Gathland water war (formerly 2009 DC water war)

[SSCBen]

The event has been canceled due to a lack of interest

When:

May 23 at about 10 am to 5 pm

Where:

Gathland State Park, which is located at the intersection of Gapland road and Arnoldstown road near Burkittsville, Maryland.

Note that the road is called Gapland road which is spelled differently from Gathland.

Facebook event:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=34983439969

Photos of the park:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/gathlandstatepark/

Note that some areas (such as the ruins of Townsend's house) are off limits. Also, a very low traffic road runs through the center of the park and we will stay on one side to avoid being run over.

The terrain is a mixture of forest, open field, and structures. Generally the park is empty aside from resting hikers and the occasional Civil War buff.

Who:

Definite:

Ben + others
M4 + others

Maybe:

Games:

We will play multiple rounds of whatever people want to play.

Food:

As we plan to play nearly all day, you should bring your own food.

Potential complications:

While I know there is water available at the park in some form, I can't remember if it's a hose, a hand pump, a water fountain, or what. I've read pump online which says hand pump to me, which should be more than adequate. I'll check out the park before the war in case the water supply is inadequate. I extremely highly doubt that water supply is inadequate as my Boy Scout troop had a water balloon catapult set up there once, but I acknowledge that it's a possibility.

To help recap and advertise for the next time we like people to bring cameras and video equipment.

[marauder]

Weekends work for me. As of yet the only one off limit for me is June 6th and 7th.

[SSCBen]

I looked a bit more at my schedule and anything before May 21 I can't do. I plan to attend Nerf wars on May 30th and June 20th so those dates are off. I also might want to do a second one of these in July so I'm only looking for dates in May and June.

This leaves us with the following weekend dates:

May 23
May 24
May 31
June 13
June 14
June 21
June 27
June 28

I'll update the first post as dates are eliminated and people note whether they can attend or not. Post if you can definitely attend or maybe can attend. Also post if you plan on bringing anyone and how many you plan to bring.

If the date comes to an arbitrary selection I'll choose an early one to leave room for a second or third war in the area.

There is no planned location at the moment but I'm thinking any park reasonably close to public transportation should be very adequate. The University of Maryland might work too, but I don't know where hoses are located. Perhaps I should scout out some locations.

Once a date and location are chosen I'll make a Facebook event for the more casual crowd. As I recall, last year a Facebook event in the DC area had more than 50 definites.

[marauder]

Nerf war? That would be sweet. I have never been in a Nerf fight with more than 4 people.

I will let you know how things go, as of now all of those days are good for me and my roommate. My brother can't come between the 13th and 21st but would come if it was any of the other dates. I will ask around and see who else wants to go and what dates work for them.

[isoaker]

A water war in DC would be awesome! Sadly, I would only be able to participate in spirit, but reality prevents me from physically attending. Nevertheless, I hope any one here in the local area (or anyone willing travel a little farther) would be willing and able to join!

[DX]

DC is probably out of my range, even if I owned a car. It's 4-5 hours just to Philly. Getting back would be just as problematic with the time factor as getting there. That is unless I get an internship in DC this summer, but I dunno where I'm working or what yet. Other than travel time nightmares, about any of those weekends are free.

[marauder]

Would we be playing in a park, state forest, someone's yard? The environment will determine how I prepare. Any of those would be fun, but if we played in a park I would think twice before getting all army gear-ed out and we'd probably end up having more of a soakfest.

[SSCBen]

Thanks for the interest everyone.

No particular site has been chosen yet. I'm going to scout out some areas. Some sort of public park or state forest/park will be chosen. The site must have adequate parking, be of a certain size, have convenient sources of water, and work with cell phones. Existing structures would make the war more fun. I'll start scouting out areas this weekend.

Due to potential problems I don't intend for the war to actually be in DC, just in the area. There'd be too many people in the way and I don't want the police to get involved because someone might not like water guns.

If it turns out that I won't be living in the DC area this summer I might move the location to Frederick County, where my parents live, but as Frederick County isn't too far away I don't think this will be a problem.

[marauder]

Take some shots of the area if you could. I've got a friend in Frederick who I may have to talk to about coming to this. That would be cool. So far I have 4 possible combatants including myself. I will be talking to a few more people soon.

[SSCBen]

I've given the location some thought and have decided it will be some place in or near Frederick County. Most likely I'll be living at my parents house this summer so this works.

There are many different sites I could choose, but I'm thinking about Gathland State Park. I am reasonably familiar with the park (my Eagle scout project was to place benches on the Appalachian Trail near the park) and the park should provide a good mix of forest, open fields, and structures. There is very adequate parking.

I do not know if I'll need to reserve the park but I'll be looking in to it. Another potential problem is water sources. I'm fairly certain there are some hand pumps on the site as it's meant to be a stop for hikers but I'm not completely sure. Edit: This page mentioned a pump.

Edit: I'm going to make a visit and scout out the area relatively soon so we'll have a yes or no on the site.

[SSCBen]

I have a job in Frederick County now so the war most definitely will be in Frederick County. Gathland works too unless I learn that the water supply is inadequate (and I doubt it is).

How does May 23rd sound?

[marauder]

I know my friend invited me to go to Charleston with him then, and it might be when my family is renting a beach house, I'm not sure. This would take top priority though because I have not had a large water war in 2 years. Hopefully my family isn't renting a beach house then and my brother will be able to come. If this is definite then I will spread the word and see who all will be coming with me.

[SSCBen]

I've updated the first post with detailed specifics of the war.

[marauder]

I am sorry to announce that I will not be able to make it. I am headed ou west for 2 weeks with my good friend Tyler. We are headed to the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, the Rockies, etc. This trip was planned a long time ago, just didn't think it was going to be able to happen until now. I would like to do another war sometime though.

[SSCBen]

That's a shame. I'll test out the site with some friends and we'll see if we can do one later this summer.