Swank Camp Activity Poll
 

Hey Campers, this poll will help us decide when to do what.

There's a good amount of purely optional excursions and activities that will be offered over the weekend. Some will require driving away from Swank Camp, and two require nothing more than hiking direct from Swank Camp!

Because not everyone will be there the entire 3.5 days, figuring out which activities are the most popular will help us decide which ones to do when most people are in Camp.

Vote for as many activities as you think you'd like to participate in.

Brief descriptions follow:

:iSm:

The Muir Grove of Giant Sequoias: a 2-mile trek from our campground will bring us to this fairly secluded grove of the massive trees the Park is named for. This 4 mile round trip will provide our best opportunity to commune with some of the largest living things on the planet.

Little Baldy: a 3-mile hike from our campsites climbs 700 feet to a granite dome overlooking the Giant Forest region. We could drive part of the way to lessen the 6-mile round trip ... but that would negate the fun of the only trail that leads directly from Swank Camp.

King's Canyon Road Trip: a driving excursion to explore the wonders of the National Park Next Door, with our experienced guides, €uroMeinke and Not Afraid at the helm.

Tokopah Falls: a 3-mile round trip from nearby Lodgepole Campground, along the Marble Fork of the Kaweah River to the impressive granite cliffs and waterfall of Tokopah Canyon. The Falls are 1200 feet high, and are most impressive in early summer!

Crystal Cave: Beautiful stalactites and curtains, impressively large rooms, and ornate marble polished naturally by a subterranean stream make a tour of Crystal Cave an unforgettable experience. 45-minute tours depart every half hour (10:30 - 4:30) and cost $11. (Tickets at Lodgepole Visitor Center, not at the Cave.) A two-hour "Discovery Tour" lasts 2 hours, costs $19, and is limited to 16 persons. Oh, and the temperature inside the Cave is 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Brrrrr.

Griant Grove - In connection with a drive to Crystal Cave, we might want to visit the famous stuff nearby that the Park is known for, such as:
General Sherman Tree - the world's largest living tree
The Congress Trail - a 2-mile stroll thru the heart of the giant sequoia forest and some very famous trees
The Auto Log - a roadway was cut into the top of this fallen tree to give early visitors a sense of scale. Though you can no longer drive on it, the Log is an interesting historic feature.
Crescent Meadow - summer wildflowers, a 1-mile stroll to Tharp's Log and, of course, Bambi!
Moro Rock - a steep, quarter-mile staircase climbs 300 feet to the top of the famed granite dome, offering spectacular views of the Great Western Divide

Both my avatar and sig pictures are from Kings Canyon - avatar is Zumwalt Meadows and the sig is the Kings River from Muir's Pulpit.

I'd be up for the longer cave tour definitely :cool:

An additional thought: Tokopah Falls may or may not be impressive this year since the snow pack has be awful and the falls probably aren't too full. But, I may be wrong.

My vote is for doing the Crystal Caves on Sunday, on our way out, since they are in that direction. Should we get tickets at Lodgepole on our way up (or all go on our way down? I just don't want it to be sold out if we attempt that on the way down).

Tokopah Falls appeals to me as well.

I'm not sure what you mean by the Muir Grove of Giant Sequoias. Is that the one with General Grant (Grant Grove?)

Hume Lake is also really nice, and it isnt on your list :)

Muir Grove is NOT where the General Grant or Sherman is but a more secluded (less touristy) grove of redwoods. The other groves Grant Grove and Giant Forest are easy stops either in or out of the park and each take maybe an hour to see. The humongo trees are impressive but a lovely grove of redwoods without people is sublime. Different experiences, both wonderful.

I suspect that people who have NOT seen Giant Forest and Grant Grove would want to at least experience these most popular and accessible groves. Those who have seem them before may want to opt for a new sightseeing experience.

Where's Hume Lake? and how would we get there? (That is, if we could possibly add something to our already improbable 2 excursions per day.)


The Muir Grove is the less famous, far less visited grove of sequoias that is only accessible by hiking trail. I think this will be a marvelous excursion on foot that we won't have to share with hundreds of humans.

The Giant Forest is the very famous, very-visited grove that's right off the road. Nonetheless, I'd personally like to explore it ... as I feel it's kinda dumb of me to visit Sequoia and skip its most famous stuff.


ETA: OR - what Not Afraid said.

Hume Lake is about a 1/2 hour drive and has canoe rentals available. I've never been there.

How cute are the canoe boys at Hume Lake?

Have you found a way to bring Isaac along? (I think you need to supply your own)

General Sherman!
:D

I'm pretty easy, but if I had one item that caught my attention, this would be the one. On the two hour tour, we can almost sink a cave!

But I can go with the flow.

I think there's a christian camp across the way... mmmhmm. Canoe rentals are fun times.

LMAO....

And I think I am going to see a giant tree, General Sherman, with Morrigoon on the way UP, before we get to the camp (i.e. we're coming in from the South). I did General Grant last time, which was cool but one large famous tree is enough per trip.

I know you said you changed your pics to help your mood, well, they helped mine too, just seeing them as I flip around the board.

So beautiful. I hope all of us have a great time on our journeys.

<<sob>> :(

We're up for anything that doesn't cost anything extra. So, no cave for the two of us. :(

However, if the majority go, we'll happily enjoy a little romp in the woods while you all are gone. ;)

There's a little bit of extra in the camping monies, about $40 of a slush fund. I was going to apply it across the board and give everyone like $2 off ... but we could just as easily apply it to the T&K Spleunking Society Benefit.

That would be my vote anyway. :iSm:

oh absolutely! I'll gladly spring to cover anyone wanting to do that trip if a couple bucks is all that stands between the two.

