Bay Area GGG Host

I'm sure I'll get drawn and quartered for suggesting this but it seems that by moving the GGG further away from the bay area, it'll reduce the size back to something you are more comfortable with.

I understand both Doug's and John's sentiments, and there are benefits to both types of meets. I'm comfortable with and grateful for both formats. I'm just glad there's a meet at all – had nothing like this when I was in the Northeast and was simply amazed by the first GGG I was able to attend. Perhaps there could be a smaller Point Reyes/Trinity Alps (or similar space) one and a larger annual one to satisfy all.

since most of the appeal of a GGG is social and not much hiking related at that particular time, i like the idea of Briones.
we could just prop Ken up against his van, and bring him food/drink offerings, which are to laid (respectfully, will bowed head) at his feet.
… unless it's drink. then you have to punch thru the cloud of smoke, and hand it to him.

Thank You Ken(and friends)for your efforts.

v.

Just to clarify… I am not all that gung-ho on companies attending a GGG. It is something that just happened and after a year or two a few more companie started showing up, so I thought if such was going to continue to happen, we might as well keep it going. That said, I would be for shutting down the GGG to companies. It would reduce a lot of the non-personal side of things that seemed to have happened over the last year. I recall Ken and I talking on the way home back in January about how many people probably would *not* have attended if the gear companies that were there, would not have been there. There were folks there clearly to check out gear that the companies brought. This is/was not a bad thing, it just happened. No doubt a lot of the "good'ol'boys" aspects of the GGG has been lost in this happening.

All that to say… August is upon us in another day and that only leaves five months before the next GGG, if there is going to be one, and if somebody out there is going to step-up and take on the duties that Ken has been doing, that person would clearly have the ability to say "no more companies allowed", and I think that would go over rather well with the vast majority of the folks that have attended the GGG for years — so this would be one less issue you (whoever you might be) would have to deal with.

Just saying.

I say the person with the most good suggestions automatically gets drafted. So far it has been between you and Aaron, but I think you're it. (makes tag and runs like the devil)

Thanks for volunteering John. Where are you going to have it? When can we expect the first informational mailing? ;-)

Aaron recently retired… he has a lot more time to do such than I do :-D

Be a host. Get in on some love from the BPL family. It doesn't hurt. Just takes some planning and some organization skills.

Thank you to everyone for all the comments.

I had to laugh when I got the message from Aaron stating he didn't want to set something up that was 9 hours away from him.

It's funny because that is exactly what I have been doing.

If people want a GGG bad enough it will happen.

I'm not worried.

I suppose Monterey would be too far? ….

Host first. Location second.

Ken, did you ever check out Jackson State Forest?

Position still available

No, I have not Justin.

i have been trolling the web, and i see that one can not even get a beer/wine permit at briones.
so, that rather tosses the venue out of the mix.
but del valle (livermore) seems more companionable to such things. if they are open at that date i have no idea, but there is a sweet hike out of there to Murieta Falls, which is kind'a cool, and it's closer to Ken by 90 minutes i think.
it has a nice entrance road, which is not nearly as Ducati friendly and Henry Coe. but then, i don't have a Ducati. although, i wish i did.

i, just speaking for myself, am hardly put off with using a car camping site if that's what comes down. because, to my way of thinking, ggg is a social, not a hiking event.
it's not like a ggg is any sort of a real trek anyway. most of the effort's in the driving there. (unless you're Ken)( … and friends).

so : throw peter a bone.
a. – how many people actually attended Ken's Last Fling ?
b. – what is the proposed date of this 2015 affair ?

these are things i should already know.. but, it's pretty much of a small effortless bone, so just toss it to me.

v.

a) 75+

b) Mid winter has been tradition. Usually get a break of good weather in January. Last couple were around President's Day weekend.

I really appreciate all the work you've put into these GGG events, Ken. This year was the first I've attended, so I have no perspective regarding the earlier, smaller gatherings. So coming from the perspective that I have, I'd have to agree with John about my feelings of a bigger group versus a smaller one. It seems to me that the GGG had three primary goals…1) to combat cabin fever, 2) to share the latest and greatest gear, 3) to meet new like-minded people and possible future trail buddies.

