PNW GGG is a GO!

Request sent

I think I'd like to join y'all, but if I do, do I actually have to talk to anybody?

Ian, could you put me down as coming. Will send payment soon. Thanks.

You got it Marc! Glad to see you're coming.

5 spots left.

Road Trip!

Love road trips! I bet that VW is going to be a riot on the way up!

Edit: three spots left as of 1/22/15.

Can I join? I'm on Bainbridge island.does anyone near the olympics want to hike in the mean time?

Hi Russell! Right now it's easier to post this here than respond to your other message.

Yes there's three spots left, and now just two since one has your name on it. Paypal $15 to ianbloom87 at gmail dot com when you get a chance.

My schedule is pretty full for the next couple months thanks to skiing (if we ever get any damn snow!) and hockey. Hit me up early spring or post something here in Hiking Partner/Group Trip Announcements here and I'll keep an eye out for it.

I brought it up before, but I want to do a group BPL hike on the 30 mile section of the PCT between White Pass and Chinook Pass. Great scenery, trail is suitable for a variety of hiking abilities (something this slowpoke appreciates), tons of good camping sites, and know of one good fishing spot where you can pull out trout as fast as you cast your line.

I'll post something about this in June and will likely target a weekend in later August or September.

If I'm still here, I'd be up for a hike along the PCT.

Moving? I know you'll (hopefully) be at the PNWGGG but if you're going to be gone before the proposed PCT hike, make sure you hit me up for a trip before you leave.

Some people have "do not hike with lists"

I have "Dude we're going on a hike someday list."

Is anyone driving through/from Port Angeles on their way to this? It would be fun to pop over from Victoria, BC but it's too expensive to bring the car across.

I'll send out a group email next week and see if there's anyone coming from Victoria or PA. Could you take the ferry to Bellingham and ride with someone from there? I've taken the ferry between PA and Victoria but I'm not familiar with where the other ones go.

We will be coming over from Whidbey and can pick up in Port Angeles if needed.

Edit- It is apparently a $4, 90min bus ride from PA to PT, if you are agreeable to such things

Thanks Ozzy!

Let me know if this works out so I don't add more chaos to the process by asking for help for a situation that's already been resolved.

Ozzy
Thanks for the ride offer. I'd certainly be happy to bus over to Port Townsend for a ride down (I presume this is what you meant by PA to PT). I'm still working on spousal approval so I'm not sure yet if I can make it, but I'll keep this in mind.

Ian
Thanks for all your work in coordinating this entire event. It sounds like riding with Ozzy is a very viable option. I'm new to Victoria and not well versed in the ferry situation, but the ferry to Seattle is quite expensive (>$100 each way), while the Bellingham ferry appears to not be operating but if it was it would also be expensive because it's a much longer ride than PA. The PA ferry is $16 ea way.

There's no need to do anything further at this point. I'll work on spousal approval and if so, I'll talk with Ozzy. I'd love to make it out to this and have a shameless gear geek-out.

Dan,

I'm holding a spot for you. We'll figure out a way to get you from PA to the GGG assuming your wife signs off.

Alcon,

PNW GGG is now full. Most of the attendees PM'd me and there were a couple who wanted to keep their names off of the thread.

All I will say at this point is to plan on having a blast as this is a great group!

For anyone who wants to come, please feel free to reserve an individual spot on your own and walk over to the main event.

My limited experience has been that 90% of the fun and enjoyment comes from socializing and informal comparisons and discussions of gear. I've asked one person to come as a guest speaker; still waiting for confirmation. I have a handful of give-aways and will have more before the event.

I'll try to get some information on local day hikes but will leave the majority of that research in your capable hands.

I'm planning on a 2-3 day hike afterwards although I'm not sure where yet. Please feel free to continue this conversation on this thread.

"I'll try to get some information on local day hikes … "

http://www.wta.org is a great resource!

