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Photos​

  • BACONFEST 2024 @ Interstate Wisconsin S.P.  Upload your photos from the weekend to this shared Google Photos folder.     CLICK HERE

  • BACONFEST 2023@ Potawatomi S.P.      CLICK HERE

  • BACONFEST 2022@ Nelson Dewey S.P.      CLICK HERE

  • BACONFEST 2021 @ Lake Wissota S.P.     CLICK HERE

  • ​BACONFEST 2020 - Cancelled.  Stupid Worldwide Pandemic.  

  • ​BACONFEST 2019 @ Devil's Lake S.P.     CLICK HERE

  • ​BACONFEST 2018 @ Lake Kegonsa S.P.     CLICK HERE

  • ​BACONFEST 2017 @ Hartman Creek S.P.     CLICK HERE

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7th Annual BACONFEST 2023 Trip Report @ Potawatomi S.P.

Held May 19- 21, 2023 at group site #A with 16 attendees (14 adults, 1 youth and 1 kid) plus two puppies and two cats.  Six newbies and 10 returners.   Campers were mostly from Wisconsin and one from Illinois.  The site had a few trees for hammocks, but was very large and sunny.  It was the 2nd year of stand-only hang.  Plenty of parking too.  It was a gorgeous site and had one of the newer grates for cooking.  View the site here:(Karla - add video)

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Weather

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The winning dishes

  • Savory winner: Anna's Jalapeno Deviled Eggs

  • Sweet winner: Scott's Maple Bacon Caramel Apple Rhubarb Crisp

  • Honorable mention:  Tumbleweed's Bacon Crack Candy

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Saturday activities:

We drove up to the Eastern Terminus of the Ice Age Trail and took selfies at the station.  Many hiked the three miles back to camp, others drove back and stopped at other points in the park.  Don went fishing with mixed results. 

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Things to note:

- 1st time a daugher & father won food catagories 

- Everyone received the same door prize - a water hammock

- 1st time Karla called the police on noisy neighbors

- Youngest camper was eight and oldest was (insert)

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6th Annual BACONFEST 2022 Trip Report @ Nelson Dewey S.P.

Held May 20 - 23, 2022 at group site #98 with 14 attendees.  While our group site only had one triangle of trees for hammocks, the LARGE pavilion with electricity made up for it.  Once we were able to turn off the overhead lamp, this site was great for sleeping.  There wasn't a parking lot so we could pull up on the grass and could set up right next to our vehicle.  View the site here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2aNLMIdh3o

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Weather

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The winning dishes

  • Savory winner: Franklin's Deep fried bacon wontons

  • Sweet winner: The Sisters's Old Fashioneds

  • Honorable mention: MetalMan's Bacon Carrot Cake

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Saturday activities:

We caught the first trip of The Pride of Cassville Ferry and floated across to Iowa.  The ferry connects two National scenic byways and is unique with its push-button call feature.  Each trip across the Might Mississippi takes about 15-20 minutes.  

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Things to note:

- On Friday night for dessert, we had Root Beer floats.  A first for our hang.

- 1st time a duo submitted a food item and both co-won the award

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5th Annual BACONFEST 2021 Trip Report @ Lake Wissota S.P.

Group site #2 at LWSP is the best group site in the state.  It was so perfect for us.  Plenty of trees, a huge pavilion with electricity, multiple firepits, and plenty of picnic tables.  No RVs or pop-ups were allowed again this year.  View the site here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfGRiqTOBLY

Weather

  • Thursday - Rain. 

  • Friday -  76°/66°

  • Saturday-  83°/66°.  Very humid.  Not as hot as predicted though, so we felt lucky.

 

Our winning dishes were:

  • Savory winner: Car Camper, Noah - 

  • Sweet winner: Tumbleweed

  • Honorable mention: Minnesota Matt

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Saturday activities:

Leinenkugel tour in Chippewa Falls

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Things to note:

- Friday night Birthday Bash with cake

- 1st time honorable mention award was given

- 1st time vinyl stickers were handed out

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4th Annual BACONFEST 2020 Trip Report - Covid Cancelled 

When Wisconsin State Parks were closed for camping through May, the site was rebooked for June in hopes the pandemic would be short-lived.  It was for not and group sites remained closed during  2020.  The same site was rebooked for 2021.   

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3rd Annual BACONFEST 2019 Trip Report @ Devil's Lake S.P.​

Devil's Lake State Park- group site #3 was a perfect size to accommodate our hammock and tent campers.  No RVs or pop-ups were allowed again this year.  Thunderstorms and small hail were in the forecast and we only had a couple people back out due to the weather.

