Uniting Hiking trips

I think that's a fine idea, Aaron. I live in the Bay Area, glad to help. We also have a quite active group of Northern California hikers who use a Yahoo group to coordinate trips – can provide you with info offline if you're interested.

Folks from other areas, chime in as well!

I'm thinking something about every two moths or so with maybe one or two challenging ones a year.
The rest could be based on learning new experiences and going to places recommended buy others that not may people have been to.

Even a lightest pack wins on an outing would be fun.

Good idea Aaron, I can help make phone calls or something. I live in Santa Cruz area. Lets go camping.
Josh

I'm love to go, I do most of my backpacking up near Yosemite, Sequoia or Big Sur even though I live in LA.

Another way to do this, is just post ultralight trips on http://www.outdoorsclub.org. It's already set up as a backpacking meetup.

I checked out the trips planned at the outdoors club and there isn't much.

I think the BPL community would be better due to the fact that 90% of us are gear junkies and have a huge wealth of knowledge to share.

Any Midwesterners up for this? I would love to do something like this, though time and money are always tight for me. If anyone would like to do some hiking in the Ozarks of Missouri I'd be happy to help plan it. PM/email me if you're interested.

Adam

I can go the 2nd weekend in Jan, if that works for Joshua and everyone else. Is Aaron going to be the trip leader/coordinator?

-TW

Moved to the appropriate forum.

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I'd absolutely be interested. So many options…fantastic idea.

count me in for any soCal BPL groups that might like to hike together or at least meet for a weeknight BS "check out my gear" session.

Aaron, I'm really glad you brought this up. I've often wondered why our UL careers seem resigned to solo adventures. The 'Hiking Partners' forum section doesn't seem too fruitful for locating partners.

Colleen, I think random get togethers are a great idea for comparing notes, gear, technique and philosophies, whatever. It'll really solidify the community. Maybe we can have a secret handshake too. Oh, and contests for team logo designs. HAHA.

Can the BPL staff create a forum section for these local groups? e.g. So Cal, Central Cal, Nor Cal, etc. We could freeze a couple threads at the top for introductions and contact info. A general section leader won't be necessary unless requested to coordinate trips and meet-ups.

-Michael

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I think random get together are a great idea for comparing notes, gear, technique and philosophies, whatever. It'll really solidify the community. Maybe we can have a secret handshake too. Oh, and contests for team logo designs. HAHA.
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The funny and great thing about comparing gear is that I had actually thought I had a system that was as light as it could be for a 2 day trip, when…
I met up with the only other BLP'er I know or have met and his system was lighter than mine.
That and 95% of the gear was different from mine.

I was dumbfounded!!!

And I laughed when you proposed a "contest" for the lightest pack on this coming Sierra's hike. Sure, that's like Takeru Kobayashi sitting at the table suggesting an eating contest…. But maybe we'll see. This is going to be a dangerous get together for my bank account; I'll have all sorts of wild ideas for gear tweaks.

Seriously, though, I'm hoping BPL can expand the forums to include regional sub-forums for the kind of organizing we're proposing. It could go a long way toward strengthening the community and tying the site to that movement. Especially at a time when there's a growing hum of discontent in another thread. Honestly, this shouldn't be passed up. It can't be mere chance how multiple threads similar to this topic are gaining momentum….. But maybe this is a cyclical occurrence in forums and I'm too new here to recognize that.

-Michael

OK, so how many so-Cal BPL-ers are there? i know of at least a half dozen, but there must be a few more. who's in for at the very least a meetup? frankly, i am on hiatus from any actual backpacking right now (two very young kids, a really busy husband and minimal available overnight childcare) but would still love to meet folks and actually TALK about gear & technique & all that. i have to keep the flame burning somehow!

Colleen,
I live in SoCal too, the high desert (did we talk about that at ADZPCTKO when we met?). I'm up for anything…and to interact with another lightweight, woman backpacker would be great.
NITRO

excellent! of course i remember you from the kickoff – how was the CDT? i'm in southern orange county. ugh, soCal is such a big place. and yes, there are a few gals here, but we're a definite minority and our needs are slightly different. for example, i'll never be able to get by with some of the sleeping arrangements that i see discussed here – i sleep too danged cold.

you're teaching now, right? what part of the high desert? do you ever come oceanward for anything? trying to think of when & where to organize a meetup.

Colleen,
I am teaching and I live in the High Desert (Apple Valley to be exact). But I have family and friends in the OC and in Carlsbad so I visit people a bunch. Anyhow, I'll PM you my digits and we can set something up.
NITRO

no clue how to set up to receive a PM here. my email starts with tarbubble, and then is followed with the standard yahoo domain.

When viewing your own profile it mentions that you can't send a PM because no e-mail is specified, but this is misleading and is just limited to send PM's to yourself. I sent you a test message.

SoCal…so should we create some sort of email list so we can more easily contact each other or does everyone remember to check the trip announcment forum often enough that emailing everyone would be over kill?
NITRO
oh yeah, Colleen, it says I can PM you, so I did. I also emailed you.

no PMs so far; just an email from Anitra and two obscene offers to enlarge a body part i don't possess.

if we're aiming at a BPL-specific meetup of some sort, we could try just maintaining a thread here. perhaps a new title "southern california BPL meetups" or something similar might do the trick and bring in a few more participants.

I met my first hiking partners from online in 2001 :-) From there on I have met and hiked with getting close to 200 people from different forums.
The people I consider my "main" partners all were strangers at one point. (Heck, I met my husband through Backpacker.com's forum!)

I have always found group hikes to be a great way to meet new people and be relaxed as well. Less fear of anyone being a ax wielder…..

What can work is for someone in an area to say: I want to do this trip at this time of year. Anyone want to join in?
The trips work out best if you are honest with miles wanted to be done per day, what the terrain is like and to never lie to anyone about anything!

Heck, even Ben2World put up with me ;-)

Well, I'll get the ball rolling. The next event I am for sure doing is actually trail maintenance on the PCT. If anyone is up for some manual labor and a great crew to hang with…this is it. Here is the info. If you want to participate, contact John at the email at the bottom of the listing so he can plan to have the right amount of food available. I hope he doesn't mind that I am posting this…hope to see some of you there!
NITRO/Anitra

Jan. 26. Sat. Section C Catch-up. (CDP&R/Lake Silverwood Map C 15). Will be working trail North from Highway 138 at Silverwood Lake. It will involve brushing, tread repair, re-establishing runoff control. Tools provided. Lunch, snacks and refreshments provided. Meet at SBNF Mormon Rocks Fire Station at 7:30 am. Exit I-15 at Cajon Junction; drive west on Hwy 138 for 1.6 miles to junction with Lone Pine Canyon Road. Continue 0.3 mi west on Hwy 138. Station is on your left. Contact John Hachey via e-mail @ goaliejhachey(AT)msn(DOT)com.