Forest Camping

I walked through forest camping last year and agree, it was super super crowded, jammed pretty thick with tents. Nice with trees and mulch though. Appeared cars were very close, in field nearby.

I stayed in the forest last year, we got there about 1pm on Thursday and it was already very crowded. We walked around and scouted a spot and put our tarp down. There aren't marked spaces and you could pretty much set up anywhere/anyway. We got to know our neighbors and set up our camp so that we had a "common area" in the middle of out camps big enough to hang out around but not big enough for someone else to set up in between. Pros- shade, close to triangle for latenight and Keller sets, no designated spaces, latenight fun(loud) close parking. Cons- furthest walk on site, loud(fun latenight), no designated spaces(pro & con).
I'll probably be back there this year, but if you aren't coming until Friday or late Thursday I wouldn't reccomend it. I walked through on Saturday and couldn't believe how much it filled out.

Last year it was very packed because a lot of people camped in the forest even though they didn't have a forest pass. I even heard of people who had a forest pass but couldn't find any space.I felt like I wasted money on the very expensive forest pass because everyone around me didn't have one and there was no one to check if people had the right camping pass or any pass at all.

Shortly after the festival Dave did a QnA on lockns Facebook and he said that this forest camping free for all would not happen again and he was going to make sure only people with forest passes will be camping in the forest. Hopefully that's true, and besides all that I think they did a good job setting the forest up for campers.

"Dave," in this case, is Dave Frey. He, along with a gent named Pete Shapiro, put on this little shindig every year. To the best of my knowledge, neither has ever posted here personally, but occasionally we get a back-channel communication.

He put on a FB Q&A after the 2014 fest to air gripes, among other things. You'll have to pardon us, we get so used to talking to the same double handful of regulars in the off-season that we're not always as clear as we probably should be.

Welcome to the forum, btw.

Agreed. No one "in charge" knew anything and worse, they had no way of reaching someone who did. It was wide open--not that we want a bunch of officious rent a cops glaring at everyone but it was closer to bedlam.

I worry that if there were any kind of emergency there would be no way to get help or control--especially last year with the cell phones being blocked (I don't expect that this year). Or for non-emergencies: our bathrooms were destroyed every night; one ran out of water and another, the generator ran out of gas--but no one to tell about it, or keep nasties from continuing to use them.

And I heard from more than one source that there was a good amount of sneak thieves roaming around the camping areas during the shows and late night.

Even at the stage area there was no first aid stand or identifiable person to deal with problems (or drag all the damn chairs and tents away from the stage!)

One problem I noticed in many areas probably caused the issues you all describe, and I would expect them again: the "gatekeepers" appeared to be volunteers, and they had no interest in enforcing any rules or confronting anyone about anything.

They also had little information about anything other than their specific task, and worse, no way to communicate with anyone in charge (and then, the cell phone service for Verizon was blocked, too.) I was trying to talk to one gate guy about an issue when his super came up in a golf cart, and even he had no way to reach anyone, nor did he know anything much.

There was also no "command center" where one could go with questions, issues, problems, etc. and no phone number, either.

Example: some people who set up near me in VIP car camping came all the way through all the gates, check-ins, inspections, had to feel their way to our camping area, and were never issued wrist bands or passes, so had to go all the way back.

The people working the gates to VIP were not very thorough on keeping out non-VIP but it was OK with me when I wanted to bring a friend or two in to hang out; some of my family holed up in my tent without me during the storm. But late, apparently the whole horde went through and destroyed our bathrooms each night.

Not that I want a "police presence" or anything heavy handed like the search situation the first year, but I was really concerned that if there was an emergency or serious incident of any kind, there was no way to even let administration know, much less get help.

I don't recall seeing any kind of first aid or lost and found, either. And someone needs to clear all those damn chairs and tents from the stage area once it gets crowded!

I found one Saturday morning and started a L&F in VIP with it

Get there early Thursday morning and you should be fine. If you wait until later you will have trouble finding a spot in the forest. Don't worry about the lines.