GGG 2024

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!

Hi Catherine,

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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?

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: jane@thebaacks.com 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.  ??