I have decided to start blogging this process. I will (soon) be posting some retroactive summaries of the past couple years, but moving forward I plan to make smaller posts as we go (hopefully a few times per season). For those of you interested in our long term plans and development, this is a great way to get a lot of detail about what we are working on and why. I am going to keep this very informal, and just post as often as I can (usually when I have enough useful information to update).
This year we decided to keep the campsites blocked out until Memorial Day. Every year there is a huge challenge to get our work done in the camping area. Feb and Mar is just too wet, and some of the heavier work is very difficult to do when we have campers (even on the weekdays). We hope to offer early year (April/May) camping again in 2026 for those who like that early year camping experience, but this year we decided we were going to give ourselves the entire month of April, and most of May to get some of our major improvements done before we open. Below is a summary of what we are actively working on over the next couple weeks:
New Shop & Entrance Road:
Last year we build a big shop up near the house. This is part of our long term plan to clear out, build out, and offer the lower pole barn (near the group area) as a meeting hall to our guests. Moving the main shop from the bottom pole barn to the new building near the house, is the first step in the long term plan to offer our guests a nice meeting hall in the camping area. Unfortunately when we built the new pole barn we had to tear up the entrance road. Toward the end of last year, the entrance road was very messy, and in Sept/Oct it was pretty muddy for some of our late year campers. Through the winter, we had to tear up even more to trench in the electrical lines. With the electrical trenching project recently finished in March, we are now able to re-build, compact, and re-gravel the road. We hope to get this done and new signage up before we open in 3 weeks. If not 100% done by then, it will be (at the very least) a massive improvement over last year, and functional before Memorial day.
Individual Site Improvement:
In 2022 when I built our first 3 campsites, I was kind of "winging it". Though I love every site I made, in hindsight there are a lot of lessons I learned in building the first few sites, that made the design and build of subsequent sites easier and with better results. Specifically I learned a lot about not disturbing too much of the vegetation, making the sites deeper (further back from the road), and I got better at leveling and smoothing. This is the year I decided to go back and improve some of the earlier sites, applying what I have learned, and doing a lot of the things I wish I had done in hindsight.
Generally, I want to improve the feeling of seclusion of all of the sites, by building up a "green wall". Some of this will just take time and patience, but this year (ideally still this spring, if not this fall) we will be planting several small trees and/or shrubs to accelerate this process. It is possible this will be done this spring (either before or shortly after Memorial Day), but I may have missed my window. I will know in the next couple weeks whether or not it is still possible.
Site #1 - We are extending this site considerably, roughly doubling it in size, and pushing a deeper camping area much farther from the road. The new area is more level. I am not sure if we will or won't have time, but the goal is to make this site a little better for a small trailer. Either this spring, or fall, we will be planting some trees/shrubs to improve the visual/sound barrier from the road and other sites.
Site #2 - Same as Site 1. This is a major expansion, pushing more deeper spaces. Site 2 is naturally great for a small RV, so we are going to spend a little time trying to improve the parking pad. It won't be perfectly level, and still no hookups, but with these improvements site #2 will be one of the most RV friendly sites we have. We also took the opportunity to remove some standing dead trees in and around site #2.
Site #3 - There were two trees in Site #3 that had been crowded out and had died. Though not a safety hazard yet, we decided to go ahead and remove them as A) this is ultimately necessary, but B) as it allowed for a nice expansion of the site. I usually build all sites around existing trees, and am very reluctant to remove one, but in this case they were dying anyway, so I decided to go ahead and put the space to use.
Site #6 - This is one of the first sites I built in 2022, and in hindsight it was very sandwiched between the hiking trail and the road. In 2023 when I built Site #3, I re-located the hiking trail further back allowing site #3 to be deeper (further back from the road). When I did this, I had also planned to do the same with Site #6, and just hadn't gotten around to it until now. We are currently expanding the back side of this site.
Group Site - We made a huge improvement to the electrical system.
Beach Improvement & Expansion:
We want more places down by the creeks (big and small) for campers to hang out, cool off, and enjoy communal space. We are doubling the size of the "beach area" by clearing the space on the other side of the log (for those who have been here you probably know what I mean). This will provide two distinct area (one on each side of the log) to hang out by the big creek. I should have this done by Memorial Day. I am also interested in leveling a small platform looking across to the small waterfall, and putting some kind of a bench or Gazebo there. The Gazebo is certainly not happening before Memorial Day, but if I get enough time (and reasonably dry weather) I hope to level the platform, and at least place a picnic table there this year.
Starlink WiFi:
i was torn about this one. Philosophically I believe in trying to unplug as part of the desired experience. That said, even I really enjoy being able to listen to stream music while I am down there, and I know a lot of campers need WIFI. With the expanded power, I was able to put a Starlink dish down there, which provides great WIFI. I need to get it mounted higher on a pole for it to be super reliable, but it is there now, and I am 90% sure I will get it mounted and extended for a much better signal by Memorial day. So if not before, shortly after Memorial Day we should have great WIFI down near the group area for those who want it. I will still encourage people to unplug, and enjoy the great outdoors, but it is also really nice to be able to connect long enough to send a message, make a call, or look something up. Also this should dramatically improve camper's ability to use the Hipcamp app to message us without having to drive up the hill.
New Communal Area Overlooking Big Creek:
Across the little creek, there is a nice area that we once used for target practice. That area has not yet been re-purposed. Until now it has been off limits as before I can offer this area to my guests I need to remove a couple hazards (a big stump and a pile of rocks/boulders). Once I do this, I plan to make this another nice hang out space which will overlook the big creek, and is right next to the little creek. This is on the maybe list (in terms of what I can realistically get done before we open). However, it is a project I should be able to work on mid week after we open, so if I don't get it done before we open, I plan to work on it early in the season.
Summary:
As you can see the next 3 weeks is going to be very busy for me and my helpers. There is a lot on the agenda, and much of it is very weather dependent. So I never know how much of it I will get done, what will get pinned for later in the year, or possibly even next year, but at this point I am fairly confident I will get through most of the above by mid June if not before Memorial Day. It will be fun for me to go back and read this in a couple weeks when I (hopefully) will do another blog post. In the meantime... back to work for me :P.