GGG 2024

[Catherine D]

Thank you David Gardner for organizing and running this! I had such a good time and enjoyed conversations with my fellow gear heads who want to be out on a rainy weekend talking gear.

I really enjoyed meeting some of the folks I have read over the years on BPL. So many of my techniques came directly from your posts. And also great to meet the new generation – special shout out to Tyler – seeing that amazing stove was a highlight.

Katt, I was hoping to meet you. Next time!

[Kattt]

Hi Catherine,

sorry to have missed you too! Catch you next time :)

[David Gardner]

I think some of my gear might finally be starting to dry out… maybe

[Tyler R]

Hey guys!

Man that was an awesome trip! Thank you all so much, what an amazing group. So glad I got to come up and meet you BPL legends in person!

 

David T – one of the first thing I did when I got home late sunday night was look into paint coatings with high IR emissivity like you suggested. Boy did I go down a boron nitride paint rabbit hole. Thanks a ton for that insight/idea, I’m excited to try it and see if it has any measurable effects on my particular pots.

 

David G – I’m still trying to dry my gear too. haha. As far as getting your hands on an HX pot; Honestly you all gave me a solid injection of inspiration to get back at the HX pot project and follow through where I left off with it a while ago. I feel the timing for that is perfect too now that I’m out of school and finally wrapping up the Pad-Pal inflator project as I try to bring the finalized design to market. Thus I decided on my drive home I’ll make a few more HX prototypes and see where they take the project, so I’ll be sure to keep you updated on it! :)

 

Bob – I’d love to meet up! Feel free to send a private message my way so we can exchange contact info. I live in North Park in SD so we are pretty close to each other! :D

 

Manfred – your too kind man! I’ll definitely keep in touch with you as I work to get another couple HX prototypes going to see if any of them would be something you’d like to test on the PCT or not, this coming season.

[David Thomas]

Great company during some tough weather.  My flight delays got me to the trailhead after dark and each time the wind died down for 5-10 minutes and I’d consider hiking in the dark to get there.  Then the wind would pick up again – gusting to 50 mph at times – buffeting my rental car around, and I’d think, “Nah, I’m good sleeping here.”

The hot tents were game changers / savers.  Much thanks to Katt and Manfred!  It’s really got me thinking about adding one to my quiver.  The one Great White Hunter trip I took with a hot tent was with a massive army-style tent that had to be dragged from the boat to a very close campsite.  I’ve long known of the UL versions you can bring with you, but that’s different than using one.

Tyler’s HX pot was amazing – not only its specs and the obvious technical tour de force but how deeply knowledgeable Tyler clearly is and how he’d pulled it all together on his own.

Richard: I never knew we had such overlap in the caving community in the 1990s.

Peter: Sorry I missed you, but thanks for the Sterno – it worked perfectly on the poached fish (poached in white wine, not poached out of season!).  I learned you can replenish a Sterno can with liquid denatured alcohol and it works fine as a cat-can stove.  So I saved the empties and will reuse them next time I’m the seafood chef in remote parts of California (twice in 2024 so far).

Cathy, I wanted to follow up with you about the snow camping you been doing – I’ve long pondered a UL snow-camping RV – a 7-foot-long sled that is a pulk, gear transport, and heated shelter.  Built like my wooden kayaks, it would be around 60 pounds but weathertight and warm inside.

Manfred: All the best on your PCT!  I’m curious what trail name you’ll be given!

DavidG: Thanks for organizing yet another GGG!  I was good to get an update on your life and kids.

[Manfred]

David T.

I’ll go with the trail name that was bestowed on me on the JMT:  The Navigator

You can read the background story on the ‘About’ page of my PCT Blog

[peter v]

crikey, that was a wet one, eh ?

thank David for putting this together, everything worked splendidly.

thanks to our lovely Kat for her foresight/effort to bring that huge tent and wood heater, one with a window no less !

for my money, Manfred’s shtick on how to run off a polar bear with a nalgene bottle, and this being based upon how well you play poker, was a highlight of the weekend. peter plays poker rather poorly, roughly 8.6 oz worth .. apparently.

Manfred is 100% correct though, and it would be a fine thing if we could get him to post his wisdom on the subject.

tent wise ; hilleberg enan, wind, rain, storm, etc = warm and dry.

thanks to all, you made it a very decent time.

cheers,

v.

[Manfred]

Peter,

Those were only grizzly bears – not polar bears. Thank you for giving me your gloves. They helped a lot during the hike in the rain. Since you left before me I still need to return them to you. How do I best do that?

[Jane Baack]

Manfred, We have a cabin about 3 miles from Donner Pass Road/Old Hwy. 40. For the PCT hike I noted that someone will meet you for re-supply.  There is a store in Soda Springs for groceries, too. I don’t know when I will be up there but if you needed help I would definitely try to help you or any of your friends/family with a free stay with us, driving, etc.  Please e-mail me at: [email protected] and I can give you our phone number and more info.  It’s a very special location, not open to the public. Good luck for a great hike! Hope to figure out how to follow along.  ??

 

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