5th Annual Bay Area G.G.G. aka GGG 5.0 1/25-27, 2013 Henry W Coe

[Ken Thompson]

@ Jack Elliot et al. We are planning to drive Ron's van in on Saturday. Don't have any idea when they will be getting there. They are driving straight from Salt Lake City and the Outdoor Retailer show. It's only 3 miles to camp. Bring your bike. Everything will work out just fine. Don't stress.

[Michael Driscoll]

"Buy your parking permit($8, try not to need change, checks OK) at the HQ and go park in the overflow lot down the hill a bit from the HQ"

I plan on coming up Fri. And staying until Sun. Afternoon ?…how much should I make the check out for the parking… Thanks for all this…

[Ken Thompson]

My bad $8 per night.

[George Maung]

Thanks for organizing the event Ken.

I will try to get off work and I will bring my Bike Friday if I come.

Thanks.

[Tony Wong]

Just a heads up everyone.

I received a call from Ranger John this evening regarding the parking situation at Henry Coe.

Apparently, their credit card machine is down and there is no guarantee that it will be up and running by the time we get there.

So cover your bases and have cash in hand, just in case.

Now I just need to start packing my food…..

-Tony

[Ken Thompson]

Checks are OK too. I got a call as well, They are ready for us.

[Ken Thompson]

Whoo Hoo! Finally here,

Van is just about ready. Always a few last minute details to take care of.

I will see you all there.

Thanks everyone.

[David Gardner]

Ken,

How much gear will each person be allowed to put in the vehicle driving to the camp site? I have about 2 file boxes of wares.

Thanks.

[Tony Wong]

David,

Ken may be on the road at this time.

The two support vehicles are likely to be Ken's VW Van and Marc's truck.

I am sure we will make sure we have room for your two boxes.

The expectation is that people are going to carry in their personal gear/setups to the campsite and that having stuff brought in by vehicle are for those who physical limitations, bringing extra stuff to share with others (such as Dk's fab brownies), etc.

Given that you are taking the time and effort to bring out your wares, I would like to make sure that we have room in the support vehicles to get yours stuff in.

Appreciate your coming out to the GGG.

Almost there!

-Tony

[David Gardner]

Tony,

Great. Thank you.

David

[Jeremy Pendrey]

Manfred:

My son is coming again this year. He will be up for hiking with or without geocache and will also bring a football and baseball stuff because we don't leave home without it. He will probably be up for geocaching, but not positive. We have an ancient GPS that I will try to remember to bring. It's not capable of downloading anything.

My middle schooler daughter is way too cool in her mind to come.

It's okay if my son is the only boy. He had a great time last year and wanted to come again.

See you this weekend.

Jeremy.

[michael grosse]

Hello one and all,
I hadn't joined this site officially yet, but seeing how everyone is rsvping to some degree here, I decided to purchase a memebership. My 10 yo son and I will more likely than not be leaving the Sacramento area, after work, and hiking in sometime Friday, after 2pm, more likely than not closer to 5pm.

looking forward to meeting new faces and seeing what this is all about,

michael grosse

[Tony Wong]

Michael,

Thanks for posting up, but a few points of clarification.

This event is open to everyone…BPL membership is not a requirement to come.

At this point, I am not sure that the two group sites that we have reserved have any more open spots. (If you RSVP'ed with Ken previously, then you should be fine).

Ken, who is the organizer, is now on the road and driving down from Northern Cal/Oregon Boarder down to this event and is out of touch.

You are welcome to come and visit for the day….but if you are looking to stay overnight, you will want to check with the website or call into the Ranger Station at Henry Coe Park to see if there are other campsites close by that you can reserve for yourself.

Please see the 1st posting on this thread for all of the information on Henry Coe State park and where we will be at.

Hope to see you there….you will have a blast!

-Tony

P.S. If you see page 8 of the thread, Ken posted on 01-22-13:

I am happy to say we are a capacity crowd this weekend. Thanks to all who RSVP and pre-paid. Everyone is welcome to come out just for the day as well.

Excited!

-Ken

[Manfred]

Michael,

great to see that you are bringing your 10 year old son! Right now we should have at least 10 kids between 9 and 14 there.

Jeremy,

I hear you about your daughter. Our 14 year old daughter loved going on the JMT with us two years ago. Now she is more interested in hanging out with her friends and is only reluctantly coming along this weekend.

See you Friday evening,

Manfred

[Nathan Hays]

What is the scene like on Sunday for a walk in?

