BACONFEST 2017 Trip Report

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WI > BACONFEST > Hartman Creek State Park > May 19-21

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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