From the headquarters, the camp is 2.3 to 2.8 miles away by trail, without much hill. Yes, it is scattered out a bit.

Wild animals to avoid: wild pigs.

If they get too bad, then I could recommend a pork recipe to be tried with a woodburner stove. A wire snare would do the trick. But then you would have to bribe a park ranger to look the other way. Home brew beer would do the trick there.

--B.G.--

Ken H. I might have a # 1 now that we have 2 sites. Ken T. moneys coming your way, thanks guys for everything, should be a lot of fun. Does any one know how the poision oak will be at that time of the year?

"Does any one know how the poision oak will be at that time of the year?"

In February, the poison oak will be ripe and easy on the palate.

--B.G.--

If there is to be a woodburning stove competition, then what are the rules? Or, is it strictly unlimited?

--B.G.--

Two stage contest. Stage one. Le Mans start. To test skill of the operator. Timer started then contestant goes off and finds wood, builds fire, boils. Stage two- Competing stoves to be ignited at same time using an allotment of "competition" grade wood. Any other aspects should we add?

The competitors supply their own cook pots, since some stoves are particular about that. The cook pot has to be strong enough that a competitor can stand on it. Otherwise, somebody will show up with a cook pot made out of aluminum foil.

The judge supplies the water to be boiled. The water will be in a jug at ambient air temperature, whatever that is, and the judge places exactly 16 ounces of it into each of several smaller bottles. That way, the water should all be the same. Each competitor picks one of those smaller bottles of water and applies every drop of it to his or her cook pot. That way, the competitors can't get an advantage out of the water.

Competition grade wood? The mind boggles. If there is no kindling involved, the wood had better be pretty small in diameter, perhaps 1/4" pine dowel rod from a store. One large pinch of firestarter from the judge might level the playing field there.

It will be tough to decide when the water is exactly boiling. You can't put a thermometer in there, because that would interfere with the lid. You might have to go by sight, but that is pretty subjective. You might have to have instrumentation.

--B.G.--

@ bob
in the scouts we would put soap in the water. that way when it boils it really boils and come out the top of the pot.
don't really want to drink it though.

I think I have a wireless thermometer we use in the kitchen. I wonder if there might be enough of these in peoples kitchens. Of course then we would need a calibrate off. Maybe we don't want to go there. Maybe transparent lids could be provided or the lids come off close to, but hopefully just before we believe the water is going up boil with a team of spotters looking for the boil.

I hope I get to see this.

Mark

If the contest had five competitors going at once, then we would need five sets of temperature instrumentation. If we did them sequentially, we could get by with one set.

If lids are on the cook pots, and the cook pots have different volumes, then the steam will rise over the liquid and exit a hole in the lid at different times. So, that is not perfect.

A wireless thermometer probe could be stuck on something so that the temperature is measured from the center of the liquid.

--B.G.--

Anyone bringing a zip stove ?

Do the stoves have to be reusable ?

DQ for burning the ground ?

Maybe the judge should supply a single, flat, fireproof surface for each competitor to use. That would level the playing field, literally.

--B.G.--

Secured the spots for Saturday. Manzanita Point. Group spots 9 and 10. We will be able to have a few support vehicles at camp with us to add to the backcountry experience. So might as well make the use of it. Firewood, coolers, and chairs. Oh my!

I have not yet reserved a spot for Friday. I was thinking of the car camping area by the park hq. Any other suggestions?

Thanks to all who have paid so far. I really appreciate it.

"I was thinking of the car camping area by the park hq."

Where is that?
-----------
Nevermind. I just found it on the map. It is behind and below the headquarters by a walking distance. Geez, of all the times I've been to headquarters, and I didn't know there was a campground.

--B.G.--

Edited by --B.G.-- on 12/31/2010 00:15:50 MST.

computer anomaly :)

Edited by monstertruck on 12/31/2010 02:48:12 MST.

This is my RSVP. I clicked to watch this thread but didn't receive the updates so I'm catching up on the changes. May need a ride, I'm in San Luis Obispo if anyone is passing through from the south on the 101. Looking forward to it!

Ryan

couple of questions since there has been a change of venue

1. is this a better hike for kids than ventanna
2. could this hike be done at night should we by chance show up late afternoon on friday??

im just trying to weigh the options looks like jack cannot get out of work friday so if we carpool we will have to leave after that plus the option to bring my son
might come in to play if its do able

looks like 3.5 hrs drive for us so im just trying to find the best solution to make the trip the least hectic as possible for everyone

ken t i will pp you soon i promise just need to figure out how many im actually going to have

thanks all can t wait to see everyone there

kevin

Kevin: Manzanita point is an easy hike for kids. Not too much up and down.

this is an easier hike than ventana. We did this as a day hike with my daughter when she was 3 or 4. The hike can be easily done at night. The trail is easy to follow, or if you were particularly concerned, you could most likely follow the road since it's rather easy to follow.

I haven't been to Coe since budget cutbacks... I am not sure what evening entry is like these days. Anyone?

Also for kids... if you hoof it back to the HQ, there is a semi loop that has a self guided nature trail. My memory is that the loop was a pretty easy ~2 miles? and had something like 24 stops along the way. The kids we took seemed to enjoy it.

--Mark

Kevin, much much easier than Ventana. Two group sites have been secured. Ken, did you get the paypal I sent you? We are allowed two cars to drive in. The catch is, they cannot drive back out until the next day. So if someone wants to just drive in, then the would have to hike out and hike back in again. At least we can have a fire....a REAL fire, unlike last year with the charcoals that Tony was so kind to bring in. This should be a fun trip!

ok ill bring him
please add ryan smith to the list for me and ill bring him along

if he made it to wildcat im sure he will make it to this camp

paypal inbound to ken t

so for my group it will be

kevin smith
jack elliott
ryan smith
ryan krause

just in case you need to update the list

thanks all
kevin