GGG in Southern CA

In my last post I listed the only sensible night entry. While I do use the Altadena Dr. entrance, it is not very easy to navigate in the dark. At this point of entry it is an overgrown wash with dozens of possible pathways across. Many can and do dead end. I'm not sure if I have ever even gone exactly the same way twice before. That said, I've been there so many times I really haven't given it much thought before.

I have some time this afternoon. I'll scout out possible overnight parking around the Eaton Canyon entrance and I'll see if there is an easy direct route across the wash at the Altadena Dr. Gate.

For the really adventurous, here is the location of the gate on Altadena Dr. from the Pine Crest Gate: http://goo.gl/Ql112X

Thanks Mike

I ran into a Sheriff's deputy when checking the Altadena gate. He said they lock the Pinecrest entrance and Eaton Canyon parking lot gates at 7 P.M.

Now I think the Altadena gate is pretty doable. When you get to the wash level from the elevated street level, you'll come to a four-way trail junction. just continue straight (North) and you'll get to the dirt road on the other side of the wash. You can see the junction on the Google map I posted. Might be a little spooky at night, but doable.

That said, I would still enter from the Eaton Canyon parking lot. There does not appear to be any restrictions on street parking in the vicinity of the parking lot on Altadena Dr. the gate is locked to vehicles, but is still very accessible on foot to the right of the driveway gate.

Last call!!! If anyone is saying to themselves, "self, I should have signed up" don't fret. Just show up. This is an hour or less drive to the trailhead for the multitude of BPL's out there in So. Cal. area. The weather report is for some clouds and a bit of wind:

Per NOAA
Friday Mostly sunny, with a high near 76. Light south southeast wind becoming south southwest 10 to 15 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 20 mph.
Friday Night Partly cloudy, with a low around 59. South southwest wind 10 to 15 mph becoming light south in the evening. Winds could gust as high as 20 mph.
Saturday Mostly sunny, with a high near 65. North northwest wind 5 to 15 mph becoming southwest in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 20 mph.
Saturday Night Mostly clear, with a low around 57.
Sunday Sunny, with a high near 67.

I'll be on my way up in the morning but there is spotty cell coverage along the way and in camp. If anyone gets lost, needs info etc. TEXT me at 626 485-4696.

There will be GGG signs posted at the Pinecrest trailhead and at Henninger Flats. Remember our camp area is Fuji which is up the hill to the right (east) and past what is called upper camp.

See ya all in camp.

Don and others,it looks like I may have 3-4 tarps to bring after all,depending on how many I can finish up tonight,we still may be able to have the tarp set up on Saturday.

Do what you can Jack but don't overdo it? :-)

"so I'll bring my JMT pencil and onionskin notebook to record your ideas!"

I don't do groups or collaborate. But, that looks interesting. Almost makes me want to cancel my planned trip and talk lead with you :)

You might want to bring your new pack and share. Not many people have seen one.

"talk lead"

You're just a pencil-neck geek unless you talk graphite.

–B.G.–

We just parked on a street near the trailhead and are waiting for the 2 year old to wake up from a nap. We will be starting soon and it should take us quite a few hours with the 2 year old walking. Anyone hiking this afternoon might see us on the way up.

I finished the tarps and will likely be up early Saturday morning, see everyone there.

Whaaaatt? A socal GGG? in my own back yard?? I'm there! I just heard about this last week and I'm hoping I can swing by for a visit. I'm not too worried about where to sleep or anything, i can slide into a bush somewhere, so I hope it's not a problem for me to just pop in last minute. I hope to see you guys there.

You kids have fun. I'm looking forward to the detailed trip report and a s#@&oad of photos.

Those guys and gals are cliffed over L.A. with cell reception.
They can have live feed from the GGG if they want to.

Was there last night until this morning. Lots of peeps showing up when I left.
Should be a great time today.

Hi All,

I just want to post a huge thank you to Don for putting this event together and anyone else that may have been responsible for its successful implementation, vendors that brought equipment, vendors that supplied equipment and for those that participated this weekend. What a great event and a great time had by all. Everyone played well together in the sandbox, and smiles were everywhere to be seen. It was great!

*Seeing the movie at night regarding the JMT was absolutely inspiring. Then to hear all your stories about your adventures on the JMT in particular, and all the other venues everyone has hiked, left me feeling very humble to be on this adventure. I am glad to have met up with such a cool group of people with such diversity and spirit for living. Very cool.

THANK YOU!!!

Now, for those of you that helped blow my pack up for the JMT… here is what happened after I walked through the door at my buddy's house. I unpacked everything only minutes through the door, and just went at it. After your suggestions, especially Don, Ellen, and Lonna…. We are down a fricken HUGE, 10 pounds 12 ounces from when I went up the hill. I see more and more as I walk by with the stuff on the floor, which is good, so more to follow. Now, Plastidip, french press, and hammock aside, we made a lot of progress. Thanks for all your support and suggestions guys. Great time had here and everyone has inspired me to look at what is NECESSARY, and pack light.

Unnecessary Crap:

My hats off to Don for organizing the GGG/SoCal edition! After attending the GGG/Henry Coe, I knew that I couldn't miss this one as it is right in my backyard. It was great meeting everyone and I hope that you had as much fun as I did. Best regards – Jon & Peggy.

Thanks, Don, for planning such an awesome event! Here are some photos from the GGG So Cal.

http://s63.photobucket.com/user/Aussielvr1227/library/

Thanks to everyone who came and participated in making this a fun event. Going by the low tech method used to record the attendance there were 40 people who came, some for the duration some for two days and a few day trippers.

