THE 2ND ANNUAL POINT REYES BAY AREA BPL TRIP

[Jay Wilkerson]

Fun time, great people, excellent display of UL gear. I had sooooo much fun!!!!!!!!! I am looking forward to the next trip- Henry Coe mid-March???

Mr Verber I think had the best shelter: The 9oz Hexamid-Way Cool!!

-Jay

[Jesse H.]

I'm down, my b-day is in the beginning of march… I'll be taking time off.. lets do a 3-day…

[Mark Verber]

It was great meeting everyone. I am looking forward to another trip in the future. Big thanks to Ken for organizing the trip. My favorite discovery was Jermey's chili spiced mango.

It was interesting to see the varity of items on the trip. It was even more interesting to see "repeats"… items that more than two people had. Things I notice:

Numerous caldera cones with a rather large range of pots. I am not sure I saw two of the same kind of pots… never occurred to me that there were so many small pots on the market. Lots of platypus. Lots of puffy jackets, dominated by Montbell inners and Patagonia Puffs, with a smaller number of WM, FF, and Golite. There were a number of Osprey Exos, GoLite Jam 2, and then a mix of various ULA, Gossamer Gear, Six Moon Designs, and MLD packs. Not sure what else I missed.

All shelters were different except 2 double rainbows, 2 duomids, and 2 mld poncho tarps.

–mark

[Rand Lindsly]

> melting a hole in his caldera cone was my personal favorite highlight.

Oh yea….would LOVE to see that!

>Numerous caldera cones with a rather large range of pots. I am not sure I saw two of the same kind of pots… never occurred to me that there were so many small pots on the market.

Would also be great to see all the Calderas in attendance…..Sounds like a great time!

Rand :-)

[Robert Blean]

> I'm down, my b-day is in the beginning of march… I'll be taking time off.. lets do a 3-day…

I'd rather see late March, because the wildflowers are likely to be better. Can't run into April, because that would conflict with the annual Rancheria Falls trip (are we going to do that this year?)

— Bob

[Jesse H.]

heres a few… was to busy chatting to take many, tony has a ton im sure

tony shootin' away:

wayyy out of of focus…

morning shot, the little guy is a trooper!

[kevin smith]

hey guys

just got home around 8 pm we left the trailheadat 2 pm
and stopped in some highway town for dinner trip meter shows 310 miles from trailhead to my front door well garage anyway

total driving miliage was 627 miles round trip

this hike was fantastic and everyone there was super cool!! i would like to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone there for making my son feel welcome in the group he doesn t hike as fast as everyone else so we were much slower than the rest of you but hey he is only 5 so i cant really hold it against him i just hike beside him and go at his pace and rest when he wants to rest and for the record
he was fast asleep in the car 10 minutes after we left the trailhead lol

thanks again to all of you for making the trip a great one i will post some pics tomorrow as after the long drive im heading to bed

talk to you all soon
kevin

[Tony Wong]

Because I arrived late to this party, I only have partial photos of everything that took place. In particular, I am really missing/lacking photos of people's cooking gear and of the events that happened Friday.

IF YOU HAVE PHOTOS OF FRIDAY AND OF PEOPLE'S BACKPACKS AND COOKING GEAR, OR ANYTHING ELSE THAT YOU THINK WAS FUN OR SIMPLY WOULD LIKE TO SHARE PLEASE POST THEM UP AS A REPLY ON THE TRIP REPORT. MUCH APPRECIATED.

TRIP REPORT IN THE PHOTO GALLERY SECTION.

To speed things up, I am simply going to post up photos and number them.

Please PM me with information that I can use as a caption. Forgive me, but I can not remember everyone's name and I don't know what gear is in all of the photos….your help will be greatly appreciated!

Note: I am still working on my TRT Photo Essay and I know that people are anxious to see photos on this one, I will be working on both at the same time. Thank all of you for your patience and help with creating this trip report.

-Tony

[Mark Verber]

I put a link to tony's trip report into the wiki page. Might be nice it people add their name to who attended and maybe a link to your gear list for the trip.

[Robert Recinos]

Want to thank all of you such a great time. It was nice to actually meet some of the people whose posts you read on the site. Everyone had a great sense of humor out there and we were up til 11:30pm it think?

The amount of different types of gear and setups was amazing. With shelters we had everything from tarps to a Hillenberg mountaineering tent(which looked awesome by the way).

There was so much FOOD,
There was so much FOOD,

There was people eating all kinds of food:
There was anything between top ramen to a gourmet meal with hand picked water crests from the creek by the camp site. I saw laughing cow cheese and gourmet chocolate.
The Guac. that Jay made was a hit, and Camerons' homemade brew was great.

Everyone was fun and easy to talk to. If anyone missed it because of fear of rain, you missed one hell of a good time.

I can't wait to go on more trips with you people, don't forget to include me, and I will see if I can make it.

I want to thank the Ken's, who put it together. The hats you two were given were hysterical.

