Learned something new about camping....

Gordon Three,

Which site were you on at Hoffmaster SP??? We have been RV camping there a couple times a year for over 45 years now and on all 4 loops. About 300 total sites. We have many of our family and extended family camping weekends/get togethers there from May until Halloween as it's only about 10 miles from our homes and it's such a gorgeous huge (1200 acre) forested/sanduned park right on Lake Michigan with so much to do always. Before it became a Michigan State Park (about 40 years ago, the north end of Hoffmaster was Norton Township Park and had camping also.

Neither my wife nor I remember having hardly any acorns or things hitting the RV's roof other than some occasional raindrops. Maybe a few twigs when windy. Last year, they'd cut down over 70 trees on the beach end of loop one alone (the big one across the creek bridge) as many had died and they didn't want to chance them falling on campers. Also thinned out several other areas in the other loops too of the dead trees or large limbs. The CG is in a very old forest area on the north end of the park with loop 2 & 3 being in tall pine woods. Maybe it was windy while you were there, perhaps? I'm just curious as we know the big park so well!

I've stayed at the Mt. Pleasant/Charleston KOA twice. I learned my lesson the first time. The squirrels actually use the RV roofs for target practice. On my second visit I requested a spot NOT under a tree.

locally the osage oranges are referred to as hedge apple trees.

yea I hear ya.
we have peacan trees and other nasty stuff falling in our areas.
the WHAM WHOMP on the top of the camper is freaky and makes one jump it is so loud when it hits :)

GordonThree wrote:
Staying the weekend at Hoffmaster SP near Muskegon. Picked a nice enough site, in the dark of coarse.

Parking under an Oak tree is a noisy affair with an aluminum roof. It's so quiet here from the inside it sounds like golf balls being dropped on the roof. :B

here at the house there are many, many oak trees on and around the property. since early august it's been like living in berlin in 1944 when the 8th air force was flying bombing missions. :)

eb145 wrote:
I lost a solar panel on top of my TT to an Osage Orange tree one time.

I was not in the trailer at the time.

Ed

HA, what a coincidence!

I was just watching a woodworking program on TV this morning and they said the Osage Orange tree wood is very strong. I have never even heard of such a tree wood.

Guess they do exist. :B

I have been to Huffmaster. I think I would take the lullaby of the sharp acorns hitting the roof to drown out the other noises. Great park but by no means quiet.

I have solar, trees are the enemy lol

isym

I lost a solar panel on top of my TT to an Osage Orange tree one time.

I was not in the trailer at the time.




Ed

kknowlton wrote:
LOL! Loving the last 3 posts!! I would have never thought of that. (Yep, I'm from inland.) I think I'll take acorns & sap too. As far as the previous comment about pine cones, the worst are the ones from the

loblolly pines in SC - those suckers are HUGE!

They sound like a bomb is going off when they land!!

X2!
I encountered those 'Jurassic Park' pine cones in lower Georgia for the first time in a CG. Unbelievable how big they are! They were all over.

I started collecting them and putting them in a big bag when finally the CG owner came up and asked me if I was cleaning up the CG for him!!

Actually regular sized pine cones make great FIREBALLS for starting a campfire. Pine cones will start a log of hard oak in seconds flat into a nice clean burning campfire.

I figured these big bad boys would start a REAL hot flame throwing campfire!