# 2005 Spring Northwest Outback Rally



## Y-Guy (Jan 30, 2004)

Ok vdub here we go folks time to start planning 1 or 2 Outbackers.com Rallies. Even the NW is pretty spread out so perhaps we need to look at a couple of Rallies; Eastern & Western. Now I'd be more than happy to have one in our next of the woods, the Army Corps have 3 campgrounds; Fishhook, Charbonneau and Hood just east of Pasco. Close to wine country, but I don't know when they will open up just yet. Last year it wasn't until May that the power, water and restrooms were open, though privative camping was free! Other chatter was about something around Lake Coeur d'Alene and Battle Ground WA. I think we have some folks checking out the BG site to see if it has hook ups.

So that's the thread starter... we have plenty of time but as always the early bird gets the best sites!


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

vern and i are looking at some guestmap software (free, of course) that would allow us to see where everyone is around the country, but it may be a while before that gets going. in the meantime, should we have a poll or something (of those interested in a rally) to see where everyone is located? maybe a poll with options like west wa, east wa, no. id, central id, etc or whatever might give us a finer or courser look at where people would have to come from. (and don't forget canada, of course, hey)

And, maybe you are right. maybe 2. i know bigbadbrain wants to come to n. id and it would be a great place with silverwood next door. farragut might be nice. but leavenworth would also be nice. tri-cities would be nice. wallow would be beautiful, but then we are getting out to far for a lot of folks.


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## Y-Guy (Jan 30, 2004)

We still have time for a Rally at Leavenworth for Oktoberfest!







I'm curious how far folks are willing to drive for the rally, with school and all we try to keep most our 2 night trips within 2-3 hours, but we could go longer. If we're looking at something longer then maybe a 3 day weekend, last year we were going to Silverwood over Memorial Weekend but the rain canceled that trip.


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## BigBadBrain (Aug 26, 2004)

Regarding how far people are willing to go, I had thought to ask all the NW Outbackers where they would like to see a rally. Listing by general area with a poll of sorts.

1 Southwest BC
2 Northwest WA
3 Southwest WA
4 Northwest OR
5 Southwest OR
6 Northern CA
7 Southeast BC
8 Northeast WA
9 Southeast WA
10 Northeast OR
11 Southeast OR (why - I don't know)








12 Northern ID 
13 Southwest ID
14 Northwest Montana
15 Sourtheast ID (isn't that part of the midwest?)







inside joke

Once we get an idea of where most folks would like to go, we could go from there. Unfortunately, I would mark a couple of these not just one so a poll is not going to work. For us, 1,2,3,4,9, 12, 14 would work for an extended weekend. We would also go all the way to Yellowstone which is in our plans anyway (but that is a summer rally I suppose).

Anyway, just a thought of how to figure out how we could choose a location that would allow the largest Outbacker gathering.

Brian


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## BigBadBrain (Aug 26, 2004)

Y-Guy,
A 2 hr circle from my place intersects a 2 hr circle from your place somewhere in the Yakima firing range doesn't it? Do they have full hookups there?









Seriously, if we do the circles from each NW Outbacker's location we may end up with no feasible solution. Would be interesting to see where we ended up. Can you get to the top of White pass in 3? I can get to the American river by that time (almost to Yakima if the traffic is good), or all the way down to Rennerbee's area if I go I-5.

I'm not sure you and Rennerbee (Battle Field WA) have overlapping 3 hr ranges unless you go Oregon route and that is four or five hours for us Seattle/Tacoma area folks. For the Oregon folks that would work better than a Washington site.

Here are the Outbackers who were interested in the Fall NW Outbackers Rally:
jnk36jnk Molalla, Oregon
NWCamper2 OR
Chetlenox OR
ctsoderq OR
DANJOGAVINMO Portland OR
snsgraham Tacoma WA
Jarrod Tigard OR
newbie_outbacker West Linn OR
Navy Outbackers Silverlake Everett WA
vdub Pullman WA
[Thor and [email protected] are honorary members of the NW Outbackers]

From a centroid perspective, you guys picked a pretty good location for the Fall Outbaker Rally location.