[Frank H.]

Howdy,

Anyone planning on coming before noon on Friday? Just curious.

I hope everyone is excited.

-Frank

[Tony Wong]

Michael,

Another fellow BPLer was nice enough to PM me to remind me that if you are coming out Friday….there are plenty of spot open at the group site for Friday night to Saturday.

The only uncertainty is if there are any open spots at the group site for Saturday night.

My fault for not clearly asking Ken if we were full up for Saturday night.

So please come out, if you can, and check things out and meet the Gear Geeks.

Would love to have you make Friday night….depending on the weather, their may be cancellations on Saturday that may create space at the group site.

Just important to have a backup plan for maybe having to secure another site for yourself on Saturday night.

@ Frank: Three of my friends and myself will be leaving at 1pm on Friday from the East Bay for Henry Coe and will be there in the mid to late afternoon.

@ Nate: Sunday morning, in years past, people were breaking down and heading out relatively early. In the parking lot on Sunday late morning there traditionally has been a gear swap where people show the gear and goods that they would like to sell. So not sure it would be worth it to hike in on Sunday morning as everyone is headed the other direction.

-Tony

[rowan !]

If I remember right, we're required to be out of the campsites by 11 am on Sunday, so you might not get to spend much time at the gathering.

[Michael Driscoll]

Michael you can have my spot for Saturday night as 2 of us will be going out late sat as we have to work sun… look for Michael & Tony we are on bikes…

[Tony Wong]

Michael,

Appreciate the generousity of your offer to Michael and his son.

You just have to love BPL people….always the best people.

Just an update for everyone who has expressed concern for Michael and his son being able to attend on Saturday.

Micheal has PMed me and says that he has already been in contact with Ken and secured a spot prior to Ken hitting the road.

So we will have the pleasure of both of them at the GGG.

I will be online and at work for the next three hours and then I will be heading home and hitting the road.

Looking forward to seeing you all soon.

-Tony

[Ethan A.]

Me and the Ms. can't wait to roll in soon today, but unable to stay the night, so our 2 paid spots are open for anyone who wants/needs them.

[Ethan A.]

Thank you Ken, Ranger Jen, all the volunteers, cottage makers/reps Ron and crew from Six Moon Designs, Henry from TarpTent, Grant and crew from Gossamer Gear, Kat P. from Mountaingoat Hats and Goods, David Gardner from G.O.L.D. Gear, Lee and crew from Trail Designs and Jack Elliot from Borah Gear for another AWESOME GGG. Debbie thanks again for the delicious brownies! It was great to see old friends and meet new ones, and check out a huge variety of lightweight gear up close.

Compared to two years ago, noticed more variety in shelters, and more hammocks and tarps, including a bunch of Gatewood Capes.

Already looking forward to the next one!

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Coe is a great place to set yourself up for a kiss – parasitic Mistletoe grows all over the trees:

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The SMD Mobile with secret new SMD backpack concept, viewable only under NDA:

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Organizer and MC Ken presides proudly over camp:

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Jack's gear swap:

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John Abela's cuben SMD Skyscape X with heat sheet ground sheet:

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Some came by foot, others by pedal:

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Ken's Swedish palace:

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G.O.L.D. Gear new polycro shelter:

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G.O.L.D. Gear ultralight cook systems and poles. The largest ultralight cook systems have a whopping (for a can) 1.3L capacity, stove, cozy, windscreen, etc.

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Mark's orange Focus LT jacket brightened up camp:

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The Wood Stove Contest Begins – where there's smoke there's fire:

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Ron warming up in the SMD Mobile:

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Older generation clothing, cook systems and shelter used at Henry Coe:

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I would just like to extend a huge thank you to Ken for putting this event together!

This was my first year attending and it was a great time to sit down with others and just talk about life, hiking, gear, and so forth.

I wish it would have been a week long so I could have sat and talked with everybody there.

Also a huge thank you to all of the company owners that came!

I know I asked a bunch of you to drop me a message with your address – you can do so here!

Again, thank you to all who came!

+Abela

[michael grosse]

Manfred, Ken, Tony, Jane, Justin and everyone else
I want to thank you for your willingness to make sure Keegan and I were able to participate, I saw the various entries posted when I got home and that was pretty cool to see people looking out for others.

I want to thank Manfred for the geocaching, I believe Justin for the fire lessons and everyone else. It was a friendly, enjoyable environment and looking forward to others as well as small trips with interested folk.

thank you,
michael and keegan

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