I especially want to thank Ellen (Pearl) and Lonna (Roadrunner) for their assistance in setting up and photo taking.

Jon and Peggy Fon–what can I say? You fed the masses with your trail baking magic. I'm looking at my esbit tabs in a whole other light.

Jack Elliot the tarp (and movie screen) guru showed everyone some thinking outside the box tarp stuff plus doing some entertaining with the Canjo, also known as spam on a stick. I hope someone has some pictures of that.

Steve Barber came with a couple of MLD mids and donated the use of the new 2.5 to a couple, was that Andy Duncan and Candy?

What a fantastic variety of gear we had to look at and that's what a gathering of gear geeks is all about, right?

Check out Lonna's photo link. I know Angus has a bunch of shots also and hopefully will be sharing them.

Don, thank you for all your hard work putting this event together. It was great to meet other gear enthusiast, DIY'ers, and just great people in general.

Jon, thank you for the bacon, cheese, and that oh so good chocolate cake…mmmm

Jack, thanks for loaning me the Borah-Gami tarp, this will be put to good use when I head to Yosemite for the first time next month! Truly excited to try this very well made shelter!

Craig, thank for the hand-made mug, this will be forever in my kit and will be counted as part of my base weight moving forward :)

Adan, dude…thank you for the cold beers! You went beast mode carrying that up that hill on a warm day.

Really had a great time and it was really great to meet everyone. I look forward in seeing this event grow and I hope to be part of them every year.

Here are a few of the photos I took. Pardon the quality, these haven't been edited :/

http://s65.photobucket.com/user/mangus7175/slideshow/2014%20So%20Cal%20GGG

Angus & Lorna,

Thanks for posting up links for your photos.

Looks like a great time and I recognize some familiar faces who have come up to the Bay Area GGGs.

Great to see Jack from Borah and Jon from Flat Cat at your GGG.

Don,

Congrats on pulling off a very successful SoCal GGG, which I hope is only the first of many to come in the following years.

Great looking signs you have there…..save them for next year.

Hope you have time to put together a post trip report on BPL.

The pictures will help let people see what they missed out on…and will help grow your GGG next year.

Awesome start!

Tony

Thanks Don for organizing the first SoCal GGG. It was fun meeting so many BPL'ers and seeing all the gear. I've never seen so many Montbell jackets and cuben fiber shelters in one spot. Traveling through some familiar ground watching Mile. . . Mile and a Half while eating those brownies on Saturday night was awesome. We had a great time trying out the new MLD 2.5 Mid, there was plenty of room for two plus gear and more.

Thanks Don for organizing this event, a great location choice!
Thanks Jack for letting me try the solo tarp!
Thanks Jon for the baking demonstration and the food!
It was great meeting more SoCal BPL-ers … and their gear :)

Marian

Yes +1 to a great event and finally a good size BPL meeting down in socal!! Thanks Don and all those that pitched in to make us all comfortable and welcome. I have to guess that picking a location so close to town was a big factor. And it turned out to be a cool spot, up away from other campers, almost like we had our own campground!

I was immediately greeted warmly by the group. And I dont think it was just because of all the cold beverages I carried, although it never hurts. Right away there was a gift for me, some baked goodies that somebody was cooking, and all kinds of cool tarpage to check out. Im not much of a gear geek, so I dont have gear knowledge to share or anything, but I had alot of fun chatting it up with the gang.

It was good to catch up with Jerry and Jack again. Where was Kevin and did I miss Hikin Jim dammit? It was good to make new acquaintances as well, hopefully I'll get to hike with some of these people some time. There was beer guzzling, fly casting, whiskey sipping, dog snuggling, spamjo jammin, wine toasting, this thing had it all.

I wish I couldve stayed a bit longer but I had to rise early and hike home for my date with the family that day. After some late night drinks and stories by the fire, I slid into my bag on the grass overlooking an awesome city light show. I had a weird night actually. I was kept up alot by the light drizzle on my face all night and by the incessant gophers gnawing on tree roots in the ground directly below my head! It was loud! My bag wet through completely. Also I didnt know about the gate situation so my early departure involved climbing over that 10ft barbed wire fence with my pack on. Luckily everyone made sure my pack was much lighter on the way out. :)

I'll be looking out for the next one! This was cool!

Good event indeed. Thanks to all who put it on. Sorry if I wasn't there in the morning, I got the urge for a midnight hike and living so close I figured I'd sleep in my own bed. Based on Adan's wet gopher fun, it sounds like it was a good decision.

Angus, good to meet you, we'll get the kids out. Zorobabel Frankenstein my new Romanian friend, thanks for sharing your wine. Jack, Don, everyone, it was a pleasure.

Dang Adan, I was hoping some of what went on at Henninger would at Henninger. Now you've let the cat out of the bag.:) Hope the razor wire on top of the fence didn't do any damage to your vital parts.

Thanks to you and others for the glowing reviews. It makes me think of the possibility of GGG/SoCal 2015.

Don, it was great! Who would have thought you could watch "Vertical Limit" on a Borahgami???!!! Plus the campsite was the one place in all of SoCal that got any rain Saturday night – when I got home, I kept looking out the window wondering why it wasn't overcast and raining!

Thanks for all the comments on the MLD 2.5, and to Andy and Candy for giving it a night's test! See you all next year, if not sooner!