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DAVETREK ADVENTURES |
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August 5, 2007— August Extravaganza at Wawayanda State Park, near Upper Greenwood Lake, NJ (07421) Northern, NJ I am pleased to announce a new, hopefully annual event, the August Extravaganza (anyone have a better name?). It’s a very involved event with something for almost anyone, so we expect a large amount of people. Please help us with this by reading these details carefully, and filling out the form below properly with all the information we ask for…. See below for the prices and details- deadlines are shorted because we need extra time to organize all the people and activities. Help us help you – decide early! EARLY BIRD DEADLINE IS WEDNESDAY JULY 25 at 12:00 PM. EVENT DEADLINE IS MONDAY, JULY 30 at 11:00 PM. PEOPLE WHO DO NOT REGISTER PROPERLY, MAIL IN DEPOSITS, SUPPLY ALL REQUIRED INFORMATION, WITHIN THE DEADLINE, WILL BE REJECTED. We had to reject over 10 people for my last event because people registered late or incompletely, and we still had about 50 people. Don’t get closed out! Basically, the concept is to go to a really nice park in the area that has a variety of activities, and have people do a variety of things ( including nothing at all but hanging out), as well as a BBQ much of the day. The park we are going to is Wawayanda State Park, in Northern NJ, near the border with NY. Its about a 75 minute drive from Manhattan. The park has a beautiful lake ( pictured below), which is long and has several islands in it to explore. It’s a very special place, as you can see from the pix below—I visited several other parks before choosing this one, which has a large number of potential activities we can do. All of these pix below are within a 10 minute walk of each other, in fact!
Here is a link to some more pictures of the park http://picasaweb.google.com/davidbrotsky/WawayandaStatePark2007 The park has the following possible activities, all of which are within walking distance of the picnic/BBQ area we will be at: Hiking – excellent long ( 7 mile) and short ( 2.5 mile to a nice pond) that anyone can do Boating/Fishing – Canoes, row boats, electric motor boats & a very limited number of kayaks/double kayaks. The lake is stocked with Salmon. Paved Biking/Rollerblading trails + Mountain Biking areas ( if you bring your own gear!) Volleyball/Frisbee/Kites/radio controlled airplanes – anyone have a good volleyball set they can bring? Playground with equipment – for young children Beach – for relaxing, with a lifeguard for swimmers BBQ/Picnic areas Here is how things will work – this is a little complicated, so please read carefully, and help us 1. Leave by 8 am from Manhattan - You will need to leave about 8 am and get to the park by 9:30 AM. The park closes its doors to cars on busy summer days by 10am in the summer, so if you are late, you might not be able to get in, or have to walk 3 miles to the area we are congregating at…We will be in the park till about 6:30pm, which means you should get back after 8pm, though people may leave earlier. Limited rides – minivan solution - Because of the large numbers I expect for this event, rides will be limited. Also, buses are not allowed into the park. What we will do is organize people into 15 passenenger vans, hopefully from a few areas. This will cost about $20 to $25 per person, for gas and the rental. If you are willing to be a driver of one of the rental vehicles, you will also get a reduced rate. We will try and send a list of drivers with phone numbers out in advance, but if you need a ride, assume you will have to go in one of the vans. Organized activities vs optional activities There are some activities we will organize, others that you can do on your own with your own rentals or equipment, and then join us at the BBQ We will help organize folks into the following activities Long and short hike Boating – canoes and very limited supply of kayaks ( ie 2 to 4? Working on getting more, but no guarantees) Volleyball/Frisbee/Kites ( anyone have any nice kites to bring?) BBQ All of these activities leave from the same area, right next to the boating area. EVENT DETAILS HIKES There will be two hikes – both will leave in the morning around 10 am, though we can run a second short hike in the afternoon if people want LONG HIKE This will be a 7.5 mile loop hike, taking about 5 hours. You will pass several lakes, a unique Cedar forest in a swamp ( traversed on planks!), surrounded by hemlocks and rhododendrons, a lake with a beaver house, and a lake with a dam. This is a 6 hike, with 10 being a very hard hike. It has about 600 feet of elevation, and is long! SHORT/EASY HIKE This is a 3 mile easy hike, to a nearby pond, and some very pretty trees – possibly one of the few virgin hemlock tree pockets in this area of NJ. It has minimal elevation, and is suitable for all ages, including young children. Its more like a nature walk…we might have this more than once – let us know your preference below BOATING DETAILS Because of the limited supply of boats, we will organize 2 or 3 groups for 2 hours each on the lake, leaving at 10:30, 1 and 3:30 PM. BBQ DETAILS The BBQ will run from about 1:30 till 6 PM, so people can come and go as they please catching a bite to eat between activities, or hang out at the BBQ, at their option. We will have plenty of food, for vegetarians, fruitarians (ever have grilled bananas? They are a house specialty), and omnivores. Let us know if you have a special diet. OPTIONAL ACTIVITIES The following are optional activities which you can do on your own Swimming at the Beach Fishing Biking/Rollerblading/Mountain Biking ( you need to