3rd Annual Bay Area BPL Hike

One month closer. Start that holiday shopping so we all can look at new gear in Feb.

104 days. Any ideas on the how/where on the post hike swap meet? Can hardly wait to see who/what shows up.

I suggest either at one of the camping spots near the trailhead or on the drive out in the town of Carmel Valley

bump buddy bump….Feb. is coming fast!

Ken and Ken: I'm in again this year. Looking forward to it.
-Jeremy.

can i come.

escalon, ca

You sure can Frank. Just keep an eye on this thread

One of these days I'm gonna make it out there for one of your trips!

Andrea and I are a go – now we have to finish replacing the old heavier items we sold from our kit or it's going to be a very very cold weekend for us…

AHHH!!! Come on Douglas you know you want to get out of the snow, and South West has flight's for $59.00 still I think, don't quote me on it though. You know you want to.

I found this post, and was wondering is this where we are going.
http://photos.calipidder.com/Backpacking/California-Coast/Ventana-Wilderness-Pine-Valley/11805769_J57JJ#834088260_257bd

You're right Jack, I'd love to come! Don't see it happening though, but you never know!

Too funny Jack. I've hiked with those folks on the Lost Coast. I do believe that is where we are headed. I've never been myself.

That is exactly where we are heading. Actually all of the photos are indicitive of where the hike starts and where we will end up. There are plenty places for car camping if you are heading up the night before and in and around the trailhead there should be enough parking. Though, if you have others that live around you, I would ask that you carpool as much as possible. The picture that shows where they are camping is a great spot. I camped in the same spot a few years ago. It has a table and a nice fire ring. There is a huge meadow that it sits near which can accomodate many tents, tarps etc. Nice find Jack!

Only 90 days from now!

I was out there in mid-october, wonderful place. Stayed in the same spot used by calpiddler in the link posted above. On arrival, I was met by Jack, who invited me in for a cup of tea… spent about an hour talking with him, wonderful character, but a struck me as a bit lonely. Showed me some of his work – makes bows for violins & cellos – fantastic craftsmanship. He's a little hard of hearing, so if you see him speak loud and clear.

Back to the trip itself, spent the day walking in under blue skies, temps in the low 60's. Walking on the ridgetops, you are afforded a great view of much of the area, very rugged. After about 3.5/4 miles I started dropping down to the valley, and had a nice break at the junction of the PR/church creek/carmel r trails. Continued on to P.V. proper, and arrived at about 4pm.

As I set up camp, I found that I had left my pad back in the car – it didn't get back into the pack when I re-packed before I left. It was going to be a cold night, as I only had my 40 degree bag, and no fires allowed due to dry conditions. Very cold, restless night.

There are two camping areas, one in pine valley proper, and the other in a very large meadow up the trail just past Jack's place. I moved to this other meadow the next morning, and found it to be much warmer the next night – it's a little higher than the creek bottom of the previous night, and may be a good alternate to P.V. itself come february. It's a little further away from water, but you'll sleep warmer.

I'll have to post a T.R. in another forum, as I had some new equipment and better place to publish pics.

Anyway, P.V. is a great place, off the beaten path, but easy enough to get to. Be seeing you all in Feb!

Thanks for the info Sylvester, much appreciated, and yes pics would be cool. The two campgrounds along Tassajara Rd are White Oaks and China Camp campgrounds. If anyone were to need a place to sleep, these are available. Maybe the gear swap could be held in one of the campgrounds??? I would suspect that they would be pretty empty on a Sunday afternoon in Feb.

And at the moment we have 38-40 attending so far with a few that have attended in years past that have not responded but most likely will be there too. For those wanting to attend, you might want to click on the "watch this thread" button to keep up on updates etc. Let's hope for nice weather!

Also, if any of you are from areas that are not near The SF Bay Area, you still are very welcome to tag along. This is lose knit and such. So let me know

You guys have all the fun.

I'm all for the gear swap happening at one of the campgrounds, I think China camp would probably work best as it's 50 yards from the trailhead, and may end up being overflow parking anyway.

I've got a bunch of stuff that needs to find another home…and I need a good quilt :)

Someone did a wiki type thing last year with what everyone was bringing for the gear swap…There should be an orginized way of listing items that people are bringing. Great idea Sylvester, China Camp could be the ticket

Before or after the hike? I'd suggest before..

Kat, before sounds good too, but I wonder what times folks are coming in. At least with everyone leaving on Sunday morning, it might be a tad easier. Do you have any ideas????

After makes more sense. I am just an early bird ….

me too!