Early Retirement Extreme Forums

ERE Encampment, March 22 - 24, 2024

Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, Kentucky
Taylor Bay Campground

On the weekend of March 22, 2024, there will be a non-organized non-event at the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area near Cadiz, Kentucky, located roughly between St. Louis and Nashville.

This is a non-organized non-event. There is no leader. Participants are asked to take action to engage and meet other campers by inviting them to a potluck dinner (or lunch).

To participate, join us at Taylor Bay Campground on the weekend of March 22, 2024.

Please come prepared to Leave No Trace, Pack It In, Pack It Out and Leave It Cleaner Than You Found It. There may not be a water spigot, bring water. There may be a pit toilet and trash containers in camp, but it is highly recommended that you be prepared to primitive camp with no services, and take your trash with you.

There is no entrance fee for the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. The camping fee at Taylor Bay is $10 per night. There is a 14 day limit at each campsite, and you must move at least 1 mile after 14 days.

You may purchase camping permits online here: https://www.landbetweenthelakes.us/reservations/

In this area, average temperatures in March are a high of 60F and a low of 38F. Let's hope for warm weather, but be prepared for chilly nights!

Taylor Bay Campground Location and Reviews:

https://freecampsites.net/#!159392&query=sitedetails
https://www.campendium.com/taylor-bay

Taylor Bay Campground Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epGQi7n01Qs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vVOFQHTNcY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-15Q1Cdv7Mk

There are no activities planned, but we encourage inviting neighboring campers to potluck dinners. This event relies on YOU to invite other campers to join you by the fire and to share a meal. We highly encourage Dutch Oven and cast iron cooking experts to attend! Bring a kayak or canoe.

We look forward to seeing you!

You beat me to it as I was planning to spend the next many weeks writing up notes before revealing them. I very much appreciate your initiative! I'll add in what I had sofar below.

sky wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 18, 2023 9:48 am

This is a non-organized non-event. There is no leader. Participants are asked to take action to engage and meet other campers by inviting them to a potluck dinner (or lunch).

Cool! I think this is the way to go for ERE2. Design for emergence by personal initiative! The baseline experience should be good enough when even just one person shows up but increase depending how many more show up.

Here are some suggestions in the spirit of agency, initiative, and innovation.

Free library: Bring books for others for late night reading by the campfire or headlamp. Expect to not get your books back. "Little Free Library" principles.

Things to do: Morning run, workshops/presentations/monologues, amateur bushcraft hour, puddleduck racing, dreadmarching, ...

Eating together: potluck, taking turns making a morning campfire for brewing coffee, cooking cowboy breakfast, lentil soup ...

Primitive support: We have 8 waterbricks. One brick supports 2 adults for 2 days in our camping experience. How many people do 8 bricks support for N days? (A standard IQ, mental linear algebra question...). How is this campground in terms of reaching the interwebs? Solar chargers? We also have an extra 3-person tent.

Logistical support: This destination is in the BFE as far as I can tell. What is the situation in terms of getting in and out and/or staying longer than a weekend. Sharing campsites insofar that's a thing? For example, we have an extra tent, but at potential freezing temperatures, we don't have extra sleeping bags to offer. This is important for those coming in from afar. We can maybe fit 1 person in from Chicago to halfway in between Louisville and Nashville in our Honda Fit, but 2 would be impossible.

Staying longer: Even as individual sites are only allowed to stay for 2 weeks, there's no law against the "emerging meetup system" staying for longer. People could theoretically come and go and come back later and still find EREmites around. What's the possibility of staying beyond a weekend and not leave before it makes sense to do so?

jacob wrote: How many people do 8 bricks support for N days?

The math is easy, but the reality depends on how frequently you choose to refill at some spigot and/or creek, possibility of rain/collection system, ratio of potable to not entirely potable required, and personal standards of hygiene.

Anyways, highly unlikely I will participate in Dreadmarching activity, but I will try to show up, and I will definitely bring an interesting selection for Little Library Exchange and contribute to campfire cooking, and would be interested in alternative hikes more akin to Lightly Encumbered Species Indentification Rambles. I might be able to provide transportation in my Smart car for somebody else along path from Mid-Michigan/Detroit/Ann Arbor to destination, but would likely be a bit squishy for space.

