GGG 2023 Gathering of Gear Geeks

ha, a glorious new thread !

sooo. back in the day, they (park stewards) would allow us to bring in one vehicle, weather/mud permitting.

that vehicle was several times chuck full of home brewed ale, and THAT was a fine thing. one can not however rely on such benevolent generosity as a matter of course, and because of that, i suspect that there might well be room in the possibly-allowed-vehicle (pav) for a tank of propane, or two. i have propane in abundance. now, propane can be burned, and it looks like it’s acceptable to the park after reading their website, in a “fire pit”. such a contraption is by nature, an odious device reeking of hipcamp dystopia, but it’s probably all we can get away with.

Peter, are you asking if someone has one of those $200-400 propane-fueled patio fireplaces around which people could warm themselves in a smoke-free setting?  A full 20-pound (40 pounds of steel + propane) will run such a unit for 35-40 hours on high.   A bit of Googling finds units from 17 (for a camping version), through 35 to 100 pounds.

Out or respect for its grand tradition as the original-and-still-the-best, the 2023 GGG warranted its own thread.

Jon Fong can’t make it this year, but is sending some new and tried-and-true Flat Cat Gear products to give away as prizes.

We get two vehicles going in, weather permitting. No in-and-out, they must remain in until departure. My little Ford Focus isn’t going to cut it on the dirt roads there, so I’m looking for 1 or 2 vehicles that can handle it. We need to haul in 2-3 gallons of potable water per person at a minimum. And ale of course. Hopefully some small commemorative ceramic cups. Maybe a few fire extinguishers too, just in case. A nice big propane-fired fire pit/patio fireplace and 1-2 BBQ tanks would be great. Someone brought one in years past.

Peter V, what are you driving?

David Thomas, don’t you need to visit some relatives in Inverness or something?

WISNER! It’s been a few years. Would be great to see you again. Stop by Maverick’s for a few waves while you’re in the neighborhood.

Erik G, bring la familia mi hermano!

Rick Neimi, there’s no way you’re going to beat my new and improved wood stove this year.

Jane Baack, get there by 2:00 p.m. Friday and we’ll give you a ride in if you want!

Who else is coming?

I’m a definite maybe – especially if I don’t find a new job by then.  I would be driving up from SoCal.

Maybe here

Bob, it would be great if you can make it but I can’t say I hope you don’t find a new job instead.

Matthew, this is the year.

Sorry, this takes place over the first weekend after I am back at teaching. Too hectic of a time for travel…not to mention I will be coming off of backpacking trips to the Sierra in the two weeks prior. Thank you for the invitation David. Enjoy everyone!

I’m planning to attend with my 7 year old son, and the Battlewagon is more than ready to haul supplies, packs, etc into the campsite. I have a propane fire pit and at least one 20 lb tank which we can bring as well.

Are the potable water tanks “up and running” again? If not I can also schlep in several gallons of water.

Let me know if can help with any other logistics. We are super duper excited and looking forward to it!

well ok .. i operate a 2007 toyota Yaris hatchback. it’s like a little truck and i use it to haul everything.

i have been, of late, pondering the possible charms of lighting the area. at first i thought about strings of battery led lights. i have a couple of strings for the tent/hammock, but they really don’t put out much actual lumins. so then i mutated into thinking about coleman lamps and tiki torches, soon enough then that seemed like i’d be temping the open-fire nazies. so pooh pooh to that dramatic and excellent idea. then i became temporarily fixated on flashlights. i have half a dozen of little AAA battery cheapie ones, and can get more pretty much free from cabelas because they sell then in 6-packs. with batts too. now .. these things put out a goodly amount of light, but it’s in a beam, so it needs aimed, and sure as God made little green apples, it would not be aimed in the right spot of else be in somebody’s eyes. flashlights needed some form of deflector or diffuser. i tried several shapes of reflector and am not happy with them, so then i made a diffuser cone out of paper. at home i found very very thin and painfully retro thin paper from Japan. it made a warm and charm filled cone of cream colored light. i could see them hanging from a line, the swaying cones gently bathing the group area in asian paper serenity. i’d a done that too .. but they are extremely delicate, and so i started dorking around with cones made of silnylon. now THAT was more like it. i lost the meditative tranquility with it’s oriental paper lantern association, but still … it’s sil, and it’s a ggg. the issue came up that the silnylon cones wanted to collapse too soon in the taper, which i solved by incorporating an O’ring about half way up. now then, we had a pretty sweet light, and it could hang nicely from line or tree.

