GGG 2018

[chris smead]

Ok sent…and yes…my PayPal email is weird.  I was MUCH younger when I registered that email. ;)

[Ken Thompson]

Directions
The main entrance into Henry W. Coe State Park 13-miles east of Morgan Hill on East Dunne Avenue. From Highway 101 in Morgan Hill (1/2 hour south of San Jose), take the East Dunne Avenue exit and go east past Anderson Lake to the end of the county road to the park headquarters. The road to the park beyond Anderson Lake is 10 miles of narrow winding road. The trip will take about 30 minutes. If you are using a phone or navigation system in your vehicle, put in the full address to ensure you come to the right entrance you planned to visit.

Address: Henry W. Coe State Park, 9000 East Dunne Ave., Morgan HIll, CA 95037

Latitude/Longitude: 37.2110 / -121.5141

Hours
The Visitor Center is open on weekends from at least 8:00am to 4:00pm. In the spring and summer months, hours are 8:00am to 8:00pm on Fridays and 8:00am to 6:00pm Saturday and Sunday. Please note times may change without notice.

[David Gardner]

Gearing up for GGG X!

Making 1st Place Medallions for:

1. Wood Burn Off: Fastest to boil 500 ml of water with a wood stove (2 categories – regular and mechanically aspirated; Fuel: 12″ piece of 2×2 douglas fir, to be cut, chopped, saw, sliced, etc. as desired; No more than 5 grams of non-wood fire starter).

2. Alcohol Burn Off (2 categories – Fastest to boil 500 ml of water with an alcohol stove, and Least amount of alcohol to boil 500 ml of water).

3. Lightest saw (8 oz or less, capable of cutting douglas fir 2×2 in less than 30 seconds).

4. Fastest to saw through a fir 2×2.

5. Lightest Cook Kits: Min. 500 ml pot with lid, stove, windscreen, fuel container for 10 burns, eating utensil, repeatable ignition source. (4 categories: alcohol, esbit, wood, canister).

6. Lightest Trekking poles (2 categories: fixed length and adjustable, judged by grams/inch).

7. Fastest bear bag hanger (10 lb. load, a realistic estimate of the minimum weight of food at the beginning of a week-long trip).

8. Fastest to filter one liter of water.

See you all soon!

[BlackHatGuy]

“Gearing up for GGG X!”

Will there be a notch?

[David Gardner]

A notch? As in a Tarptent Notch? Don’t know. Anybody on this thread have one?

[BlackHatGuy]

Sorry David, I was trying to be funny (unsuccessfully, as is usually the case). The new iPhone X was belittled by some because it had a ‘notch’ at the top of the screen, so I was riffing on that…. (GGG X, iPhone X…)

[David Gardner]

Hey, no problem. I get it now. No notch, but it doesn’t work if you hold the antenna the wrong way!

[Matthew / BPL]

That’s actually pretty funny once explained.

[Ken Thompson]

Definitely going to do the tour of people’s set ups again.

[Steve S]

Ok, so for a newbie coming from out of state, I have a couple of questions that I don’t normally have to ask!?  Scratching my head a bit here…   so after looking at the map, and the park info; as a group do we walk in and have some vehicular support for the duration, or are we supposed to be going back and forth for water?  Haven’t been party to this style of group camp before. Usually its park at/near the group site/location, but once parked, your there. But that also allows you to bring everything in at once too.

Hope that makes sense? So a little bit of info for planning purposes would help here. Excited to come down and join in the festivities. Really looking forward to meeting fellow hikers for future adventures!

[Ken Thompson]

“as a group do we walk in and have some vehicular support for the duration, or are we supposed to be going back and forth for water“

The park lets us drive a couple of support vehicles in carrying wood and water. The vehicles make the trip in and stay parked until we drive out Sunday. You will have to carry some of your own water the three miles to camp as the on trail water tanks next to where we are staying are out of commission making it a dry camp this year.

You will park your vehicle after getting your parking permit and hike in whenever you please. We stream in over a long period. Chances are you will have company on the trail.

[Kattt]

Sent some $$ your way Ken.

Lets have a raffle to pick which good cause will get any extra moneys :) would be cool to see what organizations ( or individuals) our fellow GGGers care to support.

[Ken Thompson]

Thanks Kat.

In the past I have donated to the volunteer organization at Henry W Coe since they get no funding,

http://www.coeparkfund.org/content/pra.html

[Kattt]

Cool, thanks Ken.

[Ken Thompson]

Just four weeks from tomorrow.

[Sun L]

Newbie here, just paid for a BPL membership so that I could reply that I’m going to try to go and bring my daughters.

And when when I saw “newbie”, I mean to backpacking, not just the site. My first trip was an overnighter in Los Gatos back in November. The GGG X will be my 2nd trip. My 9yo & 12yo are keen to go backpacking, so I’ll bring one or both of them, too. :-)

Ken – do you still need help transporting water & firewood? I have a mid-size SUV (Acura MDX) and I’m fairly local, so I can help haul gear if needed.

[Ken Thompson]

Thanks and welcome Sun. I have transportation taken care of.

[Erica R]

Hi Ken T,

Newbie here, planning on coming. So…. seeing how Bass Pond and possibly Rabbit Spring have water that can be filtered why are you recommending carrying in water? Still trying to lighten my load :)

Manzanita Point Group Camps     Elevation:  2,270 feet – Distance from HQ:  2.6 miles
Giant manzanitas, ponderosa pines, and oaks shade this pleasant knoll at the east end of Pine Ridge.  The ten campsites in the area can be reserved for groups with 10 to 50 people, but there are almost always unreserved, unoccupied sites that backpackers can use.  Manzanita Point is a great destination for beginning backpackers, semi-lazy backpackers, and backpacking families with small kids.  All the sites have at least one picnic table and an outhouse nearby.  Although there is no treated water available in the camp, the water in nearby Bass Pond can be filtered and boiled for drinking.  Rabbit Spring, at the end of a little trail below site 10, often flows in winter and spring but is sometimes dry in summer and fall.

 

[Ken Thompson]

Double post.

But I will add that we will bring in 50 gallons or so.

[Ken Thompson]

Hello Erica,

The pond and the spring. Not really convenient sources for dozens of people over the course of a weekend. That is why the park installed the trailside tanks that we would be using if they had the money to fix.  This system worked for us before the tanks were there.

[Pedestrian]

That pond is one of the scummiest I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen a few of those!

You’d be out of your mind to even consider getting water from there……

I’ve no idea about the spring but I’d guess it’s probably not a great source how little rain we’ve had thus far this season.

I spend most weekends hiking the hills here in the Bay Area – from what I’ve seen this year most seasonal spring fed creeks have almost no water. Last year was a different story.

Ken knows what he’s doing so best not to second guess his planning and suggestions.

[Danny Milks]

I’ll be hiking in $500 worth of prizes, mostly titanium goodies, for the various competitions.

[Ken Thompson]

Thank you Danny and Massdrop.

You too Pedestrian.

I have no idea at this time how many people are planning on coming.

[Greg Mihalik]

I counted ~ 31 RSVPs.

[BlackHatGuy]

Often lots of people show up who never RSVPd, or didn’t do so in the forums.

[Author]

Posts