Gov Dodge is an awesome park. It does have some downsides when it comes to our needs. With the growth of our organization, the groupsites are not as nice. The shelters are also an issue.
I recommended we revisit Hartman Based on several factors:
– Excellent group camp facilities
– Very nice enclosed shelter
– Ampitheater next to the shelter
– Centrally located in the State, which makes it accessible to more members.
I knew that Hartman Creek has served us well in the past, and has everything we require. Any other location would introduce a lot of “unknowns” and require us to send out some people on a recon mission. We really needed to lock down a date and location. People need to plan their summer schedules, and we need to make reservations. I could foresee that continued research and scouting would probably push us back another month or more.
I suggested we revisit Hartman Creek this year, which will buy us time to scout out some other suggested locations for next year’s campout. Hartman Creek is almost “plug and play” when it comes to meeting our needs. The board took a vote on my motion and agreed that Hartman Creek would be good place for this years campout.
The actual amount of State Parks with facilities to meet are needs is limited. We always send out a recon team to survey the facilities, take pictures, and make recommendations on site selections and shelter reservations. This takes times and would further delay the planning of the campout.
We have several campgrounds that are worthy of investigation for next year. Earlier selection of the picnic and campout locations needs to be a priority for our next Board of Directors.
