Rescheduling the July Meeting

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evanz80

evanz80

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Jan 7, 2007
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Tijeras NM
Sorry for the last minute change, but the scheduled meeting for July (Saturday, July 7th) needs to be rescheduled. We have a schedule conflict that evening. I spoke to Daisy and he suggested moving it to the following weekend (July 13, 14, 15). Unfortunately, we are not able to host then, but we will try one later in the year.

Any volunteers to host/coordinate a meeting sometime during the weekend of July 13, 14, 15?

Evan
 
Would you expect we need to make some reservations for that area? It wasn't clear to me at the last meeting whether or not that was needed. It wasn't even clear to me that anyone really knew the name of the place they were thinking of. Do we just do the typical potluck or try to burn some meat on a propane grill during the picnic. I'm not sure what sort of fire will be allowed at that point.
 
marcfj60 said:
Would you expect we need to make some reservations for that area? It wasn't clear to me at the last meeting whether or not that was needed. It wasn't even clear to me that anyone really knew the name of the place they were thinking of. Do we just do the typical potluck or try to burn some meat on a propane grill during the picnic. I'm not sure what sort of fire will be allowed at that point.
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Are you guys talking about the Doc Long picnic area? I would guess reservations would be nice to make sure we have the space for eveyone, but on the other hand, I would guess we could just show up as friends and use the space we take up. I don't know the fire restictions in the Sandia's, but that should not be hard to find out.
 
marcfj60 said:
Would you expect we need to make some reservations for that area? It wasn't clear to me at the last meeting whether or not that was needed. It wasn't even clear to me that anyone really knew the name of the place they were thinking of. Do we just do the typical potluck or try to burn some meat on a propane grill during the picnic. I'm not sure what sort of fire will be allowed at that point.
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Marc,
It is OK for you to make the decision on where and when and any other details. As you know, counting on using outside grills this time of year is never a good primary plan.

I was at Sulphur Springs CG on Saturday and it was open with a couple of different groups having picnics. I'm sure you can call and get reservations for one of the several public areas on the road up to the crest or anywhere else that you want to take us.

Let us know what you find out this week and thanks for taking the lead on this.

-Mike-
 
sl33p3 said:
doc long has a group reservation area, covered etc... i was there last weekend.
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you dont say!

Looks like its Balsam Glade picnic area that is at the 165 split
 
Some preliminary looking has found the following information:

- Group picnic sites cost $60 on the weekend.
- With that fee you get 6 vehicle parking passes. Anything over 6 vehicles you have to buy additional parking passes for $3/vehilce
- Sandia Ranger District starts Stage II fire restrictions tomorrow. I'm getting incosistent details on what that means. The announcement here states that petroleum-fueled stoves, lanterns or heating devices are allowed. Gas grills are not specifically mentioned. But the receptionist at the SRD said that all open flames/fires are prohibited. It seems like it's left up to interpretation of the officer writing the ticket whether a propane grill would be allowed.

The best information I got was from the online reservation site: www.reserveamerica.com

The short list of group sites I can find north of I-40 is:

- Doc Long (30/10)
- Cienega (50/15)
- Balsam Glade (30/10)
- Capulin (50/8)
- Las Huertas (30/10)

The numbers in parentheses are (max # people/max # vehicles) It should be noted that Capulin is $90. I figured I'd start with these because they are higher elevation and would be cooler in mid-July. We could head south to places like Cedro, Oak Flat, Pine Flat. They can accommodate more people, more vehicles and cost less. But they are lower elevation and won't be as cool temps.

About half of the ones above are not available on Sat. 7/14, but all are currently available on Sunday 7/15.

Any opinions or input before I choose the one I think would work best for us? Do we care about not being able to grill?
 
Hopefully I get a little more feedback or suggestions soon. Is it ok to spend $60 on a picnic site? Has anyone been to any of these group sites and have any opinions, good or bad? I'm thinking that Sunday, 7/15 is our best bet in terms of selection for site availability. If I don't hear anything by mid-day tomorrow, I'll just go with the site that I like the best.
 
Jon, Daisy,
What is our budget for this picnic to cover site rental and food expenses? Do we just pay for the site and then have the standard potluck or do we want to also buy some food, like BBQ or fried chicken?

Also, how important is it to have covered space? Some areas don't have a shelter but they have enough trees to be well shaded anyway. SRD said the Cienega site does not have a shelter but it is well shaded, has tables, vault toilets and a stream nearby. The stuff north of I-40 is in the 8,000 ft range with pines, fir, spruce.

The person I talked to also suggested we consider the Oak Flats area because they can accommodate more people, more vehicles, they have more space and you don't have to pay an additional parking fee for more than 6 vehicles. Plus the reservation fees are less. Some of those sites have covered areas too. The down side is they are lower elevation, closer to 7,000 ft. So they will be warmer than the north sites.
Right now I'm leaning toward Sunday, 7/15, probably ~2 - 6.
 
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I've been to the Oak flat sites few times and they're very nice. Go ahead and grab one of those for less $$$ and more space to park. I don't know if they all have the giant shelters with multiple tables but the one I went to had all that stuff. If we have rain, oh please, then having a large shelter to sit under will be nice.
 
alia176 said:
I've been to the Oak flat sites few times and they're very nice. Go ahead and grab one of those for less $$$ and more space to park. I don't know if they all have the giant shelters with multiple tables but the one I went to had all that stuff. If we have rain, oh please, then having a large shelter to sit under will be nice.
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This...

Cheap, easy and convenient.

Daisy
 
I can't make the July meeting but fwiw oak is over 7500 since my place is 7400 and oak is up the road.

Count on 10 deg under abq temp.. enjoy guys.
 
lurch said:
you dont say!
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Yeah, were you there too? Lol

(Lurch and a friend of his convinced me to go on a mtb ride with them up there.)
 
I'm going to try to reserve one of the cheaper units at Oak Flats. The problem is I can't find any website that lists which ones have a shelter and which don't so I'll have to try to get an answer from the Sandia Ranger district on Monday before I can book them. There are large field areas to play stuff like baseball and soccer around the loop so bring games and toys.
 
see if you can grab the Locust site. If not, the Pine site should work too. I went by there yesterday and all sites had the gates closed on them so I don't know what that means. Maybe they only open them up when a reservation has been placed?
 
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