6th Annual G.G.G. 1/24-26 2014

Great job Ken for putting this on. Really too many people to meet and talk to but that's what makes if fun. Glad to see all the old faces and meet some new ones this year. Will look forward to next year and to coming years.

I think the poles may be Tony Wong's, he posted that he left a pair.

Another big thanks to Ken and everyone else who helped organize this shindig! I had an awesome time meeting people and oogling all the cool gear.

Some highlights for me:

-Meeting lots of other BPL members – best part of the whole thing
-Hot tent with Ti wood stove – way cool
-SMD new and updated shelters
-Caffin stove – Bought one in the GGG shipment. Love it. Beautiful and thoughtful design, Roger.

Can't wait until the next one!

Several kids approached me about geocaching during the weekend. They were excited when our family finally arrived and wanted to go geocaching right away.
Sorry, that I didn’t anticipate the demand for repeated geocaching. We can do it again at the next meeting. I just need the parents to let me know how many kids they will bring, so I can stuff the geocaches accordingly and we don’t disappoint any kids.

Some parents also asked me about geoaching, GPS receivers etc. Here is an article I wrote after last year’s GGG. Have a look and feel free to ask more questions.

Some adults had questions too — it was fun to watch Denise find her first geocache. Seeing her dog Zara, I would gladly exchange GPS classes for dog training classes for the two dogs my kids have.

Best Regards,

Manfred

Wow….you guys and gals are fast with posting your photos and comments.

Making me look like the lazy bum that I am!

Anyway, I just created a thread in the photo gallery for the 2014 GGG.

I arrived very late this year….2pm, so if you have any photos to document what happened and have comments, please post them there.

If you have already posted here, if you could please just copy and paste over to the thread in the photo gallery, that would be much appreciated.

Also, as before, I will be posting up photos with numbers by them.

If you are in the photo or see your shelter/gear, please PM me information for the caption to appear under the photo….wacky comments appreciate and encouraged as I often use what you give me word for word….as a quote.

Side note: YES, those are my Hiking Poles that I left behind in the parking lot! Drove back to find them, but figured that Marc would have scooped them up. He PMed me about them. Thanks everyone…had those poles for a very long time- memories. :)

Appreciate your patience…I have about 230 photos that I resized last night.

When I get home tonight, I can start posting.

Tony

great meeting everyone! please be in touch re: Bay Area adventures. -Ben

Lovely weekend with wonderful people. I'll post a more thorough TR later but seems I left my Eddie Bauer daypack on the picnic table. Please PM me if you grabbed it as I'm trying to remember what I left in it.

Edit: Thanks for the PM.

Edit part deuce: I originally thought that the $5 per brownie Doug was charging was a little spendy but after tasting them, found that they were well worth the money. Thanks DK for sending them.

But…but…he PROMISED he wouldn't charge for them. Oh, that choirboy innocence…and now it's too late to commit douglascide, since we took him back to his hotel last night and he flew back home at oh-dark-thirty this morning. #$*&@(&!!! But on the plus side, at least it sounds like he didn't eat all of them before they got to Coe.

Doug? Yoo hoo, Doug? I demand 50% of the take!

All kidding aside, I'm glad you enjoyed, them, Ian – sorry I didn't get to meet you and all the new folks, but maybe next year…

So glad I drove the 375 miles each way.
Now I get to go to a 2nd event right around the corner in socal.

Who's the lucky one?

Had a blast. Loved the new SMD packs.
I'm going to order a 40 Flight. It fits better than any pack I have ever tried on.
The dual pull from the underside in back is such an awesome way to adjust a pack.

For moving quickly I always find that when you get the hip-bilt adjusted perfect, pulling on the shoulder straps is just a way of shortening the torso and thus no longer having a good fit.

The comfort of the double pull makes flight 40's double pul the single best design on a pack ever (it's the only one of the new pack designs to have it).

Always a great time at the GGG visiting my Cali friends. You're right Kat, I need to move west! Soon, soon. Thanks for all those who put up with me, a special shout out to my good friend Ken, as always, for all the hard work you do in putting this thing together every year and always making me feel very welcome, and to my new friends Debbie and Larry for letting me crash at your place and for letting me lick the brownie batter bowls! and the wonderful dinner my last night in town, and to Sharon for the ride, I owe you a tank of gas!

Was great spending time with those I've come to appreciate and even call friends – Kat, David W., Steven Paris, Josh (love the bike!), EJ, Marc, Matthew, the one and only Peter V., Jane (always an inspiration) and others, and for the new friends I made – Diana V., Sharon, Ian (thanks for the bottle! Used it on the way home) and more. Jay W, seems I missed you, would have liked to say hello and show you the projector!

And thanks to the vendors who took the time to bring their wares and let us see what's out there. Highly appreciated.

And to whoever donated the fire pits – I would have been more impressed if they'd not been so small. Try and not be so cheap next time….

Looking forward to the next one!

Edited because, well, I had to….

A special shout out, but not listed as friend, nice. ;-p

I still have that photo……

Was great to spend more time with you Doug. You're always welcome.

"A special shout out, but not listed as friend, nice. ;-p"

Oh, you're much more than a friend, big boy…..

I'm back in Portland now, but certainly could have used a little more time at Henry Coe, a fantastic state park. Thanks to all for the great conversation and comaraderie. It's nice that 80+ (100?) people, many of whom have never met face-to-face, can gather, share ideas and stories and gear, and just get along.

Love you too Hun.

What did I just get in the middle of?

"What did I just get in the middle of?"

Who are you kidding, that's where you're always trying to be…..

Aw, now I'm blushing.

Off-topic, when I got home, my wife was telling me about how my daughters missed me while I was gone (a whole 36 hours). She asked what they missed and they said things about hearing me in the kitchen or making them breakfast. Stuff like that. Then my 8-year-old said, "I miss how I can hear him always typing on the computer and saying "Blah blah blah, this backpack has a lot of pockets blah blah blah."

No respect.

"What did I just get in the middle of?"

I believe the term is "lucky Pierre"…

Attention.

Do not Google "Lucky Pierre."

That is all.

Mr. Paris, you have just confirmed that you have the best of all that life offers.

"… Then my 8-year-old said, "I miss how I can hear him always typing on the computer and saying "Blah blah blah, this backpack has a lot of pockets blah blah blah."

Steven, there must be something in the air that causes daughters to be sarcastic. When my oldest daughter was turning 12, we asked her if she wanted a .22 rifle for her birthday. She said, "Oh, that would be awesome! I'll spray paint it camouflaged, and then sell it, then use that money to buy a different one…then I'll spray paint the new one, and then sell it…" I can't be certain but I think she might have been mocking me.

Hahahaha

For all of you that saw the little camera holder that I had setup at the GGG, they are now available for purchase. Thank you for all of the wonderful feedback I got and I hope they prove to be super useful for those of you that need a little accessory like this!

I want to say a big thanks to Ken for putting the GGG together once again. Ken, it's clear that you put a lot of time an effort into making it happen.

It was great to see friends from the past and to make some new ones. As had already been said, Thanks Ken for a great event!

Thanks to all who attended. Another great weekend with friends old an new. Have some changes planned for the next one.
I've been enjoying the posted photos and comments in the Photo Gallery thread as well.

And to those companies that don't respond to their Facebook messages or e mail, tisk, tisk.

Ken,

Slow going on the photos on my end.

It really is a bit of work for me to try to research the gear in the shelters and to put the hyperlinks in.

I like the results, but hate the process of doing it.

On the plus side of things, I just ordered a Snow Leopard Cooking System from Jon at Flat Cat Gear. :)

GGG is not good for my gear fetish….lol.

Tony