News from around the campfire.

– Harrisburg, Pa. – Two preview hikes will be held prior to the Keystone Trails Association’s (KTA) sixth annual Susquehanna Super Hike & Ultra Trail Run, according to Gant Daily.  These are hikes at a normal, brisk pace to familiarize prospective participants with the course and its challenges, Gant Daily explained.  The first preview hike is June 28. It will be at Pequea Creek Campground and is approximately 12 miles. Gant Daily noted hikers should bring water and lunch. The second preview hike is July 12. It will be at Lock 12 to Otter Creek Campground and is approximately 15 miles. Hikers should meet at Otter Creek Campground at 9 a.m.

– Pennsylvania’s governor, Tom Corbett, wants to balance the budget, in part by leasing state park and forest acreage for gas development. Not so fast, say two former officials for state parks and natural resources departments. The two officials spoke in court on behalf of an environmental group trying to put a stop to the idea.

– Three new one-hour episodes of Extreme RVs will air this Sunday evening, June 15, on the Travel Channel, including a massive toy hauler, a $2 million custom Prevost, and a Sprinter van conversion.

– St. Cloud, Minn. — Pleasureland RV Center owner Dan Pearson has come to the assistance of law enforcement once again, this time footing the bill for a bloodhound that replaces one who used to work for the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office until it died unexpectedly late last year, the St. Cloud Times reported.

– As of June 9, advanced reservations for the Father’s Day weekend (June 13 to 15) were running 5.6 percent ahead of the same period in 2013. A total of 22,150 reservations had been made, representing a total of 56,100 camping nights.

– Anaconda, Mont. — Anaconda Police Chief Tim Barkell said a camper discovered a jawbone Tuesday night at the Warm Springs Creek Campground, Mont., according to NBC Montana.Police and a medical examiner were called to the scene, and also found ribs in the dirt, NBC Montana reported.  Barkell said he believes the site may be an old settler or tribal burial ground. NBC Montana noted the Montana Historical Society has taken over the scene, Barkell said, and will run tests to determine how old the bones are.

– Butte, Mont. — At least seven mobile home owners have been told to leave the KOA in Butte, leaving some who have lived there for years scrambling to find another place, according to The Montana Standard.  Joseph Tice, a new majority owner of the campground off of Kaw Avenue, had a letter distributed to them last week explaining the final conversion of the property to an overnight campground was beginning. He is giving them 90 days to leave, The Montana Standard reported.  Tice said KOA, which oversees the national franchise business, said KOAs are more successful if operated solely as overnight campgrounds so he has decided to stop renting spaces to mobile homes on a monthly basis, The Montana Standard explained.

– Minneapolis, MN — High school carpenters have nearly finished three camper cabins for the new Whitetail Woods Regional Park, and they are on schedule to be trucked out to the park in July, Star Tribune explained.
Over the school year, 41 students came from their high schools to take construction trades classes at Dakota County Technical College, where they built the one-room cabins, according to Star Tribune. Their free labor made the cabins affordable for Dakota County, allowing the county to add the popular overnight getaways as a key draw for the new 425-acre park, set to open in September, Star Tribune reported.

– Campers have discovered what appears to be an ancient elephant skull at Elephant Butte Lake State Park.  “State Parks and other agencies are investigating the find of what appears to be a tusk and skull of a prehistoric elephant,” said State Parks Director Tommy Mutz in a news release from the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department.  The release characterized the find as a possible stegomastodon. According to the University of Nebraska State Museum, which helped in the excavation of a stegomastodon found in Nebraska, the species went extinct around 1.3 million years ago.  Paleontologists at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science are working with State Parks and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation staff to safeguard, investigate and potentially excavate the fossil as soon as possible, the release states.  Campers reported the find to authorities, said Dr. Robert Stokes, State Parks Archaeologist.  “State and federal law prohibit the removal of archeological, paleontological and botanical specimens from Elephant Butte Lake State Park,” Stokes said.  Once the investigation is complete, State Parks will work with other agencies to provide the public with information about the age and type of fossil skull found, the release states.

~News from The Weird~

~ update–Kristian Horn, who used to be a purchasing agent for RV manufacturer Forest River, has been sentenced to three years in prison. An Indiana court found him guilty of stealing company materials and selling them at about a third of their original price. Horn will also be paying restitution.

~ Update on RVers who scooped up a newborn seal pup on a California beach and were making a getaway. Two volunteers from Monterey, California’s Marine Mammal Center got a tip about the seal-napping, gave chase in their BMW and somehow contacted the RV driver by phone. The RVer agreed to stop, and the duo found the seal stashed under a pile of dirty clothes. “Beemer Cruise” is being readied for a future return to the wild. It’s not clear if the RVer will be charged.

~ If Zibby Wilder has her way, you may soon stay at Chillville in an Air-stream. The food-and-wine writer wants to set up five “amenity rich” Air-stream trailers on Walla Walla, Washington’s airport industrial property to form a “glamping” resort complete with a communal gas fire-pit, pétanque courts and picnic tables. No other RVs would be allowed admittance.

~ A man stole a motor-home north of Seattle, Wash., then led several law enforcement agencies on a wild chase for an hour, driving through oncoming traffic then smashing into five cars and two homes in Granite Falls, Wash. The thief abandoned the rig then ran several blocks while shedding his clothes. He barged into a house and when the occupants refused his request for clothing, he took a pair of women’s jeans and a top and ran out of the house into the open arms of police. One person was taken to the hospital with unknown injuries.

~ Petersburg, Ky. – Authorities said an alleged campsite burglar and vandal was arrested Tuesday after he was found face down in Boone County cornfield, FOX 19 reported.
The man, identified as 35-year-old Luthor Robinson, was reportedly wearing shorts taken from the campsite. The shorts were belted with a cable television wire cut from one of the sites, FOX 19 explained.
Authorities told FOX 19 most of the stolen property was recovered, including two guitars, a handgun, two flat screen televisions, a portable boom box and a battery jump box. Damage to the sites included broken windows, kicked in doors, two jet skis sunken and damaged boat controls.

Special thanks to CampingPA.com for supplying these great tidbits of RVing news…

Safe Travels and Happy RVing!