BCCC Family Camping
Group trip
Our stay at the BCCC was wonderful. It started with us being pleasantly surprised by inside of the boxcar - there was a double sized air mattress blown up and a twin sized raised sleeping platform. Since it was August, we decided to sleep inside rather than pitching the tent. My husband and I slept put linens we brought on the double mattress and inflated a twin we brought for my son for the sleeping platform. Unfortunately, that ended up not working long term for us because my child was spooked by sleeping in the boxcar due to bugs, etc. So we ended up pitching tent which I shared with my son for the last four nights of our stay. My husband happily slept all nights inside the boxcar and the AC. I ran an extension cord from outlet on porch to tent for the fan I brought from home, and it was surprisingly comfortable for sleeping overnight.
There was a firering at the boxcar that we used for cooking in addition to the hotplate. The mini fridge and cupboard space were also great because I was able to set up canned goods on shelves, thin out the food in the ice chest and leave dry goods like bread in the tote (protected from bugs). The result was not having to dig around for supplies during the trip. We all could find our gear which cut down on the "Mom, where is ......" questions.
The porch of boxcar is covered with a boxfan installed near ceiling for circulation. It also has chairs and large table. I was so happy with the porch and didn't bother unpacking the folding table I brought from home.
Last comments on the boxcar itself is there is a hose which we used for super cold but effective showers.
The property itself was amazing. As previous reviewers shared, there is poison ivy on the property, so make sure to bring closed toes shoes. There are several additional campsites and access to the stream across a footbridge. So, you can either camp at boxcar itself like we did or go deeper into woods and have a more primitive experience. The sites past the footbridge do have some trash issues from prior campers and the defunct kayak business. However, the kayak business trash piles are all together by an abandoned bathhouse, so the entire property isn't trashed. I just don't want to give impression of pristine property. And make sure to keep eye on children and animals if they wander toward the abandoned bathhouse.
Now to the best part of the trip - the stream. My husband at first despaired of finding it clear as promised. He thought the boggy water near the boxcar was the stream, but that is NOT the case. We found the stream the first time by following the path over the footbridge till it ends at the trestle bridge. There is a clear footpath down the hill to the stream. The next day, my husband found a shortcut to the stream by the bathhouse. It isn't as clear and is hard to explain, but saved us time getting to our desired spot on stream. There is what looks like a road by the bathhouse on the right. Then as you stand where that road connects to the path, your can look into woods and see a tiny bridge which is about two feet long. Go across small bridge, then go straight ahead and follow sound of creek. This shortcut allowed us to not navigate the area by the trestle bridge which were hard to wade with a kid, dog and supplies. Once at the stream, we followed it down to find our favorite beach area. I will post pictures. It had a lovely combination of a rippled current, a few deeper pools for splashing, sandy areas and lots of pebbles for rock and fossil hunting. We hung up our hammock and set up camp chairs to relax. Make sure to wear river shoes, not water sandals. I thought water sandals would suffice, but the rocks are small and wading becomes very annoying when rocks get stuck in the sandal. And the water is incredibly cold. My dog LOVES the water so after the first day at stream, we had to bring leash to enforce warm up periods for her.
We also brought bucket, goggles and sifter for my son. And yes, the water is clear enough for the goggles. He had an absolute blast. He celebrated his birthday while we were at the BCCC and said it was the best birthday ever. For perspective, the BCCC beat out the beach last year. We thought because of COVID, our summer 2020 vacation would be ruined, but BCCC saved it and we are all so incredibly grateful.