At least that was my perception of it, so feel free to point me in the right direction if that is wrong. In light of this, I can see a real downside of a small gathering as it only really accomplishes one out of the three goals. I think the more folks you have, the better a chance of seeing gear you hadn't thought of, and obviously the better chance of meeting new prospective hiking partners.

I can honestly say that the biggest thing that impressed me with the GGG was how welcoming it was of folks like me, newer members. If I thought it was going to be a gathering of a core group of 15 or so folks that came year after year, I'd never have shown up. Nobody wants to feel like the outsider or FNG on the team.

Anyways, those are just my thoughts on it. I'm grateful for all the time and effort that have brought them about. I don't have the free time to devote to organizing such an event/ gathering, so maybe I should keep my mouth shut. ;-)

"I don't have the free time to devote to organizing such an event/ gathering, so maybe I should keep my mouth shut. ;-)"

Nah, all opinions are welcome and valid. But here's the thing, everyone seems to love the GGG, but very, very few people seem to be willing to help put it together. And there's the rub…..

so, presidents day.
at least when it was Washington's birthday, we had something to celebrate. lately .. not so much. ( well, factually, nothing at all )
but can we assume that the weekend of Feb 13 – 15 is acceptable ?

is there some form of confirmation that is officially required ?
or can one simply proclaim that the 2015 west coast GGG will be on a rainy (very) weekend in Feb of the 14-15 ?

cheers,
v.

So the domain I bought (gggwest.com) will expire on 10/2/2014

I talked with Ken and he had no desire to keep it going for another year, cannot blame him.

Unless somebody steps forward and takes over the GGG for 2014 that wants to keep this domain, I am just going to let it expire.

Bumping this request from John but it may be too late to renew. Hopefully someone will be able to host the GGG 7.

I have made the decision NOT to have a traditional GGG in 2015. This does not necessarily mean that there will not be one in 2016.

If someone decides to something, I'd love an invite.

Have a happy holiday season. Best wishes for grand adventures in 2015.

The easiest way around this and to have a GGG7 was for someone to do the following.

Book the Madrone Group Camping spot (50 people) for Friday and Saturday.
Location of Madrone in at Samuel P. Taylor Park.
Then book 5 other sites for Saturday.

This could give us an easy 100 people for $625 in reservation fees.
Charge $20 for each person to get the money back and if anyone else wants to reserve another spot, it's all good.

Easy as can be. Not much work to be done as it's a drive up parking.
There's really pretty trails around as well.

Samuel P. Taylor is in the location everyone seems to want.
You can have a much better show and tell, gear swap, and what not.
There is also no other work that needs to be done, (other than getting some gear makers to come).

This is not going to be me, but would be nice if someone could at least step up and get the ball rolling.

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.

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Samuel P. Taylor is a wonderful location. If I wasn't in grad school and broke, I would take the lead. Next year hopefully.

You are all overthinking this. Just set it up as a "self-service" get together. Pick a place that has lots of campsites and is not busy in a certain month.

Post the weekend date.

Tell everyone it is up to them to contact the campground and make reservations. In the first page of the post keep it updated with who has reserved a site:

Site 1: Ken
Site 2: Doug and unnamed woman
Site 3: ….. etc.

Organized events are not a big attraction to many people. So you can just list what people want…. those who are interested will get together as a non-event.

Sat Night: Pot Luck
Sat Afternoon: Gear Swap
Sun Morning: Show and Tell

For things such as transportation let the members contact each other via PM.

I agree Nick +1 on
You are all overthinking this. Just set it up as a "self-service" get together.

Everyone is full of ideas.

Nobody has done a thing. Yak, yak…

"If I wasn't broke" "If I didn't live 8 hours away"

I've done my turn. Broke and 8 hours away.

Excuses, excuses.

This is as disappointing as the Western Box fiasco.

So is David going to take the lead in 2016?

Aaron should stop posting unless he's going to do something. Seriously.

I'm not inclined to be nice this morning.

"Tell everyone it is up to them to contact the campground and make reservations. In the first page of the post keep it updated with who has reserved a site:"

Who does the updates. Who babysits? There will be some baby sitting Nick

Very naive on your part.

Edit: I have pressed the stop watching this thread button.