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Labor day Camping with Czech and Slovak Community at Hurkey Creek-Idyllwild


Dear campers, 
It’s time to make your reservations for Labor Day Weekend 2019 Czech-Slovak Community Camp. Yvonne Masopust is dedicated member of Czech and Slovak community camping tradition which started over 50 years ago at Hume Lake. Yvonne asked me to help organize camping this year again, since she has other commitments. As always, if I can, I'm happy to help, so I agreed.

In the last few year, we were camping at Green Valley (Big Bear) and Hurkey Creek (Idyllwild). Nature is really beautiful at Big Bear, but camp is very small there (we had families who could not join us since limited space camp sites filled out quickly). Also there are no showers available there, and nights were very cold in September.
So for those reasons, majority agreed to camp at "Hurkey Creek campground" with showers, more camping spaces, and a warmer night climate. Many campers have been there already (including me), and majority have positive feed back. Last year, we had over 150 campers plus a few dogs at Hurkey Creek camp ;o) 

We are hoping that more people will be able to participate since campground has bigger site capacity and it is close to both Los Angeles and San Diego, where most of our campers live. 
Unfortunately this means that the camp will be much further for Bay Area campers (San Francisco), however, we’ve had none or very minimal participation from Bay Area in the past several years even when the camp was held at Hume Lake.

 Where:  

Hurkey Creek Campground: has 130 single-family campsites.  The campground is located in the San Jacinto Mountains about 8 miles from the town of Idyllwild and a mile from Lake Hemet. The campground sits among a forest of large pine trees with some sites along Hurkey Creek.  

The restrooms have flush toilets. Showers operate on quarters. Tents and also RVs up to 40 ft. Pet friendly campground.

When:
Friday, August 30 – Monday, September 2, 2019 (Labor Day weekend)
Some of our regular campers who are either self-employed, retired or others could possibly arrive already on Wednesday or Thursday before the long weekend.

Activities:
Recreational opportunities include fishing at nearby Lake Hemet, hiking, biking and wildlife viewing, set among tall pines, sweet smelling cedars and Legendary rocks, bird watching.  The meadow offers a large area for outdoor games (softball, volleyball, etc. – provide your own equipment) or group gatherings. There is one very nice playground for children near the day-use and camping areas.  Hurkey Creek is a beautiful natural seasonal feature of the park. When water is present, campers and guests (including dogs) are welcome to splash and play. The City of Idyllwild has lots to do: shopping, dining, music, art galleries, etc. Horse rental is available at McCall (May 1 to October 30).

How to make reservations:
Each party/family must reserve own individual campsite at Hurkey Creek campground.  If you like to come, please, do not wait and reserve your site now. We really encourage you to make reservations as soon as possible, due to camp site space limits.  Every year, we have LAST minute campers who would like to join us, but unfortunately some of them could not, since camp was already full.   

If you are not sure if you will attend, we recommend you to reserve your campsite now and decide later. It is much easier to cancel your reservation than to try to find a campsite after all of them have already been booked. Cost to cancel is $14 if canceled 14 days or more prior to the arrival. If cancelled 13 days or less prior arrival date, fee is $14+ first night camping fee. But please note, if canceled only 1 or 2 days prior to the arrival date forfeit all charges. Or if you need to cancel later, please, let me know, we could have some people on list waiting for some camp site to open.


Reserve your campsite on website below:  and choose "Hurkey Creek"  (any of available Site 1-130.) My family is on site# 88.
https://rivco.usedirect.com/RivcoSaturnV2/Facilities/AdvanceSearch.aspx

For further questions or if you are having any difficulties to book online, please call Guest Services team at 1-800-234-PARK(7275)

If you are coming, please, let us know following, so we have some idea how many campers to expect. 

-how many children/adults in your group/family?

- campsite # you have reserved?

-what are your camping days?


At the camp, we may have some activities, camp fire with guitars singing, games for children, so we like to know where to come to share info about possible daily activities.

We are truly looking forward to seeing you in camp! It will fun weekend for adults and children as well. 

Thank you, have a lovely day, I hope to hear about you soon. If you any question, please, do not hesitate to ask me.
Sincerely,

Martina Nemecek
MartinaNemecek@gmail.com

Earlier Event: August 12
Summer Art Camp Week 4
Later Event: September 12
Czech School of San Diego enrollment