Brian


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## Y-Guy (Jan 30, 2004)

Good deal Brian, great post with all the locations. If we can get it mapped it might help, if the weekend is slow I can toss them in MS Streets. Finding a good central campground with hookups is tough as spread out as all of us are. Knowing I'm in between I pretty much know I'll be driving.

We are a it less than 3 hours from White or Chinook Pass. We camped up on Chinook once this summer and had plans for a second trip.


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

Just a little quick cipher'n and it appears Royal City is the winner! But I don't think we want to have a rally there.









One of the problems is that the destination has to offer a little something for everyone while still being reasonably close for something as short as a 3 or 4 day trip. And, there are only a couple routes across the Cascades. Looks to me like Leavenworth may be in the zone. Of course, this all depends on how many people show an interest and where they are located.


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## rennerbee (Jul 25, 2004)

BBB-I am completely broken that you left me off that list! It's ok, I'll get over it-in time. First the cats, then this!







By the way, it's Battle Ground, not Battle Field... That i'll get over too...

Y-Guy-I still need to contact the WSP Info Line during work hours about the discrepancy in the info re: hook ups at Battle Ground SP. Sorry. People are demanding that we close their home loans-I don't understand all that selfishness







!

I don't think we care what direction, or really how far we have to travel as long as it was planned well in advance. Something around Silverwood might be kind of fun. Really anywhere green is perfect in my mind.


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

That makes a couple votes for Silverwood as I recall. I think BBB was in there, too. It would be a really decent family place, but I'm concerned about how far some of the PDX guys might have to hike to get to it.

I'm close enough so I could scout it out for parks and such.


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## luv2rv (Jun 21, 2004)

[Thor and [email protected] are honorary members of the NW Outbackers]

Thanks Brian ... that means alot! Hmm I'll drive pretty much anywhere for a weekend of camping but I think I'd need about weeks headstart for this one







and I don't think the little ones would travel so well.









Wayne


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## BigBadBrain (Aug 26, 2004)

Wayne,
Talk to vdub and see if he has Air Force connections and can get a C-17 to get you and Thor, your families and your Outbacks to McCord Air Force Base near Tacoma - might shorten the drive.









vdub,
I hear the night life in Royal City is really a hoot. Literally.

Y-Guy,
I was thinking of trying to build a map of some sort and uplaoding it to my website then using an image reference in a post. I wasn't really sure what to put on the map though, some of the locations are just OR and aren't more specific.

I was also thinking of trying to find a way to figure out who else is a member and lives in the area but may not be checking the forum regularly yet might still want to come to the rally. Can't imagine trying to click on all 550+ members to search location info - is there a better way?

Brook,

I really intended the special mention in the paragraph ABOVE the list to mean special status!







Kind of ruined it with the Battle Field thing, huh? A silly mistake as we we drove right by you guys on Saturday (didn't get to take the Outback on the trip - all kinds of things got in the way of that one). We'd intended to stop by Battle GROUND SP to check it out but time got away from us and by the time we got there it was dark.








Regarding the cat thing, I probably can't recover so my posting this won't get me in any worse trouble:


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

Hey, no problem on that lift request. Ride over will only take a couple hours. And the drop from 35k shouldn't be a problem either. But the Outback might not survive that sudden stop at the bottom.









As for the guestmap thing. I found this http://www.brainerror.net/scripts_php_guestmap.php on the web. It is free and vern's server already two pieces of the puzzle in place (MySQL and PHP). A sample map, the HMVS Cereburus website, is a close match to what i think we might want. Vern and I have talked very briefly about this and we may pursue it sometime later. However, some code changes will need to be made. I contacted the Australian site (Cereberus) and they were kind enough to pack up their code and send it to me. One of things I like about this particular guestmap (aside from being free) is that it not only shows locations on the map, but if you hover over a particular point, then the persons name and message pops up.

Anyway, it has potential, but will be a while. Biggest problem is my ignorance of php.


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## rennerbee (Jul 25, 2004)

You got me!

