MOSQUITO LAKE Some people go camping no matter the season

The campground is open all year, and some take advantage.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
BAZETTA -- Soggy ground, blowing rain, overcast skies and a nylon tent.
"We're hard-core," said Jim Bring, 39, of Lorain standing under a tarp, freshly erected to cover a picnic table in Mosquito Lake State Park's campground, surrounded by tool boxes filled with silverware and spices and plastic chests of food.
In a few months, the campground will be bustling with activity, filled with campers and monitored by park rangers.
The last weekend in March, however, the campgrounds are an empty windblown field, with rain-slicked asphalt paths and ditches full of water.
At one end, a pair of retirees in town for a senior bowlin`g tournament move a bus-size RV around a few parking spaces.
At the other, Bring and two friends from Lorain hang tarps, sweep out tents, lay down cots and roast balogna over a collapsible fire pit. They expected to be joined by three more men by Friday evening, when they planned to throw a turkey into a gas-powered fryer.
That's nothing compared with their annual fall camp-out, men only, with a steamer full of clams, crab legs and lobster.
"The kids don't like to go because it is too cold," said Dave Williams, 37, sitting back under a kitchen tarp with four coolers, a portable sink and minifridge.
Their setup
The whole setup collapses to fit into a small trailer, kept ever-ready for camping in Williams' garage.
The sink hangs off the side of the trailer, set in a sheet of plywood that doubles as a cutting board.
"We didn't get too carried away with Formica and all that stuff," Williams said.
About 10 times a year, the men hitch up the trailer and head to a state park. They run electric heaters from campground hookups on the coldest nights.
Andy Syrowski, a 51-year-old worker at U.S. Steel, said he brought his but didn't think he would need it. Friday afternoon he was expertly swathing an old canvas tent with blue poly tarps, wearing only a camouflaged T-shirt to ward off the rain.
He pulled two cots out of his truck for expected guests. Syrowski said he was more comfortable sleeping on the floor of the tent, pitched on asphalt. He said he loved to camp, to see hawks and to be away from the television.
His children are grown -- the two boys made Eagle Scout -- and he said his wife doesn't mind his going for the weekend.
"My wife, she knows I enjoy it," he said.
siff@vindy.com