New backpacking friends

[Eric Blumensaadt]

This morning I was on a 8.5 mile hike on a newly built trail in Henderson, NV (southern 'burb of 'Vegas) and met a backpacking couple. We exchanged e-mails and phone numbers and are arranging a get-together at my house this month.

It will be a UL gear show-and-tell. OOOO! Plus some BBQ'd tri tips, sweet corn, salad and craft beer or wine.

I guess I really look forward to this because the conversation will be as good as the food and the company. Plus we can all learn from each other.

And then there are the trips we'll likely take together. Icing on the backpacking cake.

Do you look forward to making new backpacking friends and getting together with long time BP'ing freinds as much as I do?

[Stephen M]

I have met 4 people from Bpl that I see every couple of months for trips, and a buddy is getting well in to it also.

Happy days.

[Ken Thompson]

The GGG sprouts a new crop every year. Some have become treasured friends. It's great!

[USA Duane Hall]

I've had invites to go bping from a few folks here, nothing has materialized. The last bpers I met were thru a younger guy who I had met about 3-4 years ago, I had bped with his then girlfriend a number of times thru our NorthCA group, they were his friends/roommates, so I don't see them often. I'm up here in the mountains, everyone I have done trips with live down in the valley or bigger city. My closer friend and I look like we'll do a motorcycle camping trip once a month, so that will get me out with someone. I met a few bpl guys in the Winds two years ago.
Duane

[Nick Gatel]

"Do you look forward to making new backpacking friends and getting together with long time BP'ing freinds as much as I do?"

No, not really. Rather backpack by myself. Couple of exceptions… after a couple years of bantering with Wisner on Chaff, we did a hike together. He is my only real backpacking friend, and we do maybe one trip a year together.

Last week I flew cross country to have dinner with the Idester. He is now on my backpacking friend list. Hoping to go back to Maryland and do a trip.

There are only a couple of other people I would/have backpacked with.

My best hiking friend is my wife, but she isn't interested in sleeping on the ground, so we limit our trips to day hikes, which is great fun.

;)

[Ken Thompson]

Duane. It has been six years since we met. Haven't looked at the NorCal group page since the big facebook migration a few years ago. It is harder to come up with partners living in the sticks. But living in the sticks is still preferable overall.

[Kevin Babione]

I have a trip coming up on Thursday of this week to do the Black Forest Trail in PA with a guy (and his brother-in-law) that I met through these forums. We haven't yet met face-to-face but I'm really looking forward to shaking his hand at the trailhead.

One more reason I value my BPL membership.

[W I S N E R !]

I've gone backpacking, ultrarunning, and/or shared a fire with all these BPL folk at some point, not including friends of theirs that don't post here:

Nick Gatel
Adan Lopez
Michael Skwarczek
Mike Moore
Jack Haskel
Casey Bowden
Josh Billings (and son)
James Winstead
Eugene Smith
David Thomas
Brian Blair
Greg Gressel
Jacob D.
David W.
Art M.
Rob Lee
Jack Elliot
Kevin Smith
Rob V.

will be adding Tom Kirchner to this list shortly….

Adan, Michael S., and Nick have become good friends and regular partners through the years. I'd say it's a pretty good list for having met through the net!

Good people, all of you! This is the greatest thing I've received through this site.

[W I S N E R !]

Nick and I used to butt heads on these forums quite a bit, mainly over politics. Quite frankly, he'd piss me off quite a bit. I really have no idea how we ended up planning a trip together, but I had a feeling that there was more to him than the arguing we did here online. A few trips later, I've found we probably have far more in common than I would have ever initially thought. I respect Nick; he's an honest and generous man and a great partner in the wilds.

I met Michael S. through these forums (though he doesn't post here anymore). We realized we lived in the same area and met for lunch in Downtown LA. An awkward thing indeed to meet a stranger off the web. I believe this was the first time I had done it. We hit it off quickly, not only as backpacking partners, but as friends. I've shared many a crazy night with Michael and consider him one of my closest friends…met here at BPL.

Michael and I were backpacking and invited Adan out to meet us for the first time. We were sitting by the fire after dark drinking beer when he rolled in. I'm sitting there, beer in hand, shirtless and tattooed, Michael sporting a mohawk and tattoos…
We're wondering if we're going to frighten this guy off.
But no! Another tattooed crazy man! And he brought beer!
The rest is history. Now our kids play together, camp together, surf together, and our adventures keep on rolling. Adan is the #1 homie.

Cheers to all of you.
I'm gonna go wipe this tear from my eye.

[Nick Gatel]

You have tattoos? OMG!

[Mobile Calculator]

…

[Adan Lopez]

Dude, Craig, jarlsberg men don't have tears. Prepare to fall on your Ti stake the next time I see you.

But since we're confessing our Ultralight love, I might as well come out of the closet myself. My first BPL hike was several years ago with total strangers, 3 days in Rae Lakes. It was an amazing trip for me, one that formed lifelong friendships and set the bar for all of my trips since. although i dont get to see these folks often enough, i consider them close personal friends of mine and I look forward to hiking with them every year.

In the years since then, I have had the good fortune of going on many more memorable trips with BPL people. Everything from quick overnights in my local backcountry, to the GGG, to 80-mile Sierra hikes, to ultras in the desert. The connections I've made with various people during these experiences have had a huge impact on me. I've rolled in the dirt laughing and I've put my arm around a friend in need. I've spurred on a friend when they struggled to continue, and I've been inspired to push on when my own body threatened to quit. I've shared a silent Zen-walk through paradise with one, and whooped and howled with outspread arms across wind swept ridges with another.

Then there's Craig, the only mofo still up with me, enjoying nature by drinking chupacabras piss around the fire and swinging butt-naked from the trees, talkin' about gettin' up extra early and gettin' our 18 miles in before the hangover sets in. Dude is solid. And no, that's not a tear, I just got some campfire smoke in my eyes.

[Kattt]

I enjoy backpacking with people I have met on PBL, very much so.
Just had a quick solo overnight a few miles into Rancho del Oso, Big Basin. Had a nice peaceful time. But I have a lot of solo peaceful time in the woods and sharing a beautiful place with friends is very nice.
The true loners that find their peace in the woods all alone tend to not even talk about it.

[Casey Bowden]

What did you two do before you met each other? Are your wives jealous?

[USA Duane Hall]

Ken, it is nice living in the sticks. Long time ago while working at the convenience store, I had a guy tell me I needed to move to the city, get a good paying job so that when I retired I could live in the country. Huh? Why not make less money and still live in small communities or the mountains? No traffic, the woods are a five minute walk out my door, I have a creek running thru my property, wild animals feeding in my garden. Argh!
Yep, FB split the group up and it will not recover, I still do some trips with them by special invite, passed on the Lost Coast last month.
Duane

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Well these were all interesting and sometimes touching (or strange) stories.

Craig and Adan, you guys are certifiable, which in my book makes you good candidates for backpacking buds.

My backpacking buddy from years past has rheumatiod arthritis so bad he can no longer even day hike. Now that really does make a tear in my beer.

BTW, I never expected so much response on this topic.
It goes to show that the saying "Friends are the chocolate chips in the cookie of life" really is true.

[Peter S]

Kindle Paperwhite – we get along great!

[Author]

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