Philadelphia Mountain Biking Association - Forums

I plan on attending the French Creek Camping Event this weekend. I'll be driving to French Creek from Media, PA Delaware County if anyone wants to carpool let me know  jr15101@yahoo.com

Good idea Riggs. Let's limit our carbon footprint for this event. That being said, I gotta leave early Sunday morning so I may have to drive all by myself.

There are a bunch of people going up Friday night I hear also!

Sounds like I'll be driving up Friday.  Camping and biking. yeehoo

Hijacking the thread.  ;)

If anyone is interested in carpooling from around Wiss to French Creek, going up on Saturday late morning/early afternoon and returning the same day, possibly late on Saturday let me know

dz

what time you think the Sunday ride would be about? I'll be up there with another rider in the day.

I'm suggesting the time of 9:30. A bit late for the campers but late enough to allow day visitors a chance to drive up and join us.

Modified this topic to include the trip itself.

I won't be up and ready to ride until 4:30 PM Saturday. But we have campers leaving much earlier in the day and some coming up Friday afternoon/evening.

Somethings to keep in mind:

• Be sure to register for the event, and better yet on the registration page hit off an email and let them know how many you are bringing.
  
• Bring your own food and tent, I'm sure you can share a grill or fire-pit so stove is not a necessity. Feel free to bring a potluck type BBQ dish if you'd like to share some of your culinary expertise with my belly
• Not sure when all the various rides are going but I'm recommending a 9:30am Sunday ride, which non campers can attend.
• Keep in mind that French Creek is a State park and all State laws are in affect.
• Location is Camp Site 9

Admin and planners please add too or modify this list as you see fit. Everyone else let us know your plans and suggestions so we can all coordinate.

Is there only one campsite at FC? If not, which one are we congregating at?

dz

camp site #9. It is listed on our main page under the camping trip. Come on D, get with it!

Yeah... I was looking on the FC map to see if there was one or more camping locations...

Lou-Gee... Which #9 (http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/frenchcreek/frenchcreek_camp.pdf) I see 4 of them...  :P

dz

How many people are camping out?  The state parks have a rule about the number of people per site (YES they WILL check).  I signed up.. but I'll be coming up late afternoon (3-4 PM).

it's imperative that your register and let us know how many of you. I'm not sure on the limit but it will be first come first serve, so you can't decide Saturday that you suddenly want to come.

I remember camping there one night years ago and they did everything short of a vehicle search before they even let us in the entrance.

I believe you're allowed 3 tents MAX per site at FC or 6 adults per site. You might wanna check w/the park though.

WOw good question Dmitri. I have a message into Tim who made the reservation.

Thanks Dimitri for pointing out the #9 site issue.  You are absolutely correct there are 4 of them -  there are indeed four separate campground loops. There a two main entrances ( and what looks lke a third in th RV area) that allow access to the campground areas. Please access the campground site map for locating and contact infomation if requested at:

http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/frenchcreek/frenchcreek_maps.aspx

I will make a call myself to verify any # of person / camping restrictions that may exist to help our efforts and post accordingly.


Thanks

This is what I was told

We won't have a problem, just can't draw attention to ourselves - 5 persons per site

peace out

I contacted the park reservation system.  There are 10 sites left for saturday.  A site is $20/night and we have to reserve a site for two nights.  (We can call Saturday morning and reserve any remaining sites of just one night).  There are 11 people registered.  This is over twice the number of allowed occupants.  I'm not sure who told you we would be fine, but I seriously doubt that.  Every time I've been to a state park they checked that we are following the rules.  Last time they actually asked all of us to get out of the tents, to make sure we weren't over the 5 person limit. 

I suggest that we call Saturday morning to reserve another site. 

Jacalyn,

You're right, it will be prudent to have more than one site. But, on the other hand, not everyone registered for the event will be camping overnight, myself included. So there might be actually less than 11 people camping. Or more, when people start showing up without having registered...

dz

Hey just a heads up.. you guys should try reserving a Group Camping Site which are way bigger, have fire rings, etc..  Last time I went with a bunch of people the other sites were crowded and oversold, so we just said we were with some Church Group and made up some name that sounded official.    Group tenting sites are way bigger and only cost a few bucks more.. maybe review the rules before you call so you know what to tell them when they ask you questions.. it was pretty easy and we didn't have to show any ID, etc..   they just wanted the extra $40 or so it cost.   I would think if you go under IMBA or etc. you should have no problems.. either that or get a good bullshitter to make the call like Lou.

Good luck and hope to meet the group up there maybe for a Sunday AM ride..  can't camp but wish I could....

-Steve

that's what I'm assuming were doing?  Lou did that last year at Michaux and we virtually had a place to ourselves.

We can just say PMBA, we are a non-profit legit group.

