When

Friday, September 20, 2019 at 1:00 PM EDT
-to-
Sunday, September 22, 2019 at 1:00 PM EDT
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Where

jamaica state park, vermont
48 Salmon Hole Ln
Jamaica, NJ 05343

Contact

tom hart

KCCNY Camping at WestFest 2019

DUE TO LOW WATER RELEASE WILL BE 11-3 SAT AND 11 - WATER RUNS OUT SUNDAY (probably 3).
Both are full size sites so we should be able to fit close to the full 16 folks if we want to. I'm pretty sure we stayed in one of these and there were nice flat remnants of the old rail bed that allowed us to spread out a bit more.
We should be tight but comfortable if we don’t have too many big tents and we park most cars in the parking lot which is right out the back of our site. But don't expect a private or wilderness experience.

Any profit the club makes will be used for food for the weekend or put back into the club.
Site is paid thru Monday as they make us register for 3 days and it's nice to not have to clear out of the site before paddling on Sunday.

There are many camping and lodging options in the area but if you are camped here you can park your car all weekend.

We are right by the parking lot so we can limit cars at the site and have most cars park there…again freeing up site space. Officially it’s 2 cars/space but that I hasn’t seen enforced. However, if we do fill up the site we’ll be wanting most folks to keep their cars in the parking lot which is right behind our site.

We will probably do a group breakfasts and join the Merrimack Valley Paddlers for their dinner Saturday night...details will come out days or weeks before the event.

As for the paddling itself it's mainly a 3 mile class 2+ river, though there are some harder lines...difficulty of easy lines slighly harder than Mongaup at 2 barrels.
The park runs a shuttle for traditionally $25/day in which they load boats in 1 truck and people in another and drive you up the rail trail. Even with some lines on Saturday you can paddle a ton with little hassle.

Alternatively you can carry down a huge ACE dam. Below the park there's another 8 miles of river which gradually flattens from easy 2 to fast water to a lake. More details (currently of the 2018 release) on the Jamiaca State Park webpage https://vtstateparks.com/jamaica.html . Campground map at https://vtstateparks.com/assets/pdf/jamaica.pdf

We have sites 33 & 36, the closest sites to the shuttle. Loud in the morning and while we are paddling but great to hop back for gear, etc. Camping may be tight and is for kccny members only ($20 ($25/household) good to all of 2020). Most folks will need to park in the parking area a short walk away. No refunds but space is transferable.