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We avoided hail and had brief thunderstorms each night. On & off again rain all day, but we were able to enjoy a campfire both nights. 
Fri: 65/45
Sat: 58/ 42

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A large tarp, a pop up canopy and a large tent provided enough space to keep dry.
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On Saturday, we hiked up the West Bluff trail and encountered rain the entire time.  The spectacular views during a rain storm are a bit less impressive and made for a slippery hike on the steep rock stairs.  Our traveling BLT lunch was quite a success and we easily could do future BLT lunches on the go.
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Unfortunately, we had nursery of raccoons visit our site. We think there were 8 of them. These critters were not afraid to come within feet of us. They got into Scott's cooler and tested his bacon bite entry. Then they clawed/chewed through Franklin's vinyl truck cover to get at the trash. Yikes!
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Our two winning dishes were:
Savory winner: K-Squared's Asian Cucumber bacon bites 
Sweet winner: Amy's Coffee Caramel Bacon Chocolate Bark bites

Both of these women received a one-of-a-kind bacon double ended stuff-sack and ridgeline organizer by Dutch!
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Despite what could have been a horrific weather weekend, turned out to be "not that bad". Our group of 16 were a delight and two people got to try out a hammock for the first time and are now hammock converts
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2nd Annual BACONFEST 2018  Trip Report @ Lake Kegonsa State Park
​Since this event was announced on HF, CampingForums, HH, on five different meetup groups and five different FaceBook groups, Host Karla "with a k" decided to try using a central website rather than have information spread across the multiple social media sites and discussion forums. I still haven't found a good discussion forums for all. The wix.com discussion section hasn't been utilized much. 
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This is the 2nd Annual BACONFEST camping weekend.  May 18-20, 2018

There were 13 in attendance. About half HF members and half Facebook/ Meetup people. 8 hammockers, 3 tenters, & 2 pop-upers. 11 adults & 2 youth

We were at Lake Kegonsa State Park - group site B. It has a pavilion and since we experienced rain both evenings and Sunday morning, it was awesome to have. Unfortunately, there is no parking for RVs or pop-ups and there were a few who attended last year who didn't this year because of that. I'd guess there are only about 10 spots for hammocks to hang. We felt like we maxed the space out with 8.

Weather:
Friday: High= 76 Low = 50. Rain started around 9pm and was steady all night
Saturday: High = 75 Low = 55. Rain started around 11pm and was intermittent all night with some lightening and thunder. Steady into Sunday morning. 

Meals:

Friday night - Pudgie Pie Pizzas. New this year and has been requested again next year.
Saturday morning - Eggs, bacon, and other tasty breakfast goodies 
Saturday lunch - BLTs (Canoeski's favorite)
Saturday dinner - Bacon Bite Night! Sweet and Savory
Sunday breakfast - Pancakes, Canadian bacon and other tasty breakfast goodies (fruit, muffins, bagels, etc).  Canadian bacon has been requested to have every year for Sunday breakfast as a nice shake up to all the bacon consumed the night before.
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2018 Best Sweet Bacon Bite Winner: John & Jocelyn's Bacon Wrapped Maple Chicken
2018 Best Savory Bacon Bite Winner: Canoeski's Bacon Bourbon Baked Apples  (2nd year in a row winning this award)

 

 

 

1st ever BACONFEST 2017 Trip Report @  Hartman Creek State Park

BACONFEST: May 19-21 at Hartman Creek State Park in Waupaca, Wisconsin.
Stayed at Group site #4 - after seeing all the group sites, this one is the best for hammocking.
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5 pounds of bacon consumed on Friday night.
5 pounds on sat. Bkft. 
3 pounds for lunch and snacks
6 pounds for dinner & desserts
6 pounds Sunday breakfast 

25 total pounds of bacon for 12 people

2.08 pounds per person consumed (unsure if that is "good" or "bad" - maybe both)
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This event was listed on four camping meetup.com groups and on hammockforums.net. There were 12 in attendance. Half hammocking and the other half were tenters or pop-up campers. The non-hammockers are not interesting in trying out hammocking and look to attend a future hang!

Weather: Thunderstorms were scheduled for all day on Saturday. Actually, Friday night was clear and rain didn't start until about noon on Saturday. It drizzled all day and evening. Cloudy/ Party sunny skies greeted up on Sunday morning. Friday: 54/39 and Saturday: 56/43
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2017 Best Sweet Bacon Bite Winner: Hanging Tuna's Bacon in a Blanket
2017 Best Savory Bacon Bite Winner: Canoeski's Bacon Bourbon Baked Apples

 

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Feedback from 2017: This date is hard because it's squeezed between Mother's Day and Memorial Day. Everyone else is scheduling events for the same weekend. Many graduations and parties, pug-fests, and craft shows compete for attention. However, since Karla "with a k" organizes it around her birthday weekend, we are stuck with it until someone convinces her differently. General consensus was it was a super fun weekend and would attend next year if another BACONFEST was scheduled. 

- There was SO much food! Bacon Bite Night is really just one bite per person and there was WAY more than that. No one really complained about too much food though. It would be nice to have more fruit and vegetables. Maybe a salad lunch with hot bacon dressing next year? 

- Many pre-cooked their bacon and meals turned out to be super fast and simple. No one was fighting over grate space (and there was very little to begin with).

- There were enough tarps and pop-up canopies overhead that the rain wasn't all that bad. Everyone was able to stay dry and pleasant. (Although we won't speak about Karla "with a k" sock mishap.)

- Raccoons at this park are notorious! Other than having our trash raided; (which we stupidly left out) animals were not an issue.

- The site and campground are perfect for group hang, however, since DaShack is just 25 minutes down the road, some felt another location would be nice for the majority of hangers. Karla "with a k" will be looking for other options.

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