bring your own equipment Boating – any boats other than canoes or limited numbers of kayaks If you want to swim, fish, bike/rollerblade, you will need to bring your own gear for this. You can also rent your own boats if you don’t want a canoe, such as paddle boats, electric motor boats and row boats. The prices are below for these optional boats, but its first come, first served at the boathouse. What do I need to bring? All - hat, suntan lotion, comfortable shoes Long Hike – same as All plus lunch, 3 liters water, bug spray Short Hike – same as All, plus 1 liter water Boating - hat, suntan lotion, 1 liter water, and clothes and shoes that are ok getting wet, eyeglass retainer/cord to hold on glasses Directions – will follow for those coming. Please advise if you plan to use GPS – that’s usually the only folks that get lost with my directions! Leaving Times – Manhattan, Northern & Central NJ – 8:00 AM Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island – 7:30 AM Teaneck, Monsey – 8:15 AM COSTS/Details Please send deposits to me at David Brotsky If you prefer paypal, add $2 to your deposit for the paypal fees that are incurred for each such deposit, and send it to – Extravaganza includes the BBQ (Lunch/Dinner – 1:30 to 6:00 PM), Hike, Volleyball/Frisbee – Extravaganza with canoe/kayak – any other boats are items you can rent on your own at the park, first come, first served. Kayaks are limited ( we may have as few as 2 per session), so indicated below if you want a kayak and won’t boat if you don’t get one. Double kayaks are also limited and will only be rented if you have a friend/child for the boat. If you are a family who wants to go boating, please email me for a custom price – it depends what you rent and how many kids. Time of registration – calculated from when we receive your email RSVP. Early Bird Pricing – Friday July 20 to Wednesday, July 25 @ Noon
Standard Pricing – Wednesday, July 25, 12:01 PM to Monday, July 30, 11:00 PM
Because of the variety of events, I anticipate that this will be one of my largest, if not my largest event of all time. As such, Lisa Horowitz, Eeris Kalish and others are helping me with this event. If you would like to help out and get a reduced rate, we might have spots for a few more folks for help the day of, so let me know via email if you want to help out, and we will contact those folks we need for any extra help. We also need some help from folks to buy and transport some of the food, chiefly drinks since we will have more than a car load full just of drinks when we are done, so let us know if you can help with that in the questionnaire. Since we need a lot of questions answered, I am choosing not to use evite. Please copy only the questions below into an email, fill out the questionnaire below, and mail to the following address Questionaire – Please email full responses to davetrekadventures@gmail.com Answer all applicable sections – failure to do so means you may not be registered for the event. 1. Full Name of People registering ( including childrens names and ages) 2. My phone numbers are Cell: Home: 3. I have a special diet (specify) RIDES/DRIVERS – Place and x by the proper response 4. I NEED A RIDE Yes NO specify locationyou wish to leave from – We are only supplying rides for those in the rented vans., which cost $20 to $25 per person. If you get a ride with someone driving themselves, pay the driver $12 round trip, $6 each way. We will attempt to mail out a list of drivers, but there are no guarantees you will get such a ride – if you fill this section 5 out, assume you will be in a van…Van rides may only occur from Manhattan unless enough sign up in your area… 5. Van Driver – I would be willing to pick up and drive one of the rental vans – I will get a $10 reduction in the rate, and transport money to pick up and return the van 6. DRIVER - I am prepared to offer rides for the following number of people I PLAN TO LEAVE FROM ( SPECIFY) 7. HELP - I would like to help on the day of the event for a few hours, for a reduced rate ( $15 off any rate) I wish to help pick up and transport food, in advance – Yes No ACTIVITIES - see above for details of these activities 8. Hikes – a) Long Hike – 10 AM ( 5 hours) b) Short Hike – 10 AM ( 2 hours) c) Short Hike – 2 PM ( 2 hours) 9. BOATING – TYPE Place an x below your choice Canoe – (also specify if you want to be paired/tripled with someone) Kayak only – very limited, max 2 possibly per outing – Kayak/canoe – I prefer a kayak if available, but will take a canoe if need be. Double kayak - very limited, max 4 possibly per outing d) other boat (rent on your own) (e.g. row boat, electric boat, paddle boat ( see bottom for pricing details) – you are responsible to rent these boats at the boat house, first come, first served – they often max out, so do it early!) (specify) BOATING – TIME I want to go on an organized outing at the following time ( x next to time) 10:30 AM 1:00 PM 3:30 PM 10. I want to play - place an ‘x’ next to your choice Volleyball Frisbee Kite(bring your own) Radio airplane(bring your own) (does anyone have a good volleyball set they can bring? Let me know!) 11. Optional Activity – place an ‘x’ next to your choice I would like to do one of the following optional activities – I realize I must bring/transport my own gear/equipment Rollerblading Fishing Biking Mountain Biking Finally, here are the prices for the optional rental boats—you need to rent these directly at the boat house in the park, and its first come, first served—they often run out early in the day... Electric Motor Boat $50 per day Pedal Boat - $10 per hour, $16 if 4 people, Row Boat - $35 per day |
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