some stuff off. I think I might have to do a brew between now and then too... hmm...

Say Jayme, if you ever decide to sell your camp stove, now that you got your fancy pants camper, let me know

-Generator is running great!
-AC is blowing cold
-beer is fermenting & getting ready
-Hitch getting installed in the truck soon

I'm about ready!!!!! Looking forward to it!!

Great! Sites are filling up.

I was just informed that this is the same weekend of the big Mcquades Softball tourney in Bismarck. So some Mashers may show up if they're team loses out early to drown their sorrows. I'll keep in touch with the "maybes" and let them know how many of the unreservable sites are open at that time.

I'm in on 8.

Sweet! We've already doubled last years camp sites!

I reserved spot 6

Wow! It's looking good already! Muddy River Masher member Mike Frohlich is on #17.

We reserved #12. I was going to replaced the camper's incandescent lights with LEDs this year anyway so that should extend the battery life. It looks like someone also reserved 17 too.

I will see how many PHC 'er we can pull west but I know that some will be going much farther west that weekend to Seattle for the AHA National Conference.

I was gonna take 12 but 15 is bigger and closer to the park. Also a little further away from the water for the kid. They are all nice! I like this area! Looking forward to taking pics!

Awesome!

I'm that sneaky one stuck back on 10, hehe.

Here's the link to the available sites: Cross Ranch Campground Sites

I got site 15! Friday - Sunday!

All of the reservable ones are still open so for those going, make your reservation so that we are grouped together. CHEERS!!!

Great!

I've got all the info up here: Campout 2012

I'll be sending out emails, posting on facebook, and just generally bugging everyone about it. Feel free to grab that flyer and forward it to your brew friends.

Ok I'm booking site #13 for the 22nd and 23rd. Lets get the ball rolling and do some camping!

EDIT... DONE: Cross Ranch, Site 13, Arrival: 06/22/2012 (Fri), Depart: 06/24/2012 (Sun), Nights: 2

See you all there!

Agreed!

They can't hold for us, but the nice thing is that the state has online registration. I say let's stick with the Governors Ground. It's easiest to the entrance, more for the kids to do, and a lot more sites open for reservation.

Then it's settled! June 23rd -24th at the Governors Centennial Campground in the Cross Ranch State Park.

To me it really doesn't matter either way on the electricity, shower, etc. I can bring my little generator if needed but I don't have A/C in my pop-up anyway so it probably wouldn't be needed.

I think that it would be nice to be able to find a spot where we could reserve a whole block of sites. They wouldn't have to hold them too long but just long enough for us to all make our reservations and keep the 'campout' together. I'm not sure if that is possible from the state but it would be nice to keep our group together.

I've never been there before either but if the sites are big enough we could probably fit a tent or two in one of the camper sites and accommodate those that are primitive camping.

Anyway, that is my $.02 and not worth that either by the way! But we will want to make a definite plan pretty quick so we can secure our spots. Thanks!
Ryan

I usually primitive camp when I camp so it doesn't really matter to me. I'd like to hear a few others chime in on it. They're both great grounds in the Cross Ranch, they just have different benefits:

Governors	Sanger
Showers	More Electric hook ups
Easy to find	Out of the way
Playground	Boat/Fishing Dock

To be honest I probably will still use the camp showers just to save on the water/sewer in the camper.

Thats a tossup... I like the electricity but at the same time I like being by the playground and such for the kiddo. I can live with Cross Ranch since I have a generator but that's just me.

I think I still vote Cross Ranch for those that are tenting and such. Senger would save fuel for the generator if it is really hot but if it's not hot then it doesn't matter.[i]

We can also go with the Sanger Unit for more electric sites. 8 of the sites (5 of which are reservable) have electric hookups (view sites here). The only problem with the Sanger unit is that it's 2 miles south of the main campground so its not easy access to the showers or the playground. There are vault toilets and the campground is nice and secluded.

I guess it's not that big of a deal if people don't mind driving up to the north unit to shower (those of us without fancy campers ). Thoughts?

That's why I'm bringing the generator. The thought of heat though I don't think will be a factor this year though cause it is like 3 weeks earlier.

I would just like to know the area people are looking at so I can reserve in the same locationish...

Only site 30 in that section has electricity and it is not reservable and it is probably the camp host site. We could run our camper on battery power but would prefer an electrical site (no electricity = no A/C which was really needed last year).

I should be more specific.... camp spots 1-17?

So I take it we are going into the reservable part? There aren't all that many. All the rest are 1st come 1st serve.

Parks don't allow for glass containers, otherwise as long as your 21 or over you can drink.

