BigJasoni

The one near Cheatham Grove is Grizzly Creek State Park. They have 28 sites in the park and it's where I went camping constantly as a kid. There's others in the area, but Cheatham Grove is technically part of Grizzly Creek. Like Mickey, if we make the trip, we'll be staying in a hotel. My wife is making plans for the Bear River Casino and Resort. My mom lives in a 1 bathroom 900 square foot home, so packing in my family of four may be a disaster.

Absolutely understand; that's why I posted the info about the film commission to begin with. My family and I are working on a solution, but we'll know more after I finish our taxes. Lol. Since everything's going on back home, we're trying to figure out a way to turn a one day photo shoot into a ten day mini-vacation visiting family. We'll see what happens, but this just gets cooler and cooler every time I think about it. I'll let you guys know as other stuff pans out. On a separate note, I've been turned onto a great non-profit organization out there that is well respected throughout the community. I'm doing a little more research, but their mission sounds solid. https://wildsoulsranch.org/

Ugh... of all times to be living on the East Coast. I'll continue talking to my contacts in the local area and helping as much as possible, but actually making the trip is going to depend entirely on the price of flights and logistics. Unfortunately, it looks like my kids will still be in school that week, so I'll start figuring stuff out. Of course, I can't simply go out there for one day so who knows.

All, I haven’t posted in a couple weeks, but my friend forwarded an article to me from the local paper. It kind of echoes my thoughts about involving local media. Here’s my quote, and then the shared article: https://wildrivers.lostcoastoutpost.com/2023/jan/27/we-are-endor-film-commission-launches-survey-retur/ Lol. The Lost Coast Outpost.. I called that one. So, looks like there’s some local events planned and they’re tentatively slated for the first week in June. However, as I discussed previously, the bulk of the Endor scenes were filmed up north near the Oregon border and it looks like that’s where they’re going to do some of the “festivities.” However, the most notable scenes, I.e. speeder bike/ Scout Trooper stardom, was in Cheatham Grove, so local event organizers appear to be trying to figure out a way to involve both counties and hit up both locations. Also, just to clarify one of my earlier comments, the article mentions the clear cutting Mickey mentioned, but the locations filmed in the state parks are still there and well preserved (though none of the set pieces remain). 😆 So, I kind of knew the local media wouldn’t let any ROTJ events go unnoticed; this was one of the biggest things to ever hit our little piece of the world. Now might be the perfect time to start reaching out to the people/ organizations cited in the writing.