[Ken Thompson]

Awesome time had by all it seems. Everybody getting along coming from such a diverse group was great! Very nice that everyone was appreciative for the effort that Ken and I put in setting this up. That makes it worthwhile to me and I'm sure Ken feels the same. Took way too few photos. But I don't think I talked that much in two days for quite some time. Special thanks to Sheila and Plus one for a fun time Friday too. Here are some of my shots….
Me at the trailhead.

Glen Camp Drying out temporarily.

Home for the next couple of nights…

Mark Verber and David Lutz setting up at Wildcat.

Joshua Billings' Terra Nova and Mark Verbers' Hexamid.

Talking gear. Co-host (cohort) Ken Helwig and Ricahrd Gless.

Even the kids next door were tarping it. Not a great pitch but at least they're out!

Sunshine on a weird little tent city.

Sky rockets in sight, ultralight delight.. or something like that.

And here's a rarity, Tony Wong sans camera. Cameron and his hex in background

Thanks to all who came together to make it a great weekend despite not the best weather. A really great bunch of people! Plus I love the hat!

[Backpack Jack]

Hi everyone finally got a chance to sit down and post some pics. We had a great time, and what great weather couldn't ask for a better weekend. I just wanted to thank Lisa, Jim, and Katharina for taking a few breaks and letting me catch up while we were hiking up hill from Arch Rock. It was very humbling for me. I'm usally the one out front, but that day I couldn't even come close to the pace you 3 set. Lisa kudos to you and your up coming PCT trip, good luck. Now with some pics. I will try to post more later. Hope to see some of the guys and maybe gals next hike. It was good to see you again Ken H, Tony, Lane, and it was nice to finaly but faces to names. My appologies for any damage my SNORING!!!!!!!!!! might have caused. Jack

[Jesse H.]

I didn'y hear ya at all… and I was right next to ya, between the waves slapping and a good ole' crow royal night cap, I slept like a baby…

it was classic when you busted out with the ear plugs though, good form… hope to hike with you guys again soon!

[Ethan A.]

Thank you to Ken and Ken for putting this wonderful trip together. Andrea and I had a great time. It was a pleasure to meet such a diverse group of people who love backpacking. We got the opportunity to check out so much UL gear up close and ask about it.

Special thanks to Mark and Kevin for lending us sleeping bags and sleeping pads without which we wouldn't have been able to make the trip.

Thank you also to all those that brought extra food, charcoal, etc. There was just so much good food it seems everyone brought extra to share.

It was a pleasure hiking with Kevin and his son Ryan. Ryan is only 5 and did the whole way in with all that uphill, and the trail back, carrying his little pack most of the time. This was a huge achievement for a 5 year old boy. Kevin you should be very proud. His pace on the way in suited us very well as I undertook the trip with a foot injury I've been recovering from. It was the first time I was able to get on the trail in two months, and was so glad I went.

I have fantastic photos and even some video clips to upload to the photo gallery for the trip as soon as I get a chance. I photographed every shelter and I'm looking forward to know the make and model of each.

[Ken Thompson]

Thanks again to everybody who made this a success. So cool to finally put faces to names. Funny how different people look in actuality, than what you had pictured in your mind. Too bad Ryan J missed us by a couple of weeks. Though in retrospect a bunch of us decided that it was probably safer for him not to be there;-b
I'm planning a blowout up here in the spring. Stay tuned.

[Lisa Frugoli]

Thanks again for all the fun!!

[sheila o]

Marsha(+1) and I had a wonderful time with everyone. Can't wait for the next adventure with you all. We enjoyed so many inspiring people with very interesting stories. Promise to get some pics up when we get together.
KenT said, "Special thanks to Sheila and Plus one for a fun time Friday too." No, Thank you for a fun time.
With your striped red and white hat now, your new nickname should be "Kat in the Hat" or "Kool Kat In the Hat." ;)
and knowledgeable Mark V…"Techno Man."

[Jeremy Pendrey]

Roger and Rand: Pictures of the fuel fire and cone have been posted. Enjoy.
-Jeremy.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=28191

[Sylvester Cullen]

I've managed to miss the first two, but am interested in a third. Pt. Reyes is a fantastical place and I would be willing to get permits, arrainge detals, etc… I've run large groups out there before, as well as other nearby places.
That said, has any planning started for a third annual BPL Bay Area meet? What would be good choices for locations? (Wildcat, Lost Coast, Ventana Wilderness, Henry Coe, Snow Mountain, others?) What's a good date?

[Ken Thompson]

Well Sylvester. Your timing is perfect. We just are starting to bounce around ideas as to where we are going to hold next years event. Point Reyes is out for us this time around. Keeping within the Bay Area is in. Most likely going to keep the January time of year as well. I haven't heard anyone protest that. Any suggestions are appreciated. Please PM me for more details, and to share your thoughts. Thanks.

[Author]

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