State Park Rules and Use

as of now that date works for me, i took my pop up to sanger a few years ago, i think the have electrical 110 on the west side. the tent camp sites are nice and secluded down there. at then end of the culdisac would be a good gathering place. or over by the boat ramp (which i rarely saw get used.) Good choice, is there a problem with Beer being openly served, thought that was frowned upon at state parks.

Here ya go Jayme: Cross Ranch State Park: Governors Campground June 23rd

Yeah I wanna see the layout so if the elec. hookups are waaaaay away from the other sites then I'll just bring the generator rather than walk accross a park all the time.

That settles it then, June 23rd at the Cross Ranch. I'll get the fliers and info set up this week.

Thanks for all your patience and input

I'm good with the June 23rd weekend.

Yep, dogs are welcome in North Dakota state parks but not allowed in swimming areas.

With the Cross Ranch, we'd just advertise to stay in the Sanger Unit (see park map). It's got a nice variety of camper and tent spots. Plus it's at the end of the campground so we'd be out of the way.

I was just informed that the 34th Annual National Homebrewers Convention is June 21st - 23rd.

It's in Seattle this year. Does anyone know of any state brewers that would be gone for that? We can always schedule this in July or August if June is too busy. I'd like to allow for the best chance of attendance here, so please post feedback.

We take our small dog with us camping in the ND state parks so dogs are allowed.

Randi, are you thinking of getting the Group Campsite or trying to reserve some sites next to each other?

Does anybody know if dogs are allowed at Cross Ranch? I didn't see anything on the web-site.

Cross Ranch is nice. Camped there years ago with the family and canoed part of the river. Lots of trees, not far from Washburn if you need supplies.

I did contact the Cross Ranch because I found conflicting information about flood damage. They we're quick to reply:

We are open and ready for business. Nothing was damaged except for a portion of a trail so we are good to go for the upcoming summer.

Wow! Well, Indian Hills is already really full. The opening registration date for Lake Sakakawea is tomorrow... that's not really enough time to get everyone in to make a reservation. I figured they'd fill fast, but not that fast... sheesh.

How about the Cross Ranch? I've been to that one. Its on the west side of the Missouri River, just south of Washburn (see map). Its fairly primitive, but that's kind of how I prefer to camp. The facilities are all nice and it's usually not very busy.

Cross Ranch State Park Amenities:

• 589 acres
  
• Campground
  
• Electrical sites at Sanger Campground-(RVs under 35 ft. only)
  
• Reservations
  
• RV Dump station
  
• Showers
  
• Log cabins
  
• Yurts
  
• Visitor center
  
• Boat ramp
  
• Canoe and Kayaks rentals
  
• Snowshoe and cross country ski rentals
  
• Picnic shelters
  
• Playgrounds
  

If I could get 2 folks to approve of this place, we'll go with it and the June 23rd date. Let me know, the sooner the better and I'll get the fliers out.

Next year I'm throwing a dart at a map!

June 23rd works for me!! Humidity or heat won't scare me off, I'll have the generator to keep my AC going! LOL! June 16 is out for me, I have a wedding to photograph that weekend.

Because I'm impatient , I vote for June 23rd. Any seconds on that?

Haha! Sounds like our first Hopluck. We had to run into town to buy more firewood to keep warm.

Okay so for weekends in June;

• June 2nd is out because that's Blues and Brews in Dickinson
  
• June 9th there's a few smaller things like the Kitefest in Jamestown and the last day of Ribfest in Fargo
  
• June 16th is Fathers Day weekend, so that's probably not a good idea
  
• June 23rd there's a Walleye tourney in Devils Lake and Fort Stevenson has their Military Days
  
• June 30th there is a car show in Ashley, but otherwise it's pretty quiet. Though that might be a little close to celebrating the 4th of July for some

So the 2nd and 16th are out for sure. And no, I'm not going to all of these events, haha! I just sifted through some of the bigger stuff listed on the state calendar to try to find any conflicts. What weekend works best for you all?

I've never been to either but have heard good things about both. I'm easy and just need a place to park my bones! A usable water attraction could be beneficial if the heat is ridiculous like ND Brewers Camp-out V1. Course this year it could be chainsaws and trees to keep a fire going.. you just never know.

EDIT--- one other note about either of those two recommendations is that we will definitely have neighbors.

Sounds great! I think if we nail down a location, we can nail down a date. I'll double check to make sure there's nothing else going on in the area at the time.

I've never camped up on the lake. Indian Hills looks nice, they seem to offer a little of everything, plus they've got online reservations. There's always Lake Sakakawea State Park too. They've got a lot of the same boating, hiking, and biking, perks with a full service marina for any boaters out there. They also offer online reservations.

Anyone had any experiences at either of these places? I just did a quick search on NDTourism to find these, so if I missed a good spot please post it.

I'm about ready for a campout. Where and when! I'm ready. We should get a date nailed down so that it can get in the usually hectic summer schedule!