All, it's been a couple days, so I just wanted to post a few items and answer some of Mickey's questions from last Friday. 1. Date: I'll jump in the pool and encourage you all to do the same. 2. Logistics: Closest Airport is the Eureka/ Arcata (ACV) Regional Airport. It's tiny. My experience with the airport is that half the flights leaving early in the morning are delayed due to heavy fog. However, I flew out a few months ago and had no issues. The servicing major airports are San Francisco, Los Angeles and Denver, so be prepared for a layover if you're flying from anywhere else. I said it previously, but I really enjoy the drive from San Francisco, so that's an option also. 3. Accomodations: The nearest town to Cheatham Grove is Fortuna which is approximately 20 minutes away. When you search online, Carlotta is listed as the nearest town, but Carlotta is nothing more than a post office, a couple farms, and two abandoned mills; nowhere to stay unless you want to camp. Camping at Grizzly Creek is pretty good, but as I stated previously, it's not glamorous. If you're looking for a hotel, I would suggest the Comfort Inn & Suites, Best Western Country Inn, Super 8, and the Redwood Fortuna Riverwalk Hotel. All four of these are located alongside the Eel River in Fortuna and are next to the Eel River Brewing Company which is a pretty good restaurant. There's a handful of other good restaurants in town, but if I get my vote, I'm pigging out at Round Table Pizza. Lol... the stupid things you miss when you live on the East Coast. There's also the Bear River Casino Resort which is just a couple miles north of Fortuna. It's pretty much the newest thing in the area and definitely the nicest hotel. If you're feeling nostalgic, the Victorian Villiage of Ferndale has a few historical places. I wouldn't advise anyone to stay in Eureka. 4. The meeting spot: I would advise meeting up at Grizzly Creek and then journeying over to Cheatham Grove together. The Grove is a 6 minute drive, but honestly, there's only enough room for a handful of cars to park. Here's a pic of the parking area: So another option would be to drop off boxes at the parking area with some "guards" and then start shuttling everyone over. This is honestly going to be the trickiest part of the day. 5. Local Organizations: I don't think notification is necessary, but I'm sure it would be welcome. The Grizzly Creek State Park has group sites available which can be reserved 6 months prior to arrival. I just ran a generic check for June 2-3 and they have a site available. They have contact information available on their site, but I'm not sure if the park is fully staffed or not. When I went there back in October, we just dropped our day use payment in the drop box and put the little card in the window of our car. The park gets a lot of use from organizations, i.e. cub scouts etc. so they're used to large groups coming in. There's other camp grounds in the area, but not as close as Grizzly Creek. I like Humboldt Redwoods State Park which is in the Avenue of the Giants, which is where there were a lot of "Star Wars sightings" when I was younger. The local rumor was that they shot scenes in the Avenue of the Giants, but preferred the ones from Cheatham Grove. Avenue of the Giants is pretty awesome though; lots of touristy places, a few "greasy spoon" restaurants, and a Hobbit walking trail. Lol. The local news organizations would absolutely love notification of this trip. My guess is that the trip would be featured in the Lost Coast Outpost which is like the local source of information that everyone out there loves. I think the GGG should really take the lead on this since it is their turf... 5.5 hours north of San Francisco, but still their jurisdiction. I'm very happy to lend a hand since it was my home, but we're still trying to determine if we'll be able to make the trip from Virginia. 6. Charity: I'm asking around on this one. At it's heart, this is a logging community, so we may want to donate to an organization that has good community support. Every timber worker I know considers their self a responsible steward of the land's natural resources, but there's others who see it much differently. I'd hate to go in thinking we're donating to a great cause, but then find out that 75% of the local community think we're there to protest. I know that sounds silly, but these are the complaints I've heard my entire life. Not a bad suggestion at all, but we definitely need to do some research. 7. Merch: See above comment, but if we were to do a patch, it would immediately be put in a place of honor amongst my collection; even if I can't make the trip. 8. Props: You guys got this one. Honestly though, if you don't feel like making the drive, the area has the most perfect natural props in existence. 9. Other Invitees: I would love to see TKs and anyone from the Battle of Endor included. Selfishly, I don't think I'll be able to finish a Scout in time, but I'll have the TK on standby waiting to go. I would also love to announce this to my buddies in the FISD; I'm sure we'd see good support. Lastly, my family and best childhood friend still live there. My buddy is an "amateur" photographer and graphic artist that said he'd love to do pictures for us if he gets time off from work. I told him that as we continue planning I'll keep him informed, but his work is absolutely insane. As long as we do this on a weekend, he should be able to support and put some stuff together that'll blow our collective minds. Just a thought. I hope this all helps.

The two major events in the Fortuna area each summer are the Rodeo and AutoXpo Car Show; both take place in July. Unless you’re a rodeo or car fan, you don’t want to be anywhere around the area when either are in town; the population of the area swells to crazy proportions and every hotel and camp ground gets overrun. In June, everyone in the area is just prepping for the rodeo, so it’s pretty calm. The weather is also great during that time and we haven’t reached the peak months of the fire season. The Ship Ashore Resort (motel) is way up there in Smith River and yes it’s closed. For those interested in making the trip up the coast to the Jedediah State Park, I’m sure you can swing by and look, but there’s not much to see. Smith River isn’t exactly known for tourism, but there is a casino/hotel there if you’re interested.

Thanks Mickey! I'll head over there to help out.

Jason, I'd be interested in knowing where you grew up? You know that's a small community. I was in Scouts also; I wouldn't be surprised if we crossed the same path.

