camping sites

This started over in the feed the empire thread. I'm bringing it over here for those who might want to discuss it more.

paul wheaton wrote:

If you are going to have a camping site there, how about some kind of time share camping spot. Not one particular spot, but say a 25' x 25' camping site that the time share buyer could use one week out of the year for a period of 5 years?

I'd give $100.00 to have a 16'x30' camping site named after me. And I get one free week a year for 5 years, to camp there on Ronie Dean camp spot. The size does not have to be exactly the size I said - just a spot where I can park a camper.

I really like this idea.

I think the price should be more like $200. And the idea is that the first time you come out, you pick the spot (and I or somebody in the know will make sure it is okay). And then you prep the spot and make all the appropriate signage. And the spot will stay named whatever name you choose as long as the sign is still visible.

I think the idea of a place to park a camper would be limited to the base camp acres.

You could plant things you think are fun. You could put in a mailbox so that items could be kept dry - maybe there is a guest book and interesting things.

ronie McCoy wrote:Well Paul, I probably wouldn't plant things there as I have my own farm to plant on. If I did ever show up, it would be to get some ideas that I could use at my place or just to relax on vacation and get to know other like minded folk.

The idea behind a time share is that a lot of people use the same 20X20 spot of land - just at different weeks of the year. Since, not a bunch of us 'Southerners" would come to Montana in January, I would guess that the "hot" weeks to have would be June - September. That is 17ish weeks that 17 different persons/families would be using the same spot of land. At $100 a time share, that is 1700 per spot/year. 10 different time shares would take up around 200'X20' and bring in $17,000.00. If you have 100 spots 2000' X 20', that is $170,000.00. The other 'cooler' weeks of the year could be time share weeks at a discounted rate. (Or sold to Eskimos and Canadians.)

Some smaller people might only want to have smaller spots maybe 10'X10'. They could be at a lesser rate..

The base rate for the time share week would be B.Y.O.E. (Bring Your Own Everything.) Bring your own food, water, shower, utensils EVERYTHING - and take your own shit back with you. If the time share person wanted to use any of things that you have set up, then the price would be per day of use.. Use solar shower and rocket cooker - $10.00 per day of stay. Solar shower, rocker cooker and annoy Paul $20.00.

I think Ronie is on to something.

I love the "annoy Paul" fee. To follow him around and get in the way "helping" would be a dream come true for me.

This is what I am talking about! I have about two weeks a summer that I could come to the land and help out. If I had a spot to put up my TiPi, build a firepit or cob oven, and help out with all of the goings on , that would be great. Then when I am not using the "time share". Paul could collect a camping fee and use "my" spot.

How big of spot would you want and what would be a fair price to pay? Prefer a large one time fee or a smaller yearly fee?

At the moment, we're still in a phase of initial income boost. So I like the $200 for five years plan and that includes one week per year.

paul wheaton wrote:At the moment, we're still in a phase of initial income boost. So I like the $200 for five years plan and that includes one week per year.

I am in the State of Confusion (on Duh street). My idea is that somewhere there is a camping area. I kinda preferred the land, but maybe the base camp is OK. My State is caused by my thoughts that the ones who pay for the little piece of camping area are not obligated to work unless they want to eat your food and use other stuff there. OR they can pay a daily fee for extras for each day they are there.

I am at the stage in life where I have less energy for working and would rather pay to have the day off to wander around and see the empire. Those who pay are on vacation there and not laborers. HOw does that sound?

Finally replying to some of the questions about this.

From talking with Paul, I think the camping site preferences include:

purchasers have listened to a majority of the podcasts

campers are there as part of a scheduled event or to volunteer

.

It might bear pointing out/repeating that the podcasts do a great job of explaining Paul's extremely low tolerance for toxins. This will help ensure that folks aren't burning plastics in a camp fire, or using cardboard to sheet mulch - as just two minor examples.

I think the preference for a workshop participant or volunteer is mostly to manage traffic on both base camp and the land. While it would be lovely to accommodate more of a purely vacation/relaxation kind of thing, that might need to be only available during a very small window each year, if at all. We're just not sure yet.

The reason being (and Paul can/will correct me if he sees this differently) there is a real concern about unannounced visitors and interruptions to residents' privacy, work schedules, workshop maximums and Paul's time. So while Paul really likes the idea of camping spots - making a special place to stay on the land/base camp - so far, I think the priority would go to workshop or volunteer (or working vacation) folks.

This subject is discussed in podcast 248 - Paul's farm.

Just last night, Zach Weiss slept out under the full moon at the top of the base camp mountain. He said it was awesome. Tonight, a family here wants to pitch their tent up there, too.

It reminded me that I took pictures of potential base camp tent sites earlier this month - at three different levels while climbing up. Here's directional shots from one area.

And here's just a bit higher up. All of these were taken at about 6:30 in the morning.

And here's a spot higher up though still not at the top. It's pretty dry here in July, and this place has not exactly had any permaculture influences yet, plus it is FAR rockier than the lab, but it still has quite a bit of growth.

Jocelyn Campbell wrote:Just last night, Zach Weiss slept out under the full moon at the top of the base camp mountain. He said it was awesome. Tonight, a family here wants to pitch their tent up there, too.

It reminded me that I took pictures of potential base camp tent sites earlier this month - at three different levels while climbing up. Here's directional shots from one area.

Oops. The directions in the photo labels on these are wrong.
East is north.
North is west.
West is south.
South is east.

The highest campsite available at basecamp.

Awesome pic, Ed!

How big is basecamp ?

19 acres.

I would like to make the recommendation of hammock camping. You have slopes and trees, so it is a no brainer. If you have bad memories of trying to lay in a hammock, you should try it again. To sleep flat in a hammock you string it up loose and lay at a diagonal to the direction of the ropes. Hammock camping expands yor potential sites to many more places and can be a much lower impact option than tents. It also allows better tree cover, protection from wind and rain, etc.