2025 GGG March 14-16

ok, that sounds Great !

how to get there? well, it’s pretty simple, but there is a bit of a trick to it at one point.

anybody can find Sonora, so start there. there are two routes north out of Sonora, you will want the larger of them, it being Hy 49. this Hy 49 will head N, and then quickly NW. where it turns left (we are northbound) and heads of SW, at that bend one will find Parrots Ferry Rd. head N on Parrots Ferry to Columbia, which is both a town and a state park. driving wise .. the defining feature Columbia is a tight’ish LH/RH chicane. if you hit this, you have gone a block too far..

what you want is Jackson St., which i think was properly marked. one should E for one block on Jackson and turn LH, which will be N. onto Main St.. Main will in all but immediately turn into Italian Bar Road, and you are home free.

on weekends they may block off two blocks of Main St in the trendy center of town, but Jackson St access is always open. follow Italian Bar road on ever deteriorating  pavement until he tarmac ends, and then 3.5m on very decent gravel track to our camp.

there is water at camp which they say is good.

see you there !

v.

I’ve booked my flights from Alaska to CA for the GGG.  I arrive at SMF Sacramento Airport on Alaska Flight 2012 landing at 9:15 am on Friday, March 14th.  At which point, I’ve got lots of options: I could sleep at the airport for a few hours, having flown through the night; my sister lives in the area and could take me out to breakfast and/or lunch until someone is passing through on their way to the GGG; and/or I could make my way further south if that’s better.  Or if Oakland or San Jose are better locations, I can fly into one of those instead.

It’s too far past summer salmon fishing season to bring down fresh-frozen sockeye as I’ve done sometimes, but I’ll bring smoked salmon and smoked salmon spread on crackers.

I’ll also bring a dealer’s replacement parts kit for Victorinox Swiss Army knives with toothpicks, tweezers, ballpoint pens, glasses screwdrivers, and scissors’ springs for the small and full-sized knives, so if yours is missing something, bring it along and we can get you fixed up.

Plus my usual 25-foot hanks of 130-pound test halibut fishing line (lightest possible emergency shoelace, clothesline, tent guy line) and maybe some other goodies.

Oh, and if anyone wants a set of studded Finnish snow tires for a Prius, the ones I drove south on in November aren’t needed by me in CA.

80# of cat food?

You must have a lot of cats, or manufacture cat food :)

cat food ;

yes, 80# of cat food. why ? one might wonder, but fear not, it makes sort of sense. first of all, I have a cat, and I feed her very nice Science Diet cat food. it keeps her healthy and looking ever-so-luxurious. this super dooper cat food has a couple of charming characteristics that make it just what we want for backpack testing. one is that it is roughly the correct volumetric density to simulate the average of my gear and food, and two is that comes in durable and secure (within reason) plastic bags in a convenient 16# size. ya, it’s four bucks a pound for sure, but 2T will gnaw her way thru it eventually.

thusly .. cat food.

cheers,

v.

I can give a report on how it’s now possible to drive Casey’s old EV all the way from Berkeley, CA to Kenai, Alaska.

I’ll be there. Looks like rain, so, Katt, the hot tent will once again be a wonderful addition.