Lol. Well, I always tell people I grew up in "the middle of nowhere," but there is civilization around for those wondering. So, just as a little background, I was born and raised in the town of Fortuna, CA back when ROTJ was being filmed. Of course, I was a youngling back then, but me and my friends were old enough to tell some 'tall tales' about seeing Luke Skywalker at Safeway and finding Ewok remnants out in the woods. Regardless, there were a few areas that were used for filming. Some scenes were filmed about 90 minutes north of my hometown by the Oregon boarder, but those areas aren't as well known as the speeder bike scenes. Fortunately, both areas are in state parks, so neither were clear cut, but since the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park was closely guarded during filming, pin-pointing the actual location isn't as simple as the speeder bike scene. However, if you search around, you'll find resources similar to this: Additionally, if state park staff is present (which they rarely are anymore), they'll give you directions to the location. Now, if anyone wanted to make the trip and take a walk through the tree canopy, you can visit the Trees of Mystery Park in Klamath, CA. Here's a few pictures from when I visited the park back in September: Pretty easy to find the Trees of Mystery. Here's the landmark at the entrance. There's also a nice "tourist trap" gift store where you can buy clothes, wooden trinkets, redwood saplings and snacks. Klamath is about an hour north of where we were talking about doing the photo shoot, but it's a fun place to go see. Of note, it costs $25 for all-day access to the park, but even after spending my entire childhood out there, I still find it worth the price of admission. Keep in mind that Klamath is indeed "out in the middle of nowhere," but as you travel up Highway 101, you'll get amazing views of the Pacific Ocean and have several opportunities to visit other state parks and venues. Also, if peeps don't feel like traveling that far north, but still want to walk through the tree canopy, you can do the Redwood Skywalk up in Eureka: https://www.redwoodskywalk.com/ For those planning on visiting/ driving, it's actually closer to 5 hours north of San Francisco, so please plan accordingly. The trip from SF to Fortuna is incredible though, I've driven it hundreds of times and I love it even more now that I'm older. For those who want to fly into the area, look for flights into the Eureka/ Arcata airport. Fortuna is about 15 minutes south of Eureka and 30 minutes south of the airport. By the way, I keep mentioning Fortuna because it's the closest town to Cheatham Grove which is where the speeder bike scenes were filmed. There's a few hotels in Fortuna and a bunch of places to eat/ gather. However, the other option would be camping at Grizzly Creek State Park. Grizzly Creek is a typical state park campground, so you'll have access to restrooms and showers, but don't expect much; they're essentially glorified porta-potties. Camping is a fun option however and the main campground is about 3 minutes down the road from Cheatham Grove. https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=421 With all that said, here's a few pics of the campground: But most importantly, here's pics of the grove: So as you can tell, there's plenty of opportunities for an awesome shoot. Here's a short video I shot of the speeder bike path: https://youtube.com/shorts/OQAGk2rY8sk?feature=share Absolutely! I hope this post helps gain interest. Hopefully I'll be able to make the trip, but if not, I'll be more than happy to help out however I can.

That makes total sense. Thanks guys. Justin, I'm sending you a DM.

Hey all. I haven't posted in the Pathfinder's forum for a while, so wanted to chime in. 😆 Do we have any other "like item" sources for the shin armor? I've read the posts that say it appears to be a new piece, but I can't tell if it's the same as other shins we've seen, but with different greeblies, or if it's entirely new. Thanks!

Jeff, I just got done going through your thread again and I'm not sure why I didn't catch this last month. Which pattern are you using for the Jodhpurs and where did you find it? I was planning on making mine as well. All my searches come back with the Butterick 6340 Men's Riding Suit Pattern which I've seen on Etsy, but that's really about it. Have you started these yet? Thanks!

Jeff, Sounds good. I'll hit you up when I finally get around to this. Also, have fun with the resin printer. I'll be picking one up next month, I'm just trying to decide which one. I've been tossed between the Elegoo and the Phrozen Sonic Mini 4K. However, I really want to get one before I start this project. Also, I really like how you backed the abdominal seams, it's similar to what I did with my "flex plates" on the ROTK, but this looks much better/ stronger. Great job on the glue analysis! Finally, did you scale the belt to match the abdominal? I know we've discussed this before on another thread, but I really struggled with the sizing of the 3d printed belt last time. Anyways, I'm looking forward to seeing your work in progress.

Jeff, You've inspired me again; I see a Shoretrooper in my future. Also, I really need to make a vacuum forming table; either that or I'm going to have to hit you up for a lens. Regarding the abdominal section did you scale it at all and if so, what did you do with the belt? I ask because I think we're about the same size and I'm trying to avoid some of the hurdles I encountered with the ROTK. Thanks, and awesome job!