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I guess I'm in what you'd call the "central" zone of California.  I'm in a town called Oakhurst in the foothills just south of Yosemite NP. We meet once a month (second Saturday 9am) in Mariposa at Bob Ringrose's place. You can message me here for details.

You can also find us at some of the local Museum's, Mariposa History Center, Fresno Flats Historical Park in Oakhurst and Coarsegold Museum.

My shop at home has a full setup and I sometime announce a hammer in day on my FB page. Forge has been cold lately since I've had another long term project going. Also I'm currently in Tucson Arizona getting ready to attend WWWC4 ( it's a steampunk convention). 

I do plan on being at the CBA Spring Convention in Hollister. I'm bringing a truck and trailer load of German and English anvils, about 5,000 pounds worth and some cones, post drills, tongs, hammers and stuff!

 

I'm not familiar with the location, so apply salt as necessary here

they typically provide tools as much as they are able, but if you have a simple kit of tools you can bring along with you, you won't need to borrow anything or work with unfamiliar gear.  Plus if tools are short relative to attendance and you BYO, then someone who is less well equipped can use the house gear instead.

 

as for heavy gear, anvils, forges, and vises, you can try contacting the organizers and offering to bring them if needed.

 

i did read that there will be a forging competition(s), and the theme/task will be revealed about a month in advance, so stay tuned

 

cant help ya on the camping stuff though, sorry, were it me and it wasn't a space issue I would just bring the tarps anyway, and if they stay I the car then it's one less thing to take down and pack away afterwards!  I'd call the venue/grounds and ask about the fire situation.

 

please take lots of pictures of the demos and happenings, I'm going to have to live this vicariously through you guys!