Autumn at Frost - Camp N Foam - November 2-3-4

[jeff]

~ ~ Autumn at Frost ~ ~

WCRF.com gathering at the Mojave Narrows Regional Park
November 2-3-4 (Friday-Saturday-Sunday) Camping Trip

Camping along the BNSF Cajon Sub in Victorville, California near MP ?? in the county campground overlooking the flyover at Frost. The area has been a favorite of this railfan (and many others) with dramatic scenery at the Narrows (about two miles to the east) and at the flyover from the overlook at Gray's Hill. Other nearby landmarks would be the Victorville Amtrak station, the Portland Cement facility and the Mojave River bridge at East Victorville. Further east would be Oro Grande, Helendale, and Hodge on the way to Barstow. The typical Cajon Pass spots are a 20-30 minute drive to the west.

The campground features HOT showers, CLEAN restrooms nearby (not a hike as in previous years), fire rings with grilles, picnic tables, snack bar and bait shop (did I hear Bass Bait ??). We will be getting individual campsites, not using the group areas as done previously. The group areas do not have hook-ups and do not have restrooms nearby. The loose dirt/sand of the group areas have been known to swallow up RVs. The RV campsites are gravel with paved access, and most have patches of grass for pitching a tent.



Overview:
Originally, this campout was organized through the CalRailFans Yahoo Group, but has not been on their calendar since Greenberg's work load prevented him from organizing and attending at the event. I think the last year was 2004 with Ed... ?? One year, Chard Walker was the guest of honor, and on another Gary Gray gave a historical review of Frost and the surrounding ranch area.

Typically, we use the campground as a base camp for railfanning the Mojave Narrows area and beyond. Some attendees have hiked to nearby locales, and some drive to railfan further away. I am hoping to have ATCS running at Camp Bass, under the sponsor's awning.

Weather has been unique each year, with a sand storm one year, and a good rain storm another. Neither ruined the event, but ended up making them very memorable. Prepare for some cold weather, as it gets quite chilly at night, but gets comfortable during the day.


Day Visitors:
Day use railfans are welcome to join in the event. In years past, we've had many day visitors participate at Frost. As the weekend approaches, we should have some sort of time line in place for planned activities. On previous events we've had campfires, and plans for slide shows that never materialized. I imagine that slide shows will be a highlight of this year's gathering. The in-bound gates close at 9:00pm (going from memory), but you can exit at any time. The day-use fee is $5.00.

There are several places to park within the Mojave Narrows Regional Park near the campgrounds. I recall a large parking lot on the east end near the tracks, (closest to the crossovers at Frost, as opposed to the flyover). Motels are available nearby, as are typical fast-food restaurants.



RV Campers:
Full hook-up sites available. Each RV site may have one tent as a guest. Currently (as of Sept 21st) the first two rows of RV campsites closest to the lake are filled. The other two rows, closer to the tracks are available. I told the park ranger lady that those would likely be the sites that we would be interested in reserving. She seemed to understand railfanning.

The hook-up sites MUST have an RV on them, but a single tent maybe added as a guest at no extra charge. Max of three vehicles per RV site, with trailers counting as a vehicle. Max of six people per site. Campground fees for the hook-up sites are $22.00 per night.




Tent Campers:
Adjacent to the RV sites, the park has a good selection of tent sites available. The fee per night for the non-hook-up sites is $15.00. The max of six people and three cars also apply. I will get an answer to the max amount of tents allowed per site.


Park Website:

http://www.co.san-bernardino.ca.us/parks/mojave.htm

http://www.co.san-bernardino.ca.us/parks/narrows.htm




Follow-up questions in progress:
How many tents allowed per tent site ??

Planned events or guests ??

Map of the campground ??


~ ~ ~

What did I miss ??

Feel free to add comments and suggestions.

I will be making my reservations in a week or two. I would like to coordinate the reservation process so we can get sites that are together if possible.

I think that covers the basics...

Whatcha think ??

~ jeff

[chris_wlkr]

I was at the last CalRail Fans Frost trip. Had to be in 2003 or 2004. It was fun but the Sandstorm during the day and the 1 am rainstorm consumed my tent to the mud gods. Have not seen it since unpacking it from the truck that year. Met Gary Perazo at that trip as well as a few others.

Count me in for a Tent spot. Probably will haveJen and Carli along so that would count 3 people 1 tent and 1 car for me.

Chris - Sounds fun.

[State Street Scott]

Camp and Foam is the way to go. Count me in. Heading out later to the "cage".

State Steet Scott

[rt_wolf]

Count me in for Saturday and Sunday only. Doubt i will be able to get Friday off, but it would be nice. Most likely I will be camping from the bed or cab of my truck as ususal.

Really interested in hitting the portland Cement plant in East Victorville, the Bridge there, the narrows and of course Frost.

Robert T.

[erielackawanna]

I'm hopeful to make it up on Sunday for the day, but as usual, won't know for sure probably until that day.

[kenszok]

I'm a definite-pretty sure :D for all three days. Depends on my wife's schedule.

Ken

[rt_wolf]

Looks like I am a no go for the camp out. Parents are going out of town for a wedding and I am going to be at home house sitting and taking care of the house pets. Thought I might be able to show up on Saturday to spend the day with the group, might have the canine boys with me (Baxter the dog and his buddy Izzy.) as I will be puppy sitting them that weekend as well.

Robert T.

[chris_wlkr]

So why don't you bring the dogs with you and camp?
I am going to take the Friday off so I can arrive Friday sometime before the traffic get's out there.

Chris

[cabcar]

So far, we'll be able to make it up there on Saturday, just for the day. Sounds fun!

---Robert

[mkstarks]

I wanna go, not to sure about how I wanna do it though. Would possibly rent an RV but I can't railfan in one lol.
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