Looking at a map of WA (yes I've lived here for 12 yrs now but don't really know where much of anything is...) and taking into consideration Oregon people and since the the WA "peeps" are either on one side of the state or the other pretty much, I was wondering about Yakima??? My Foghorn Outdoors Pacific NW Camping Guide (bible) rates a place called Circle H RV Ranch as an 8 out of 10. 64 sites with full hook ups for RV's of any length, including 16 drive-through sites (for us novices







). Picnic tables, pets, restrooms with flush toilets (I guess that's not a given???-i'm still a newbie, so take it easy on me), showers, 2 rec halls, laundry, hot tub, modem hookups, 2 playgrounds with horseshoes, tennis court, volleyball and basketball, video arcade (who wants to challenge me to PacMan?), mini golf course and swimming pool. Bottled gas, a store, a cafe and ice are located within 1 mile.

Just a thought.


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

Beer?









I can not say that I am actually familiar enough with Yakima as to suggest good or bad. I have been there a couple times and it is a nice little town, but I'm not sure if there is much in the way of activities for kids.


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## BigBadBrain (Aug 26, 2004)

I think I have to agree, Yakima is not a great place to find outdoor activities for the kids. (There is a great Native American museum if you are into the museum thing on campouts - my kids like it). We used to go through Yakima a lot when driving to and from the Horse Heaven Hills for boondocking and when we stopped in Yakima it was pretty briefly for that very reason.

By the way, if you are driving through the Yakima valley in the spring, be prepared to scrape the bugs off when you get where you are going. One trip through left us with a solid covering on the TV and Camper. Yuk. I was pretty thankful that one thing on my checklist was to make sure the TV is full with washer fluid. At other times it was much less but still more than everywhere else we've gone. It's interesting because when you get out of the TV, there aren't that many bugs that bother you but you sure mash a few when on the road. (Of course it isn't as bad as that one time in Kansas when the bugs were so bad that my dad actually lost traction... well, that's another story.)

Yakima is a stone's throw from Y-Guy who must know of some really cool spots in his neck of the woods. Access to Tri-cities from OR is easier and it might even be easier for you, Brook, to go I-84 than try to do the passes in spring time. For me it would be as easy to go Tri-cities area as Yakima.

I'm concerned about the drive for some of the OR folks though.

Another option might be Mt. Hood area - anyone know the State Parks situation there? How is spring driving in the area?

vdub,
Sounds like that would be a pretty nice addition to the forum. Would be a great tool to help plan the rally outings for darn sure. I guess the biggest issue would be security - how do you prevent someone from messing it all up? Someone from BadAttitude.net logging on and adding a bunch of nonsence or worse? Maybe there are safeguards for that - couldn't really tell from the description.

By the way, does the forum use a data base (SQL) structure or some other construct? Was wondering if a sort by location could be done for the members, that could be a short term approach for the Rally organizers.

Brian


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

No security that I'm aware of on guestmap. I doubt it would be much of a problem, tho. I don't think the bad guys are too interested in searching out outbackers.com and doing mischief.

Pretty sure Invision is running on a MySQL db, but would have to confirm that with Vern.


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## rennerbee (Jul 25, 2004)

Personally have never been to Yakima either, it just looked pretty central between the OR and WA people (except Y-guy of course) and sounded like the RV place had plenty to do.


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## Y-Guy (Jan 30, 2004)

Well according to the sign in Yakima it is the Palm Springs of Washington LMAO!!!

Yakima Sportsman Park is clean, hook ups I think but is very close to the freeway and if they are running the race track you hear it and hear it and hear it and hear it.


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## rennerbee (Jul 25, 2004)

Well the only good thing I can think about hearing the race cars is maybe it would be louder than removing the duct tape...


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

I did a little research and studying on the map. As for kid entertainment (as well as adult), I don't see anything better than Silverwood or Leavenworth. Leavenworth is probably more centrally located for everyone including those from BC.

For the Silverwood area, I think, Farragut S.P. is out. It must have been built in pre-slide out days. TL write up says "no slide-outs" and we all have slide-outs. The spaces at Farragut are only 21' wide for pull thru's and 14' wide for back-ins. However, Silverwood does have it's own rv park right next to the theme park. The Silverwood sites are all 40' wide -- gee, I think I could even back into a 40' wide spot.