We can split the extra cost - we will chip in as well. I don't want anybody to be left out over a couple of bucks.

Hmmm, once Morrigoon* votes, we can have a final tally on the activities. I've got to say, though -- considering the variety of votes so far vs. the days that particular people will be in camp ... it's going to be a bit difficult to accommodate everyone's wishes .... as a group, at any rate.




* NirvanaMan is still, as far as I know, undecided (though I'm hoping he'll show up, and I'll have tent space for him if he does). But I won't necessarily wait on his vote to tally 'em up. The other campers are not regular posters on the LoT, and are not likely to vote.

Also, the Wiki has me a bit confused as to when certain people are departing. For instance:

Disneyphile is listed as departing Monday, but Frodo Potter is departing Sunday? Huh?

-and-

Gus Gus is also listed as departing Monday, but Kevy Baby is departing Sunday. Am I missing something about transportation?

Please advise.

Per the other thread:

Thanks for that excellent sifting job.






Woo-Hoo - I can makes out wit de wives once de huzbands go home!

:blush: Oh, gosh. We've just spent way more on this trip than originally planned, and my business has been slow, so we need to cut a few corners where we can for now. But, if everyone's going, please don't feel you have to chip in for us. We won't object, but we're certainly not asking. Thanks for thinking of us - that's amazingly sweet of you all.

Ken is riding back with Kevin on Sunday, and I'm riding back with Susan on Monday. Ken and Kevin couldn't get Monday off, but that doesn't mean we girls can't stay for the fun. :)

FWIW, I voted before I realized I could vote for more than one thing. I would have also voted for the Falls had I been smart enough to read instructions.

But I am easy - I'll go with the flow.

I'm up for anything, but have a strong preference towards shade and water features ;)

edit:

I'd say let's do anything "sunny" in the morning, come back to camp for a break, and switch to something "cool" in the afternoon. Also, if there are things people are likely to do on the way in or the way out, perhaps we should give a preference to those activities which are not conducive to being done on drive days.

I think our days will go more like this (minus the drinking part for some of us):

Wake up.
Stumble around for coffee
Make breakfast
Eat Breakfast
Do dishes
Clean bodies
Make lunch
Go on excursions
Come back to camp
Open wine
Drink wine
Take nap
Start dinner
Make dinner
Eat dinner
Do Dishes
Sit around the campfire BSing
Get drunk
Go to bed.

So let's pretend we want to do the Crystal Caves on Sunday, do we have to pick a time in advance and stop at Lodgepole on our way up? I'm not sure how that will work since we won't be able to communicate with each other via cell phone once we're in the Park (i.e. if we want to do it as a group).

For most of us.

I'm a two-excusion a day man, myself. So there'll be no wine for me on coming back to camp mid-day, and only a brief re-coup before heading off on the afternoon excusion.

Keep in mind, sunset will be close to 8:30-9ish, so there's plenty of time for dinner after the afternoon excursion, with campfire fun to follow once it gets dark near 9:30 pm.

And no, don't pick up Cave tour tickets on the way up. We'll decide on a particular tour (or options) once we're all there ... and someone(s) will pick up the tickets in advance of that.

I assume we will have to go into Lodgepole on a daily basis for (at least) ice.

Ice does keep in coolers pretty darned well for a couple of days :)

And hey, we forgot to include on the excursion list "Trolloping in the Woods with Cute Christian Camp Counselors" ;)

The only reason to go to Lodgepole is for a shower.

NA: need more pictures! There are two whole hours left in the workday! Help a girl out!

That's a great name for a bathhouse.

Is there ice nearer than Lodgepole? (A name I will now never think of unlaciviously again)

I intend to ice daily.



Oh, and Cherny, let's rent a canoe on Hume Lake and paddle over to the Christian Camp for some trolloping. :p


I'm sure those boys will be ready for some sinfulness after all the unwanted indoctrination attempts while they're trying to enjoy nature.

Let's just show 'em some other aspects of nature.

I'm not NA, but I am happy to provide some pictures:







Or were you looking for pictures of the location?

Leave you troubles outside!
So - life is disappointing? Forget it!
We have no troubles here! Here life is beautiful...
The caves are beautiful...



Even the trees are beautiful!




You see? I told your the trees are beautiful!

I can't believe you posted that where Morrigoon is likely to read it.

Ok, and with everyone probably too busy to even be on the LoT anymore, it looks like - - as expected, and with few exceptions ... everybody wants to do everything.

Well, I think we can strike Little Baldy and Giant Grove - they seem to have the lowest interest.

That leaves four activities. If one can indeed do two activities per day, then we could accommodate all four. Considering Tokopah Falls would have had nine votes if I had realized that I could vote for more than one, it is the vote leader. If the plan would be to walk the three miles (R/T) to the Falls, it might be a good morning (when the weather is cooler) excursion either day. Or, if we choose to DRIVE to the Falls, it might be a better afternoon excursion when the temperature is warmer (presumably water = cooling effect).

I could go on, but I think the four events will shake themselves out a bit. This is something that could easily be finalized at Saturday breakfast.

The fact that you've done the above work already Steve puts us WAY ahead on this front - thank you!

so thjat's where the camping trip is? Hmmm mighty tempting. Can I bring my laptop and work on cost proposals, org charts and gannt charts?

Sure. I'm bringing a generator to power the big screen - you can plug into that

Is anyone bringing the Wii

no, but I did grab a set of these that are happily charging in their base as I type, so should the groups need to split for any amount of time (and since cells likely wont work) these might help a bit as far as coodination


just an FYI

We've also got a pair of Motorola Talkabouts that are coming with us too. :)

Good thinking! We need to charge ours.