PNW GGG 2016

Sept 16-18th? I’m in!  May not be able to bring Bill, but I’ll be happy to come.

Sounds good to me.

Michael,

Outstanding!  Hopefully Ned will be in tow.

Diane,

Outstanding!  Bill’s humor would be missed but it’ll be great to see you there.

Doug,

Outstanding!  Gratuitous words forming a sentence.

Hope to see the rest of last year’s crew there as well plus some new faces.

Couple thoughts:

This meets some of the criteria we discussed at last year’s PNW-GGG car camping experience.  We’ll get to hike in and people will have a better idea as what gear to bring.

Let’s let this simmer for a couple more weeks to allow for additional input before making an official announcement but so far, location and date seem to be ideal.

Goes without saying (but here I go anyways), but we’ll need to use good judgment on how we set up camp so not to negatively impact the wilderness experience for others who are not part of our group.  I’d like to hike out there ahead of time to get a better idea of how everything is situated so we can come up with a plan for ideal group size and dispersal options.

Those dates sound good to me too! Count me as a probably.

A few notes about the Conrad Meadows/Surprise Lake hike:

I had no problem driving the road to the TH in a Corolla (about half is your standard forest unpaved road, with a few bumps and dips). The TH is in a huge meadow called Conrad Meadows; there was a lot of horse camping in that area. There is a toilet next to the parking. I think some of the areas around the Meadow are private camping areas; I don’t know about whether it’s possible to car camp there, but there are several FS campgrounds off Highway 12 and around Rimrock Lake.

The first few miles go across Conrad Meadows between small forested areas and open meadows. Then it enters a forest and follows a fork of the South Tieton river, so there’s plenty of water. The trail then has a 1+ mile switchback climb up to Surprise Lake, a really pleasant lake but no big views. The whole trail to Surprise Lake is fine for children, just a longer walk than some may want to do, so really take a look at a map. These UTM coordinates on Caltopo are centered on the lake:

10T 0625921E 5147466N

Here’s the map:

Looks like the trail intersects with the forest service road a couple times so I’m not sure where the trail head is.  If it starts where the trail intersects west of Conrad Meadows, it’s about a 4.25 mile hike in.  If it’s east of Conrad Meadows, add another 1.5 miles to that.  At the very least there’s an option to shorten the trip for kids.

Looks pretty flat for the most part with a almost 1000′ climb at the end.

Edit: from re-reading Steven’s post, looks like the TH is east of the Conrad Meadows so we’re looking at a ~ 6.75 mile hike in.

caltopo map with gpx tracks

I put the gpx file at http://www.oregonhikers.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=23418

There’s a gate right at the beginning.  You can’t drive past that.  Maybe a private landowner is allowed to.  The trail sort of parallels the closed road and crosses it a couple times.

There’s a loop at the end.  Either route is equally good.

It’s 6.5 miles and 1300 feet to the east end of Surprise Lake by the shortest route

or 9 miles and 1400 feet by the longer route

I wrote up some more at http://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guide/South_Tieton_Hike

Works for me. I am in.

Great. I’m in

Lots of fun last year, looking forward to seeing everyone.

I’m in.

Hi all,

I haven’t heard any nays yet on the 16th-18th so I’ll create the event in Group Trip Announcements.

Thanks for all the input and site location.

Rod,

Great to hear!  I look forward to seeing you again this year.

Ian

Edit: Here’s the link for the group trip announcement.  Please continue the conversation over there as appropriate.  https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/pnw-ggg-2016/

Is this still a thing?

Ian, geez man. It took me a minute

Lol. Luckily i posted right underneath the link i need. To make the most of my ass- looking

Bump.  Last call.  Please let me know if you’re going to make it either by sending me a PM or by replying.

I’m still in

Still looks good for me.