Silverwood opens 1May.

http://www.silverwoodthemepark.com/rvpark.htm

Leavenworth has a Maifest in May to celebrate spring. Last year, the Maifest was 14-16May and I suspect it will be 13-15May in 2005. Only two rv parks are close by. The closest (Alpine) is 3/4 miles from town. The other (KOA) is about a mile from town. Alpine and KOA are almost next to each other. Alpine is family owned and smaller. Alpine is not listed in TL since it changed names this past spring. The previous operator had let things run down so the owners of the land took it over and are working to put it back into shape. KOA appears to be almost new, but maybe the pictures are just old. The other campgrounds near Leavenworth are quite a ways away with the next closest being Icicle which is about 5 miles out of town and the remaining ones as far as 18 miles away. I don't have any info on either Alpine or KOA as to how wide their spaces are. KOA may have wagon rides into town -- at least, their photos show a wagon full of people being pulled by a tractor.

http://www.alpineviewrvpark.com
http://www.koakampgrounds.com/where/wa/47103/index.htm


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## Y Guy's Wife (Jul 28, 2004)

For the Silverwood area, I think, Farragut S.P. is out. It must have been built in pre-slide out days. TL write up says "no slide-outs" and we all have slide-outs. The spaces at Farragut are only 21' wide for pull thru's and 14' wide for back-ins. However, Silverwood does have it's own rv park right next to the theme park. The Silverwood sites are all 40' wide -- gee, I think I could even back into a 40' wide spot.







Silverwood opens 1May.

FWIT, we spent 8 days at Farragut S.P. this June and were just fine. They have a couple of different sections. One is more woodsie and probably the section you are thinking of. The section we were in had very spacious sites and plenty of room for our trailers and bigger ones!

Sandi


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

So much for trailer life then....









Do you happen to have a brochure or map you could scan and post?


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## NWcamper2 (Mar 28, 2004)

We spent a week at Silverwood this past summer. We went for the theme/water park. Which was great, and only worth a week if you have small kids that you have to limit at park, break time. Otherwise it is a small quaint theme park. But I use to live 10 minutes from Fiesta Texas and 20 from Sea World San Antonio.

That said,...now about Silverwood RV park... I would consider it moderate AT BEST. You could not even walk without it being a dust bowl. Of course if you are going to utilize the waterpark, gets all the dust off of you. But when you walk back to camp...yep, dusty again.

Sites were large, but some backed up on others, we had a tent about 5 feet from our rear slide out. Not to mention the people driving through the park stirring up the dirt. Your lawn mat will stay full of dirt...especially with kidos around (at least mine did with my three around). 
Oh did I mention the sand storm we got to witness up close and personal









If you wanted a warm shower you (I assumed) you had to go at 4 or 5 am. or earlier...I went a 6 and it was barely warm! Went at 8 one morning since the theme park does not open 'til 10... and it was freezin' ! Since we had full hook-ups we used the trailer shower for the most part. Cleaned the kids in the waterpark washed their hair at the trailer.

We had a great time there but it was because we spent all our time at the Theme/water park. That was what we went for. Not the RV park.

There are no fire rings at silverwood. And probably not the best for sitting around visiting type of park. If I remember correctly it was about $28 a night.
To top it off for a weekend it would be too long of a drive for us... 6 hours for us in the Portland area.

Not to mention the layers and I mean layers of dirt on everything when we got back


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

We live 30 minutes from both Silverwood and Farragut. Depending on the time of year it is very dry in this area (anytime after the 4th of July to the end of Aug).

If the object is to visit around a camp fire then it is Farragut, the sites have plenty of room and if we wanted we can get a group site (just no power). You would only want to stay at Silverwood if the park is what you wanted to do.

We should determine if power and sewer are a requirement. For me they are not high on my list of requirements.

To help the West coasters have a shorter trip I think we need to look at Lake Roosevelt. I have never camped there but I know there are a few camp grounds around the lake.


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## rennerbee (Jul 25, 2004)

It sounds to me like the vast majority of people are from the far western portion of OR and WA. Keeping that in mind I think that somewhere more centrally located than the far Eastern side of the state would be a better option for everyone involved.

What about the Mt Rainier area?


