Update About Membership

(Last Updated 3/21/25)

Concept:

This project started out as a place for our extended/chosen family to enjoy.  The kids who grew up here, now bring their own children to camp, explore, and experience the outdoors as an integral part of those formative years.  In addition to a place for our grandchildren to enjoy, this project has turned into our retirement plan.  We will spend the coming years investing heavily in developing the facility, with the hopes of it becoming a reliable retirement income, derived from a labor of love.  At which point we will technically retire, but will continue to oversee and manage the campground as a labor of love; something that we can easily maintain long into our golden years.

We have always imagined this would become a community with a life of its own through some form of a membership program.  We hope to develop a following of like minded people who share our vision, as well as our love and reverence for this special chunk of land.  We hope that our campers will get to know each other, and over time feel like they are camping next door to fellow community members, rather than strangers, in some cases forming deep friendships with other members, possibly even planning trips together.

For the last couple years we have been offering campsites through booking sites like Hipcamp and have developed quite a following of return campers.  We are full and booked well in advance throughout the summer months.  Last year (2024) we noticed that approximately a third of our campers were return visitors, and felt like it was a time to build on that community atmosphere.

In terms of what a membership program will look like, we hope to have a way for our members to enjoy a greater sense of ownership, that will feel like much more than just "renting" a campsite for the weekend.  We hope to be able to offer members some type of annual fee that will allow for camping, as well as additional perks.  This may involve things like:

• • Booking priority
  • On site storage lockers for camping gear
  • Access to additional activities or facilities that are in development
  • Expansion of allowable activities (insurance actually has different rules for what they will cover for members vs. campsite renters)
  • Discounts for frequent use (something along the lines of "the more you camp, the more you save")
  • Day use access

New in 2025:

I have been discussing this idea with our guests for the last couple years, and actually had started to layout a 2025 program.  However, recently I decided to take a different approach.  I want to take the time to design something that is in strong alignment with our goals, and vision, and don't want to just slap something together.  It caused me to assess what my motivation was for wanting to do something now:

What I concluded was that I was starting to enjoy a sense of community among our return guests, and was excited to build on that.  I feel the instinct was right, but ultimately concluded that there are better ways to get the ball rolling rather than rushing an official membership program without all the details sorted out.   So instead of a membership program in 2025, we have decided on taking two key steps:

#1 - Direct Booking:  We got some professional help, and have completely re-designed the web site, including allowing our returning campers to book directly with us on our web site.  This will save them ~15-20% of the fees charged by sites like Hipcamp and Tentr, etc.. So any of our returning visitors this year are welcome to book direct on our web site, or on their preferred booking platform if they prefer.

#2 - Community Forms:  Currently in development, the goal is to have this launched early in the season (hopefully by June).  This will be a place where our members can communicate with us and each other throughout the year.  My goal is to get more input from our campers, and truly turn this into a community project.  

So this year, we aren't asking for any membership fees, or long term commitments.  However, we are providing a way for our return campers to save a little money by booking direct, and for those interested, a way to take part in community discussions.  That feels like a great way to keep the ball rolling, and I will "slow my roll" a little, and continue to let this project develop at its own pace.