along about then, i got to thinking that i should really be earning a living, and had a thought of “it’s a shame there isn’t something already existing that makes light in a nice diffused way, and comes in colors, and can hang on a string, and can do this for a long evening, and won’t start a fire … ” oh ya ,, lightsticks. duhhh ..

deep research i can source cyalume sticks off of ebay. and i suspect that’s what i’m going to do. lightsticks. plenty, or few, as seems appropriate. colors too. they even have little ones, so we can toss a few out where the camp road spits off the main track for late arrivals.

that was my ponderings so far.

I like the glow stick idea. From my Sierra club days… if enough people bring those Luci or other brand inflatable solar lights they can be hung from a cord and make decent ambient light when fire is banned.  I’m interested to see that canister candle too.

2 pack of solar power fairy light: 80 feet for $11.

On Amazon

I’m a maybe – don’t know my work schedule yet for that week (end).

Can’t wait for the trip and to see your new flaming wood stove system.

“flaming wood stove system” – Shhh!

Called the rangers and, as suspected, no wood or charcoal fires are permitted, and there is no potable water at the site. We’ll be bringing in as much water as we can fit in 2 vehicles but bring your Sawyer’s just in case.

I’m very interested in seeing new shelters, esp. those not made of DCF. Remember it’s tick season, so consider tents vs. tarps. I just bought an inexpensive ($38) 1/2 net tent similar to the Serenity NetTent, over which I can pitch my Pocket Tarp if I need it.

Will the site allow hammock camping?  How far is the hike in?

Lots of people use hammocks there. Hike is about 2.5 miles from the ranger station, another 1/2 mile from the overflow dirt parking where 90% of people end up, with a couple hundred feet of elevation. On the Yosemite mountaineering/climbing scale the route is probably 1.3.

I’m a maybe!

Should be finishing up the JMT around that time, so if the schedule lines up just right, I can head there as soon as I get off the trail.

Excellent! Have a great hike. What kind of shelter are you using? Do you have a gear list on lighterpack.com or similar?

we’re pretty sure we have the lighting worked out. a bag of those little glowy sticks and a brace of LED lanterns from HSN, along with a coleman wann’a-be style adjustable LED lantern.

even made up a tastefully dim’ish hanging LED flashlight disffuser lampshade to light the potty for the kids.

last time i was there they even had a picnic table, or two. which, that was nice.

i even dug out an old BigAgnus Whetstone shelter for some shade.

being as this is in california, one may want a portable chair, as saturday may get warm and long.

Thanks David!

Shelter: Currently I’m planning to do a MYOG shelter. Pretty excited about it, I just got all the supplies in the mail yesterday so I’ll be working on that over the next week or two. When its done, it should be a very weird tarp that looks like an solomid, pocket tarp, and Ounce Designs tarp all got together and had a Silpoly baby. Aiming at ~8 Oz for the tarp, ~7 Oz for the Silpoly poncho bathtub floor, and ~2 Oz for the removable perimeter netting skirt.

If the MYOG shelter doesn’t work out, I’ll be using my Zpacks pocket tarp, Zpacks bathtub poncho, and MYOG net tent that attaches to the poncho that I used on my last JMT hike. https://imgur.com/a/vMcrKEd

Here’s my lighter pack for the trip so far. (DISCLAIMER, I make and sell 2 items on the list)

https://lighterpack.com/r/kkq4i1

Peter v: Excellent. Thanks!

Tyler: Cool. Which two?

I’m going to try and attend. It will be my first GGG.

David: I sell the 8.5 gram electric sleeping pad inflator (called the Pad-Pal V5.1 on that list), which has been an incredibly fun and rewarding project thus far! And the second item is just that simple BeFree backflushing kit (should be noted that its unknown if this damages the filter).