The Mount Rose Trail (http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/mount-rose) is very close to the campsite

Of course we will be at the doorstep to the SE Olympics. Here are several hikes with trailheads at the head end of the lake, at the Staircase entrance to Olympic National Park:

http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/dry-creek
http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/camp-pleasant
http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/black-white-lakes
http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/copper-creek-2
http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/flapjack-lakes

FYI, I haven't been to any of these destinations.

The lake and the North Fork Skokomish River have packrafting and kayaking opportunities, as well as Hood Canal. You can rent outboard skiffs at the Lake Cushman Resort too. The water is COLD.

There are many hiking opportunities going north on Highway 101 along Hood Canal. Head the other way takes you out to the Pacific Beaches and on north to the Hoh River, Forks, and on around to Port Angeles, the Elwah River (with fresh dam removal), Hurricane Ridge, Deer Park, etc.

You will need bear cans in the park and I recommend bear safety when we camp. Been there and seen 'em :) Raccoons can be a bigger problem with food than bears: the raccoons at the Pacific Beaches will walk right into your camp in broad daylight.

As for hiking, I am looking at doing something for a few days right after the GGG. Olympic snow pack is at 9% right now. If it remains that low, there should be plenty of open trails.

Food cache aka bear hang wires are installed at a number of camping sites in the Staircase Area: Spike Camp, Big Log Camp, Camp Pleasant, Nine Stream, Two Bear Camp, Home Sweet Home, Flapjack Lakes, Four Stream.

Not speaking from experience, just quoting from the Olympic National Park website at

http://www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/wilderness-food-storage.htm#CP_JUMP_30433

Just did an overnight to Flapjack Lakes a few weekends ago, and it's a pretty spot. The trails that lead out of Staircase can connect to a multitude of destinations, pick your route and go. The only issue is the lottery for permits in the summertime to some of the locations. I haven't fully researched it, but anyone wanting to go overnight into the BC should start researching now, and submit for a permit…

I'll be bringing a free meet and greet gift for anyone who wants a few.

I end up with all these (unused! sterile) left over specimen containers that are liquid proof, super light (< 1/2 or 1/4 oz) and hold about 45 ml. Great for creamer, salt, soap, matches, whathaveyou.

I won't start blowing up your email inboxes until we get a little closer to Gx3-day but it'll be here before you know it. I've "watched" this thread from the get-go but see that there have been a few posts since the last time I checked it that I never received an email on. If you have a question for me, please feel free to email me; address is listed in the OP.

I've only been to two GGGs but found that it's best to keep these officially disorganized. The gear portion of these things tend to be an organic process so I'm not going to try and run this like a convention or anything.

With that being said, having a presentation or two would be nice. If anyone has anything in mind, please feel free to shoot me a message and we'll discuss this further. Just bear in mind that some people will take off for a few hours here and there during the daytime to hit a local trail.

Also, I was thinking we could have a dirty Santa of sorts Saturday night before the festivities. It's been a while since I've built an alky stove so I was thinking about going hog wild and building one to trade. Respond here if you'd like to participate.

If not a dirty Santa in June, maybe a alky stove beauty pageant?

I can't remember if the whole shebang starts off Friday night, or if everyone will arrive Saturday. I have a conflict for Friday night that I'm not sure I can weasel out of, so I was hoping that it was Saturday/Sunday. We'll still show up Saturday.

What's a dirty Santa? Sounds like a weird cocktail.

It'll start Friday afternoon and we have to be off of the campsite by noon on Sunday.

There are a few variations I've seen of the dirty Santa but my thought was that we'd wrap the stoves beforehand, we'd all draw numbers, pick a stove off of the table, if you don't like the options left on the table, you can grab one and force someone who already has a stove to swap with you.

The way this typically plays out is the person who draws the last number is in the strongest position and the person who draws 1 is in the weakest and is left at the mercy of the group if they get a great item, in this case a stove.