This year the Annual Bar H Campout & Trail Ride will move to Tyler State Park and be held on Oct 17/18/19th. So I have renamed this annual DORBA event the Fall Campout & Trail Ride. Tyler State Park is my favorite Texas State Park, because it has a small clear lake with no motorboats, tall pine trees, hills, and one of the best mountain bike trails in all of Texas.
Difficulty? There are 5 loops. The first one is the easiest, the last one is the most difficult. It is up to you how many of them you do. They are all in ascending order of difficulty. It is very well marked and very well organized and laid out. Even the most difficult loop is really not all that technical. Rather, It is more aerobically and anaerobically challenging. There are no rock gardens, Lots of sandy soil covered with pine needles The most technical aspects are the roots, narrow bridges and switchbacks.
I have 6 campsites reserved and I will get out there early and pick ones that are all adjacent to one another. Each tent site will have water but no other hookups. If you want a place to hook up your RV, then you need to call reservations at 512-389-8900. Don't delay, this will be the beginning of "leafing season" and this park produces some nice yellow and red colors. However I have been told that the Blackjack Campground is much easier to find a vacant spot even without reservations, because it is on the trailhead and not on the more desirable lakeshore. Many people have told me that they pull into Blackjack with their RVs without reservations and get a spot. Blackjack is also the closest RV area to where us tent campers will be camped. The 6 tent sites will be enough room for 48 people max. I usually only have 20 to 40 people.
Why won't we be returning to Bar H?
I have moved the campout because I have tried to get in touch with Tia for two months now, and have left several messages but she has never returned my call. In addition, the website has been down for two months and all emails sent to her come back as "undeliverable." I wanted to establish a fall campout tradition there at Bar H, for years to come. Maybe it will return next year. However, we all love Tyler, and if you are like me, you never seem to get out there often enough to ride and campout.
This year, there will be another Pumpkin Carving Contest, with prizes awarded for scariest, funniest/cutest, and best overall. You can carve it at home and bring it, or you can buy a pumpkin and bring it out and carve it. I will buy a few pumpkins for those who showup without, but it is first come first serve for those pumpkins. I will bring enough carving tools and candles and should have enough for everyone. So please bring a pumpkin if you intend to enter the contest.
I think Dana of Richardson Bike Mart will be in attendance again this year and will be bringing some demo bikes. However, I am still waiting for confirmation on this.
costs:
The thing that I don't like about having this at a State Park, is that if it turns out to be a bad weekend, I am going to lose my deposit which is $72 for 6 sites (total cost is $144). Tyler DOES recover from rain faster than any other trail in North Texas because of its sandy soil composition. The other bad thing is that I have to reserve and pay for 2 nights camping for everyone, even if you don't show up till Saturday. Why do I have to? Because I need to pick and hold all campsites on Friday in order to get them all together)
None of my campouts have ever had more than 40 people, though. 16 cars can park for free, but after that, it is $2 per night per car. In addition, if you do not have a Texas Parks Annual Pass, it will cost each person $3 a day (times two) to enter the park.
So to sum up the economics:
$10 for two nights camping per person (based on 30 people camping. If more attend, it will cost you less. If fewer attend, it will be a little more, or I can afford to eat some of the shortfall. I do not care if you have 8 people at your campsite and there is only 4 of us at the one next to you,. In order to keep this simple, we will divide the total number of people into the $144 to determine the final cost to each person of the campsites. Children are welcome, but they count if they are 6 or older.
$6 for 2 days of day use (unless you have a pass)
$2 per night, per car if we have more than 16 cars (lets carpool!) I might decide to handle this myself and add it to the $144 camping fee and then divide by number of campers. I will just have to see how things unfold.
keep in mind:
1 This is a totally self supported event. Neither DORBA nor myself are responsible for your health, happiness and safety. You bring your food, you cook it. No firewood will be provided, so bring your own. I am glad to be of help if I can, unless I am out riding. Please PM me if you have any questions or need any advice.
2 Drinking at Texas State Parks. You will see signs that say "No Public Display or Consumption of Alcohol" This doesn't mean that you can not drink adult beverages. If it did, we would not be going there. It DOES mean, that you must pour your beer into a cup and put the beer bottle in the trash immediately and not set it out on the picnic table. The State of Texas has decided that it does not want to offend any "tee-totalers." So it requires that drinking in their parks be discrete. Same thing with liquor and wine. Drink from a cup and stash the bottles and you will be cool with the rangers.
3. kinda kindly keep it down after 10pm, and at Midnight nothing more than whispers, please. Most of us mountain bikers need their rest.
4. Since this is a DORBA event, everyone will need to sign a waiver this year. DORBA membership is encouraged, but not required.
5. there will only be 6 picnic table, so if you want to be sure you have a table, then bring a folding one.
Info:
Tyler State Park Website
Google Map & Directions
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