6th Annual Gathering of Gear Geeks 2014: Henry Coe State Park, California

Continued —

Home sweet home, Double Rainbow.

Swing time!

Nap time.

Littlest Hiker

Shadow Hikers

Bass Pond

Yes, there are fish in that pond!

Dragonfly

Acorn Woodpecker

All packed up

Hope to see you all next year!

Thanks to Jeremy, I got my Cheeseburger picture. In case you didn't get a chance to see it, here it is:

Had to add one more shot.

Hey, Tony, the cattle prod was Sharon's idea, not mine! (hmm, note to self: look up cattle prod prices on Amazon…)

Yes, after being there for 3 years in a row, I hated to miss the GGG this time. Thanks for posting all the great pictures and information, though; even though I couldn't be there, your pictures let me see the goings-on and feel connected. And wow, you even dredged up pictures of bygone brownies from your archive vault. :)

Great photos everyone!

Tony, Denise is the name of the dog owner (I remembered it well because that is my wife's name). Her dog is named "Zarah"??? not sure on the spelling.

@ Doug

Thanks for the information on Denise and Zara (Spelling???).

I made the corrections…more photos to come this week in the evening after I get home.

@ DK

Missed seeing you at the GGG this year…you could have met my wife, Pat, and see what sort of woman would be crazy enough to put up with me on a daily basis. So it was Sharon's idea to use a cattle prod on people. I am going to suggest to Ken that if we need crowd control that Sharon is in charge then. Please don't got to Amazon to buy a cattle prod….brings back fond memories when I was in prison….uh, need to schedule another appointment with my therapist.

Looked like a fun gathering. All ages. Smart site selection. Really cool to get a look at people's set ups and get a better idea of what they look like in use.

#0 Unknown Wood Burning Stove, unknown manufacture

That is the Suluk46 LCT Stove and the Suluk46 TDW Stove

Zpacks Hexamid Solo with inner netting and bathtub floor or Hexamid Soloplex Tent in Cuben 14.6 oz

That is the Hexamid Solo with NetTent. The SoloPlex has a new type of rain doors.

#26 Morning Conversation Someone told me that the man with the Red and White hat has hike the PCT as well as a number of the long and famous trails. Can someone give me more information about this remarkable man????

That is Joshua “Bobcat” Stacy.

Here is a photo of myself, Scott ‘Shroomer’ Williams and Joshua ‘Bobcat’ Stacy, down at China Hole. It was taken by Nancy Huber.

Shroomer and Nancy are both triple crowners (nancy had just got back from Patagonia!!) and I think Bobcat is going to finish up his TC this year — and rumor has it Ron ‘Fallingwater’ Moak will also finish up his TC this year.

Tony, thank you again for your documenting skills. I'm sure this took a lot of effort and time. I doubt I will ever make it to a GG but it certainly is nice to see so many interesting outdoors people having a ball.

I'm curious why the focus is mainly on tents and stoves (and I guess packs?). Quilts/bags are another big ticket item that I would think people would want to show off and compare. Or rain jackets. There's certainly a lot of forum wank over those. ;)

Did that packrafting trip people were talking about ever materialize?

Spelt, I think the lack of pics of quilts/bags is because most people set up their shelters with their stuff in it, then walked over to the main group area. So most people's quilts/bags were in their shelters w/doors closed.

The packrafting trip didn't happen – I don't know that any of the creeks in Coe are flowing right now. And the creek they were going to raft is the frozen one in the pic above your post anyway…

Spelt,

Andrew was right…nailed it.

Two things were going on regarding my lack of shots of quilts, sleeping bags, and other smaller gear.

1. I arrived late to the GGG so I was running around to take pictures of shelters and cooking gear…cooking gear because it was dinner time.

2. A lot of shelters were closed up, so a lack of access

I normally like to get more shots of people making dinner and showing close ups of the various setups that people used.

In generally, this year's photo essay was lacking vs. my prior ones.

Next year, I will make a point of getting their earlier to do a better job of documenting and to hopefully some shots of sleeping setups.

Honestly, I was not planning on going to the GGG initially, but given all the work that Ken puts into this, along with others, I decided that the least that I could do is to document it and to post up the photos….do my part to contribute.

Next year, I will make a point of trying to get a bigger variety of shots….even I get tired of just shelters and cooking gear.

Tony

Hey Tony, Andrew, thank you for replying. That makes perfect sense.

I thanked Tony in a PM but wanted to do it publicly as well. I've posted a lot of my own trip reports from outings I've done (primarily motorcycle tours), and I know how much work and how time consuming it is. The efforts put in by folks like Tony, who documents events, will help draw the crowds and peak the curiosity of new folks for the future events.

A lot of work went in to organizing this event and making it happen by Ken and others. Having it documented in photos for all to enjoy adds nicely to it.

To everyone who attended the GGG,

I need your help because I showed up late at this year's GGG and missed out on some critical photos.

Dan, from Zelph Stoves, donated over $300 of his stoves to be given away FREE at this year's GGG.

The box originally contained 21 "Venom Super Stoves", 4 "Fancee Feest" stoves, 6 "Modified StarLyte burners" with cap, 6 "original StarLyte burners" with cap, 12 "carbon felt simmer discs" that could be used with the StarLyte burners, the 12-10 stove and Flatcatgear's titanium alcohol stove.

I don't have ANY photos of Dan's Stoves or showing any of the lucky people who was lucky enough to receive one of his stoves.

To anyone who was fortunate enough to get one of Dan's stoves, could you please email me a photo of yourself holding his stove or any pictures you have from the GGG with Dan's stove? (Heck, I don't mind if you take a picture today at your house holding his stove).

Dan made a HUGE and Generous donation to the GGG and the least that I/we can do is to make sure that the photo essay shows his stoves and his generosity.

You can email me any pictures you have to friskyrn @ yahoo.com

$300 of donated gear is a lot for a cottage manufacture.

Thanks for your help…just trying to do right by Dan for all of his efforts.

Tony

Updated the photo essay.

Enjoy!