Campers Ring in the New Year With a Little Wild Life

David Edwards and George Curran, self-described “biker” buddies from Garden Grove, used to ring in the new year by getting rowdy at a local bar.

This year, however, the men decided to hitch their two motor homes and go to Orange County’s O’Neill Regional Park to celebrate.

“We both like to drink and we both like to party, but we don’t want to hurt nobody and we don’t want nobody hurting us,” Edwards said as he, Curran and their wives staked out a campsite Saturday morning under stormy skies.

Dozens of other families pitched tents and parked motor homes at campsites throughout Orange County on Saturday, braving rain and cold temperatures instead of intoxicated drivers and police checkpoints. Many said they chose this unusual way of celebrating New Year’s Eve because they are tired of more traditional festivities and because this is safe.

“It’s just a chance to get away from everything else and still be close to home,” said Jack Walker, 26, of Garden Grove, who was camping with his mother at O’Neill park.

Although campsites at Doheny and San Clemente state beaches were booked Saturday for the New Year’s weekend, Orange County’s three regional camping parks had only moderate to sparse business.

At Doheny State Beach, ranger Paul Schuessler said the park typically fills up for New Year’s with holiday campers visiting family in Orange County. This year, he said, the park’s 120 campsites have been booked solid for 8 weeks.

Tracey Becker, ranger at San Clemente State Beach, said her park’s 56 recreational vehicle hookups were full Saturday, and the remaining 80 campsites were 75% booked.

But at the county’s three regional camping parks, only O’Neill in Trabuco Canyon was busy Saturday. Forty of its 58 campsites were full. Campsites at Featherly Park in Yorba Linda and Ronald W. Caspers Regional Park east of San Juan Capistrano were almost empty, rangers reported.

Because of mountain lion attacks on children at Caspers, children are prohibited from camping overnight there. That, the rain and freezing nighttime temperatures were blamed for the turnout.

But at O’Neill park, Edwards and Curran were planning a big party for Saturday night. Besides their motor homes, the men hauled in a small truckload of firewood as well as plenty of meat and beer.

“If they want to put me in jail for a hangover, they can do that tomorrow,” Edwards, a 41-year-old truck driver, said with a chuckle Saturday as he and Curran unfurled a rain tarp from one of the motor homes.

Park rangers said they didn’t anticipate any trouble from campers celebrating the new year.

“Everybody will blow their party horns for 5 minutes and then they’ll crawl into bed,” Schuessler said.

Other families at O’Neill park anticipated a quiet celebration. Efren Lomeli and his family, for instance, planned only to have a cookout and enjoy the outdoors.

“It is very pretty here,” said Lomeli, 35, a hospital worker from San Clemente. “And it is very close to my home.”

Lomeli and his wife, Concepcion, 34, brought their four children to the park Friday and, with Lomeli’s brother, Juan, camped out in two small tents. Late Saturday morning, Concepcion Lomeli grilled chicken and tamales over an open fire as the other family members huddled together for warmth.

The nights at O’Neill have been so cold that Bill and Tracey Swanson said they returned to their home in Mission Viejo to get mattresses. The Swansons have been camping in the park since before Christmas and planned to go home today.

“We’ve just never done this, so we figured what the heck,” said Bill Swanson, 26, a construction worker on the nearby Rancho Santa Margarita housing development.

Tracey Swanson, 23, a waitress, said the biggest challenge in camping out has been adjusting to the park’s showers, which spew cold water for 10 minutes before dispensing hot water.

Bill Swanson said the family cat, Rusty, also had a difficult adjustment, having lived indoors all of its life. Rusty scuffled Friday night with a wild creature the Swansons could not see and has been staying close to camp since.

At the entrance to O’Neill park, Hazel Lambert was camping alone--to “get away from memories,” she said. Lambert, 63, a divorcee from Garden Grove whose grown children live far away, said she pitched a tent in the park before Christmas to try to escape holiday depression.

“I just prefer to camp out and be with the animals,” Lambert said.

The nightly howling of a pack of coyotes has kept her company.

“I put out some pie crust for them one night,” she said, “and they just had a ball.”