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  1. #51
    silentorpheus's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by fishbait View Post
    Good choice
    I'm hoping so. We'll know after next weekend.

  2. #52
    Senior Member Silent Bob's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by silentorpheus View Post
    There is a charge - it's something like the reservation fee, plus one full night's permit cost. So for a one nighter, it's basically everything you paid. Luckily, to reserve a site is only $12.


    So it's true there is a $9 fee for online reservations now? Last month i hiked Batona trail and when i went to get my permit the office was closed. One of the park workers was nice enough to take my info and leave it on desk,so at least they knew i was out there. The following day hiking thru batsto i stopped in office to pay for my permit and the lady was not very kind for what I did.She was telling me how i should have went online to setup my reservation. When i left the office I saw the same Park worker and he was telling me about the $9 fee and how an outside company is actually getting that money.
    If that's true it's wrong. The park could use the money for trail maintance or maybe rebuild a certain bridge ..

  3. #53
    Senior Member Deadphans's Avatar
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    Re: NJ > Pine Barrens > April 27th

    Rofl, I enjoy all those songs so three part harmonies will work, i'm more of a tenor than anything, a bit falcetto makes me feel my voice is a bit better lol.

    If that is indeed how the fee system works, that is wrong! The park could certainly use the money, last I was there trails were overgrown and markers were faded. Making the tick situation worse, and getting lost easier.

    Ula circuit! Good! I've been thinking of getting one but afraid since I couldnt see it. That ends this coming weekend

    And extra uq! Thank you! I am willing to bet that night time lows will not be below my current uq rating. Although we are under a frost advisory for tonight...
    Last edited by Deadphans; 04-21-2013 at 14:38.
    "In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy." -D'Signore's, Tide Mill Farm, Edmunds, Maine.

  4. #54
    silentorpheus's Avatar
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    I dunno - they usually appear to be pretty short staffed. So if they can let someone else handle the reservations, and that company charges a fee for the convenience ... so be it. Although $9 is a little rude. I don't even think Ticketmaster charges that much.

    Then again, what bothers me is the way the whole reservation system works now. It used to be that the camp grounds could hold a bunch of people - Batona can easily hold 50+ people. But now you can 'reserve' the entire camp with 19 people. And even the reservation site says the camps still accept walk up reservations on a first come first serve basis. So I wonder how that works.

    I guess we'll see how it all works out. It's a new system - maybe they'll fix the kinks.

  5. #55
    SilvrSurfr's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by silentorpheus View Post
    I dunno - they usually appear to be pretty short staffed. So if they can let someone else handle the reservations, and that company charges a fee for the convenience ... so be it. Although $9 is a little rude. I don't even think Ticketmaster charges that much.

    Then again, what bothers me is the way the whole reservation system works now. It used to be that the camp grounds could hold a bunch of people - Batona can easily hold 50+ people. But now you can 'reserve' the entire camp with 19 people. And even the reservation site says the camps still accept walk up reservations on a first come first serve basis. So I wonder how that works.

    I guess we'll see how it all works out. It's a new system - maybe they'll fix the kinks.
    Batona's capacity is 100+ according to what the rangers told me last year. I know I went once (maybe with you, don't remember) and there were 45 Scouts and another 20 or 30 people from the horsey set.

    Now that I think of it, I'm sure I was hanging with you, when the guy walked by and said, "Wow, you guys are hard-core campers." I guess he thought we were sleeping on the ground under our tarps.

    I do wonder the motivations for the new system. The skeptic in me says it's a way to lay someone off. On the other hand, it is a great convenience to people to reserve online, and the reduced number of people at each campsite (whether intended or not) does give folks a bit of elbow room and enhance the wilderness experience.

    The $3 we used to pay was kind of symbolic - I don't think it paid for trail upkeep or anything. I think it was just a way to track who was using the forest. Seems a real ripoff that they tack an additional $9 on just for the convenience of online reservations. It would be nice if the money went to the forest, not to some vendor.

    I get the feeling that a lot of weekend warriors are booking sites and never even camp. They book a site "in case" they can get their lard butts off the couch and then never go. That's the injustice of this system. People are probably reserving campsites they never use, and the people who actually get out in the woods have no place to camp.
    Last edited by SilvrSurfr; 04-21-2013 at 21:57.

  6. #56
    Senior Member Deadphans's Avatar
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    Re: NJ > Pine Barrens > April 27th

    Quote Originally Posted by silentorpheus View Post
    I dunno - they usually appear to be pretty short staffed. So if they can let someone else handle the reservations, and that company charges a fee for the convenience ... so be it. Although $9 is a little rude. I don't even think Ticketmaster charges that much.

