# Otter Lake - Poconos



## mikenkristipa (May 11, 2008)

We stayed at Otter Lake in the Pocono Mountains from Wed 7-30. to Monday 8-4. Great weekend, met a lot of nice people and the campground was great. They had plenty of activities for the kids and adults. The fishing wasn't great, but usually isn' this time of year. They have Softball all day for all different ages. The adults play in the evening and they run it very well. 30 people showed to play and they broke it into 3 teams of ten and rotated for 3 innings, the two teams that had the most runs played each other til dark. (By rotated I mean one in the field, on at bat and one sitting)

As for the self-inflicted problem - We had a Thurnderstorm on Sat. morning. As I woke I heard this starting and went outside to make sure that everything was prepared for the storm. After breakfast the DW toke the DD to Ceramics at the lodge. I stayed behind to relax with the furry ones. Right after they left the rain let loose, I was inside the camper and came out to get a drink out of the cooler. I noticed the screen door hitting the awning when I opened the door and looked up. Low and behold there was a pool of water on the awning. In my infinate wisdom I thought I should probably drain the water. Not realizing that so much had gathered that if I tryed to lower the awning on one end I would be a bad idea. As soon as I released the latch on the awning arm, the whole thing collapsed in a heap of rushing water and mayhem. It broke the Roller (main beam) in half at the middle. Thanks to my neighbors, who came rushing to my aid we secured it with a 2X2 for the remainder of the weekend. So the trick is - get the water off slowly and tlit the awning of course to avoid the pool of water. But hopefully those who read my sad story will remember if it happens to them - GET THE WATER OFF SLOWLY AND GRADUALLY.

Monday morning - with the help of my neighbors and several zip ties a broom handle, towel and a bungie cord - we secured the awning for the ride home. (Actually right to Tom Schaeffers for repair).

Just had to share - If my bone-headed manuever and story can save someone else time and money it's worth telling.

Happy camping

Mike


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## Sayonara (Jul 23, 2007)

Thanks for the warning...

no trip to POCONO Raceway this weekend while you were there?


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## nynethead (Sep 23, 2005)

Sorry it happened, learned that lesson a couple of years ago when it happened to my cousin. Best solution is to use a hose and siphon off before attempting to lower awning, or always tilt your awning some. I tilt toward the rear as not to affect my door opening.


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## Racechasers (Feb 22, 2005)

Glad to hear you liked the campground. Myself and another fellow Outbacker are heading up to Otter Lake the weekend of the 15th. Taking the Kids to Camelbeach. We were up earlier in the summer to the waterpark and stayed at a different campground and wanted to try another this time. Sorry to hear about your awning. Have a great rest of the summer!


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## go6car (Jan 19, 2004)

Sorry to hear about your awning! Pocono is notorious for those horrible storms this time of year.

We were there too, but at a campground about a mile from Pocono raceway. I took a picture of all that water running off of our awning. It actually looked like someone had taken a firehose to it! We usually always tilt our awning when we set up so that the water runs off, but I'll tell you -- I was really worried about the slideout awning! They pool water like crazy too! Luckily (and I have no idea how), ours was OK.

Glad you enjoyed your weekend. Otter lake looks nice on the web and is on my list of places to try for sure next year.

- go6car


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## bradnjess (Mar 25, 2007)

Sorry about your awning, but glad you had a good time otherwise. We were camping locally in Va Beach and a good storm came through. I had the awning tilted towards the rear and it was running pretty good. When it really started coming down I dropped the low side even more and and it came pouring off. So I guess you can get in trouble even with a slight tilt of the awning. Hope you can get it fixed soon.

Brad


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## brenda (Jan 3, 2007)

Wow, that stinks about your awning. I will be sure to let dh read this. We are heading to the poconos next wed. We will be at Hickory Run,, we tried to get into otter lake but no sites...Hopefully Hickory run will be ok. We cant wait to get away. Does anyone know how far rickets glen is from hickory run?


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## 'Ohana (May 20, 2007)

brenda said:


> Wow, that stinks about your awning. I will be sure to let dh read this. We are heading to the poconos next wed. We will be at Hickory Run,, we tried to get into otter lake but no sites...Hopefully Hickory run will be ok. We cant wait to get away. Does anyone know how far rickets glen is from hickory run?










About 30 miles North of Bloomsburg Pa

Clicky> http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateParks/par...ckettsglen.aspx

Have fun and travel safe

Ed


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## camping479 (Aug 27, 2003)

Glad you had a good time, otter lake is one of our favorite campgrounds and the good part is it's less than an hour and a half from our house.

Sorry about your awning and hope you get it fixed up with no problems. I see quite a few campers keep their awnings straight across and it doesn't take much water pooling on top to do a lot of damage.

We were on the outer banks this past week and a few people lost their awnings from winds during fast moving thunderstorms storms. We learned quickly to not keep much gear outside, stake the awning and keep one eye on the weather.

Mike


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## skippershe (May 22, 2006)

Hi Mike,

Sorry to hear about your awning








We don't get storms like that out here, but I will definitely keep your story in mind if we ever do collect rain water like that.
Thanks goodness for nice camping neighbors!


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## tdvffjohn (Mar 10, 2005)

I always keep my awning at some angle....always....just in case. At a little over 8 lbs a gallon, what you had in weight to try and hold when you released the latch was impossible. I assume from the fact that you were not injured, you were standing on the outside when you released it which was a good thing.

Still appreciate the reminder and lesson learned









Thanks
John


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## Racechasers (Feb 22, 2005)

Just spent the weekend at Otter Lake CG and loved it. Beautiful setting, campsites were great, faclilities were clean and they have activities for the kids all week long if your staying through the week. Will be going back again next year hopefully for a longer stay.


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