Question. I went to the reservation site and it appears that the Taylor Bay Campground is self-service, pay in an envelope at site. The basic/dispersed permit is only $10/3 nights, but can't be used at self-service campgrounds which are $10/night. So, reservations necessary or even possible?

The non-event is non-organized in case hundreds of people show up and park rangers demand a group/event permit. I think that if 3 or more camping groups show up it would be a great success, however it is hard to know what will happen with an open invitation on the internet.

Jacob did not organize this event and is not liable for any unexpected Woodstock-like gathering.

There are quite a few other campgrounds in this park, some with more services. It would be good if someone could double check the camping fees to make sure what I wrote is correct.

What a coincidence! I am considering camping on the Taylor Bay Campground around the March 23rd weekend (this definitely has nothing to do with any non-organized, non-events that might spontaneously happen to be there), but I want to get there on the cheap. If anyone is going that direction around that time and wants to carpool for all or part of the way (I am in Toronto -> so somebody leaving from the Detroit area could work, for example), let me know. Sadly, I don't trust my own dying car enough to use it for this.

@sky: Gotcha.
@Crusader: If I happened to be planning a camping trip in Kentucky around March 23rd weekend, and my currently 60% positive level of optimism concerning whether my health will be good enough for such a trip is manifested, and I happen to be driving past the Detroit Megabus Depot (or similar) and happen to spot somebody who is holding up a sign with a large red lentil emblazoned upon it, and that somebody appears to have all their gear packed into at most 2 15 liter backpacks (as opposed to 1 30 liter duffel bag), it seems likely I would offer that human a lift.

Furthermore, if it so happens that I do find myself at the Taylor Bay Campground around that weekend, I will signal my availability to participate in potluck dinners etc. by wearing some subtle Camping-Chic earrings I will create by gluing green lentils to old backings I will scrounge/scavenge. Of course, I might be otherwise recognizable as the individual attempting an experiment in jerry-rigging a couple tarps and an assortment of bungi-cords into a tent-like extension to the rear drop hatch of her Smart Car.

@7w5
As I was eating my lentils today, I received a vision. I acknowledge the message the universe is sending me, and am very grateful, even if it doesn't manifest... sending back good (healthy) vibes!

I really want to go to this just to meet 7w5 (and her books) and give her a giant hug. I mean, you’re cool, too, Jacob, but… 7w5!

Biscuits and Gravy wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 26, 2023 3:31 pm

I really want to go to this just to meet 7w5 (and her books) and give her a giant hug. I mean, you’re cool, too, Jacob, but… 7w5!

Give her a hug from me too she is especially awesome : )

@chenda@Biscuits and Gravy:

Awwww, I want to give you guys a hug too. Of course, even much-more-super-cool-than-me INTJ types like Jacob might find themselves wanting to join in a group hug circle in a rough camping in March type environment. Survival of the cuddliest who packed the most cookies!

It's with great sadness I must say that I am unlikely to attend since I rarely leave New Orleans between the Chewbacchus parade (which I consider the unofficial start of Mardi Gras) and the 1st weekend in May (which is the end of Jazzfest). I have been known to change my mind at the last minute...

Where are we at WRT to this? How many are committed/can commit?

Temperature-wise, we're looking at 63F day high and 40F night low.

Unfortunately, I'm still not feeling quite well enough to commit to this meet-up. Very frustrating, because semi-rough camping used to be (not very long ago) one of my favorite, often-enjoyed activities, and now it just seems like too much

This isn't too far from me so I am going to tentatively commit. Subject to change of course since I have no idea what is going on in my life a month out. I've hiked the North/South trail years ago and it was the first time I covered 30 miles in a day. Not doing that again, ha. But pretty lakes and easy trails.

I couldn't make it work with my work days off and travel plans, so I am sadly out. EREFest is the only thing that I have in the "ERE meetup budget" for this year.

It's too far for me if it's just going to be 1 or maybe 2 others.

Is anybody coming to this? Anybody?

I don't know but I don't think so. The last time OP logged in was over 3 months ago.