    Then again, what bothers me is the way the whole reservation system works now. It used to be that the camp grounds could hold a bunch of people - Batona can easily hold 50+ people. But now you can 'reserve' the entire camp with 19 people. And even the reservation site says the camps still accept walk up reservations on a first come first serve basis. So I wonder how that works.

    I guess we'll see how it all works out. It's a new system - maybe they'll fix the kinks.
    so basically if they as little as doubled the amount of people who can reserve (assuming the new system is stating the new capacity, and yet it can hold a 100 plus) they could charge 4.50. This doesn't make sense lol.

    This sort of leads me to believe that if I showed up with money and asked for a site even though there were 19 people there I would not be turned away.
    "In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy." -D'Signore's, Tide Mill Farm, Edmunds, Maine.

  7. #57
    Senior Member Silent Bob's Avatar
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    You can still walk up and pay $3 a night if sites are available. I guess late fall to early spring that will be ok. SS it's funny you mentioned the weekend warrior. When I went back to batsto the following day to pay the lady asked me what site I stayed at. I told her the number and she said that site was booked. I told her I was the only one at the camp ground. She then told me 3 other sites had been booked online. The parks worker I was talking to said there was a change in management and they went to online system like the rest of NJ state parks.

  8. #58
    silentorpheus's Avatar
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    Yeah, that bothers me a bit ... the fact that it's easy to book a site but not bother to go, effectively blocking people who actually want to camp out.

    How much you want to bet that Mullica camp isn't really full this weekend, and that there aren't 7 other groups at Lower Forge when we get there.

  9. #59
    SilvrSurfr's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by silentorpheus View Post
    Yeah, that bothers me a bit ... the fact that it's easy to book a site but not bother to go, effectively blocking people who actually want to camp out.

    How much you want to bet that Mullica camp isn't really full this weekend, and that there aren't 7 other groups at Lower Forge when we get there.
    I'd bet a small fortune. I've never seen seven groups at Lower Forge. There are a lot of car campers that try to make it to Mullica River by foot. I've seen families walking along carrying coolers and camp chairs and such. It must be hard to carry a cooler four miles.

    The clever ones park about 1.5 miles north of Mullica and have to drag all their crap less far. The roads must not be that bad to Mullica. Still, it's funny seeing the odd drag marks in the sand on that stretch. Dragging a cooler 1.5 miles sounds a lot better than four miles, but you're still dragging a cooler, which can't be fun.

    I've yet to see a car camper at Lower Forge, even though there's a parking lot just about 1/3 of a mile from Lower Forge that hunters use. I'm guessing the roads aren't so good to Lower Forge and the car campers are afraid the minivan won't make it. Nevertheless, I do see a lot of cars at Quaker Bridge, and that's only about a mile or so from Lower Forge.

    Even the craziest car camper won't drag a cooler 7.5 miles, so that's why Lower Forge is usually less occupied.

  10. #60
    silentorpheus's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SilvrSurfr View Post
    I'd bet a small fortune. I've never seen seven groups at Lower Forge. There are a lot of car campers that try to make it to Mullica River by foot. I've seen families walking along carrying coolers and camp chairs and such. It must be hard to carry a cooler four miles.

    The clever ones park about 1.5 miles north of Mullica and have to drag all their crap less far. The roads must not be that bad to Mullica. Still, it's funny seeing the odd drag marks in the sand on that stretch. Dragging a cooler 1.5 miles sounds a lot better than four miles, but you're still dragging a cooler, which can't be fun.

    I've yet to see a car camper at Lower Forge, even though there's a parking lot just about 1/3 of a mile from Lower Forge that hunters use. I'm guessing the roads aren't so good to Lower Forge and the car campers are afraid the minivan won't make it. Nevertheless, I do see a lot of cars at Quaker Bridge, and that's only about a mile or so from Lower Forge.

    Even the craziest car camper won't drag a cooler 7.5 miles, so that's why Lower Forge is usually less occupied.
    Well, if there's not a lot of people, we can spread out, or hang wherever we like.

    I would have liked to try staying at Mullica - both because the only time I've been there was when we passed through on the way to LF ... that and the fact that there's water.

    Eh, more likely we'll be left alone at LF anyway. It's been a stressful few weeks, and this week isn't looking to be any better. So I'm really looking forward to a walk and hang to clear my head - and I plan to bring plenty of scotch.

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