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

Rats! I had a long response already typed in and was thinking about why there weren't any responses to the "where are you" polls I set up last night. Then I thought maybe I was looking at cached pages, so dumped my cache. Stupid me, that also dumped my login info, so my response was torpedoed and I got an error.

Anyway, as for polls, it appears you can't see the results of a poll unless you have voted. I should have added two more entries to each poll; one for each of the other sections or a "not from this area" selection. Live and learn. I can't edit those polls -- maybe I should delete them and start over.

I can certainly deal with Farragutt and the narrow parking spots. No problem. Looks as if a lot of you have the rear slide. But my slide is a side slide. Add 3' (maybe more) to my 8' wide rv, then add the awning (8'?) and you have quickly burned up all your space. We had that over labor day -- certainly doable, but not all that desirable. But no biggie -- I'll go with the masses.

I tend to agree with Rennerbee. Eastern WA is a long trek for PDX and SEA. I checked the distance to Mt Rainer -- long trek for us. It's about 350 miles. I think if we are looking for something most central for all, then Leavenworth is the most reasonable. Not ideal, tho, it's still 280 miles for the PDX people. However, SEA is only 140 miles, Spokane is 180 miles, 220 for me, Richland is 144, and Penticton, BC is 200.


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## Y-Guy (Jan 30, 2004)

I'll see if I can dig up the info on Farragut S.P. from our trip. The new section has tons of room, Power & Water at the site and grey water dump pots every few sites. We made it a full week on black water and the bath houses are close and clean. A trip to Silverwood wood would get my vote for a longer weekend like Memorial Weekend, but staying at Farragut S.P. would be my first choice. Now if you really want to camp drive the extra 30 minutes to Sam Ownens which is a USFS park that is actually on the lake, no power though, but its a wonderful campground

For a short 2 night trip would be something in the Cascades.

I guess I really see us trying to hold 2 rally's perhaps an early Spring and something later... if folks are up for it.


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## BigBadBrain (Aug 26, 2004)

Does Farragut have group sites? Might be an approach if there is enough interest in the rally.

I think two rallys are probably in order - one at Farragut (or equivalent) and one in Northwest or North Central OR.

We are still lining up our ducks for swim meets and other events but I'm hoping this weekend to have a better calendar filled out with camping weekends identified.

In order to help with the planning, the idea of multiple rallies should be settled. I'm up for multiple trips, especially if it allows us to meet more Outbackers.


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

I'm going to try and take a road trip up to Farragut. Get some pictures, brochures, etc. Hope to do it in Nov or Dec.


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

I live in Coeur d'Alene so could get the photos if you want at Farragut. There are a couple of very large group sites but no power. There is a dump station at the camp ground also.


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## Y-Guy (Jan 30, 2004)

I have some photos of the new campground in my gallery, see signature for a link. I'll try to upload some more of the campground itself.

Here is a photo of the newer campground setting. Its not as bad as the photo may look, they were nice clean new sites. Electrical and Water, but dump station was down the road, which was fine we made it a week without. I don't think they have group camper sites, though some offer pull though with 2 or 3 spaces and some are double sites. The older sites are heavily wooded but don't offer the services, just power as I recall and some of them are pretty tight fits. The heavy trees and narrow roads make it pretty dark in the camp area, but its also nice. Of the three Snowberry is probably nicer than Whitetale and has hook ups, Retail and Nighthawk are newer. Nighthawk has sites at the back along some dense trees, that's probably where I would stay again if I had a recommendation.


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

Your site at Nighthawk looks real nice! Appears to be much wider than the 21' listed in the TL directory. TL must be talking about the older sites and not have info on the new ones. If we all nailed down a date fairly early can we reserve spots for specific locations?


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## Y-Guy (Jan 30, 2004)

For us its about 200 miles so I would prefer a 3 day weekend. Plus if we hit Silverwood that can chew up one hole day with any relaxing time!

Pretty sure we have a site map I'll try to find it and scan it in.

PS: Once I get the truck I hope to get at least one more trip, any from Eastern WA up for a quick camping trip? Anyone been to Central Ferry State Park?


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

I have passed by central ferry quite a bit, but never gone in to look at it. What is it's status? I thought maybe it was closed by the round of WA budget cuts about a year ago.