Everyone, I am 99% sure Tim reserved a GROUP camp site, the one's that Fish is talking about. I am waiting to double confirm with Tim but I think we are fine. The map he gave me has our camp site nowhere near the camp sites on the map that Dmitri has in this thread. Which is great, because I don't wanna be in a row home camp site with a bunch of slackers!! Again I am pretty sure we are fine but I will get confirmation soon.

We are GOLDEN! We have a group site and it fits up to 30 people. I am sure 30 people would be tight but I don't think we have that many. We will have plenty of room. See you up there!

LOU - THANKS - that's what we all needed to hear. Now, where is it for those who are coming Saturday? (need to plug in coordinates of my GPS... ueio9sd;jb;pjdscD)

A Little friendly advice for anyone camping with my brother Lou.   Do not share a Tent with him unless you are equipped with a military grade gas mask.   You have been warned.    Just ask Meathead from our Moab trip a few years back.... the poor kid has to sleep in the desert with his head zipped outside the tent. 

Hahahaha. It was the spicy food out there! So funny when you woke up to take a leak at like 4am and walked by our tent and you scared Meat he was flipping around with his head stuck outside the tent! He thought you were a wild animal. I was like "what the hell are you doing half in the tent?" but it was pretty raw...

Anyhoo, just get up there and go to the SCOTTS RUN LAKE and you will be within walking distance of our campsite. Ask around, I am sure there will be rangers there...

Maybe its me but what times are the group rides starting. On this thread it looks like one might be starting Sun morning at 0930. There are no times listed on meetup or the official listing on the homepage. Since people would be coming at all different times maybe it would help to have a few rides set in stone so people have something to shoot for. What time do people need to be there to catch a group ride??

so 9:30a Sunday morning starting at the Scott's Run site?

Group site #9 is probably the best group site at French Creek. I've camped on it. Anyone who has ridden French Creek has ridden right by it or even through it.  the race course goes right by it where you pick up the yellow trail up that dogleg climb. The group sites fit about 30 people if I'm not mistaken.  A few years ago we rented both 8 and 9 and had 60 some people on both sites.  It is not in the family campground loops. The Blue trail coming down from the campground loops goes right by the site. One bad thing is the bathroom for the site. It's a primitive bathroom and they don't clean it very often, so plan on poaching a shower at the family campground loops.

So, do we have group site #9 for friday and saturday night???? I have a pig roast to go to on saturday so i wouldn't be at french creek until early evening but if we have it for friday too i'll go set up and stay friday night.

Gonna be 98degs on Sat!   :o

Bring lots of water....and beer.

be careful with the beer. the rangers are nasty about it. invest in a wawa coffee mug or something similar to pour your brews into. even a non-clear water bottle will do. DO NOT walk around with cans or bottles. we will get tossed out.

Somebody who's camping post a ride time for Sunday AM.  I plan on driving up for a group ride.. like 9 or 9:30 is cool w/me.

ride is Sunday, 9:30am for campers and day trippers.

A couple of us are getting up there Saturday late afternoon and plan to do a ride around 4:30 before dinner. Also might do a mini night ride too before attempting sleep.

I wanna catch a Sat ride around 11 am or noon before it gets sizzling hot, then hit the lake and swim maybe. I think they swim in the bigger lake. And ride again right when its max temperature. I'm gonna wear long pants too. Hahaha. Sorry got carried away. Did I mention that I will have a beer in a nice camoflage mug....?

no swimming in the lakes but they have a big ass pool. it used to cost $3 to get in the pool, might have gone up but i believe campers get a discount.

That is worth mentioning. All beer must be on the DL. No alcohol allowed. Bring a cup or something to hide your brew!

Fish, Ill ride up with you on Sun morning

GPS of the Saturday group ride and single speeder loop :
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6295840

All in all a fun day... Stoudts brewery is pretty damn awesome, but a little high brow for a bunch of un-showered mtn bikers.

Crazy riding guys! Man I must have sweat a few pounds of water... HOT HOT HOT!
Thanks for the experience - we should do it again!

That was a great time. It's so close too. Not even an hour away and the trails are sweet, campsite was perfect. We will do this again. Maybe in the fall when it's not like an oven outside.

Nice terrain, beautiful campground.  First time at French Creek for me.  Fantastic Riding, Fun people and Great food.

FC was a total blast. I ate like a pig and road myself into the ground. I could barely move this morning, but the Wiss trail were excellent this evening. I just can't get enough :P

I wish I'd have made the campout but the Sunday morning ride was still great! LOT of PMBA presence on Red/White loop that morning!

Many people on the red and white trail. A lotta fun

Yea it was a real fun time. The weather was hot but was bearable. It was real fun Yo-Yoing with the 29er dudes! Meaning they would fly up the long climbs and we would fly down the super rocky downs, passing each other at the transitions. Good times! We had 11 people on my 2nd ride on Sat. PMBA was in the HOUSE!