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## Y-Guy (Jan 30, 2004)

Its only open through October 31. We were going there this summer but then had a much better off so we canceled our reservations. Seems most parks on the Eastern side of the state have been turned over to private management. Yet another example of the Cascade Curtain in action.

Central Ferry Website


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

I would be up for a trip to Central Ferry. It looks real nice fromt he highway.


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## Y-Guy (Jan 30, 2004)

Maybe Camper Andy can drop by and join us.


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

Yeah! Almost sounds like a road trip! And, since CF is down on the river, Apr might work.


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## BigBadBrain (Aug 26, 2004)

Oooohhh - Y-Guy, a shot to the heart on the Cascade Curtain. Those of us on this side of the mountains know you guys are there, it's just that it isn't REALLY the EVERGREEN State over there is it? More like the EVERBROWN State.









Seriously, both DW and I grew up in Spokane. I love that side of the State and used to go backpaking in snake country - the upper potholes lakes - favorite was Coffeepot Lake. Gotta watch the snakes at night though, they snuggle up under the warm tent. Not much risk but that isn't your shoe that's wiggling under your behind. We even used buffalo chips for a cooking fire (well, cow chips) and before everyone says "Oh, YUK, you cooked over burning..." I want to say that when you get the whole thing burn down to coals, it really doesn't matter any more (you do want to stand upwind until that point)

Anyway, having grown up on the other side of the curtain, I sympathize with your statement. However, things are not all that hunky-dorey over here on this side of the curtain either. For example, Ocean Shores State PArk which we just took a look at is also being run privately (by a contracted person or company) and it was a down right dump. Almost all of the park was closed to camping and the part that wasn't was run-down and unkempt. I'm afraid our buddy Tim I, the anti-tax guy is having his presence felt everywhere these days.

Now Oregon knows how to do State Parks!


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## Y-Guy (Jan 30, 2004)

Guess I shouldn't have been so hard, sounds like it is state wide. Seems that the 3 closest parks to me; Crow Butte (closed). Lewis & Clark (no reservations) and central ferry (private ops).

The State is missing out on the tourism aspect. Oregon is known throughout the States and Canada as one of the best destination States for camping. I've camped on the coast, central, Columbia and eastern and all the parks were well maintained, staffed, clean, clean restrooms and wow reservations online!

I guess I assumed from some comments the parks on the other side were in better shape, seems like they closed most of them on this side of the state. I spent most of my life on the other side, Eugene, Portland, Vancouver, Olympia and Everett, quick access to great camping. But here even with the rugged beauty the parks are slim to none. Though the Corp has three great ones right up on the Snake.


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## BigBadBrain (Aug 26, 2004)

I suppose we are fortunate to have more Fed parks on this side of the mountains but that isn't something that is an effect of State losing its direction. BEGIN RANT I think about the condition of the State Parks in WA and then you see what stupid ideas our Gov finds important (in Seattle, stupidity rules: can you spell m-o-n-o-r-a-i-l







4 billion dollar joke). END RANT

North Cascades NP and Rainier NP will see a lot of our Outback next year. Some great parks up there although some of them are primative. We bought our camper with the idea of boondocking most of the time anyway so primative is fine. The tent people tend to smirk but hey, when I get up in the morning and I'm well rested and warm all night, wlking around with freshly baked cinnimon rolls it's my turn to smirk!







Of course we share too...










I'm not sure if we are going to get out again this year. Swim season eats us alive this time of year so getting a free weekend is tough. "Dad! I'm going to miss practice AGAIN!" is a tough thing to deal with whenit causes a grumpy attitude and a resentful camper - that's not why we got the Outback. So maybe one more trip (likely the 22nd through 24th if we do it, but even that is unlikely.

Spring time is a different story. No HS swimming and only monthly meets for their private swim club. By then my built up reserve of camping enthusiasm will be pretty hard to control!


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## Y-Guy (Jan 30, 2004)

LOL Brian our Bolivian exchange student will be playing mens soccer (football) in the Spring. That is the one reason I'm not sure if he'll be back with us after this next family, I really enjoyed our frequent trips last Spring and the weekly soccer games would probably end that.









You needed my







guy!


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