NorCal GGG XI

[David Gardner]

Good question. I have not asked! I will do that when I call later this week to see if the road can be driven on.

[David Gardner]

Also wanted to mention that five parking spaces are included with the camp site reservation I made. One is for me, one is for Erik G. and his 4×4 so we can hopefully make one run to the site with water and wood. The other three are up for grabs on a first come, first serve basis. After the five permits are claimed, everyone else will need to pay $8/day for parking.

[Steve S.]

I’ll take one of those spaces, David @gearmaker . I plan to arrive at the park on Friday morning.

Does anybody else want to go in early, and ride with me from San Jose or nearby on Friday morning?

[Jane Baack]

Weather reports look good for Coe for entire weekend. Hope that holds up! Encouraging for those that want to stay overnight or for those coming just for the day.

[Richard Niemi]

David Gardner I’ll be happy to take one of those spaces. I’ll be arriving Friday noonish or earlier if things go right.

 

[David Gardner]

Called and left a voicemail at the park station asking about road conditions into the campsite. Haven’t heard back yet, but will post as soon as I do.

Regarding the parking permits, three are taken (1 for me, 2 for GGGers that offered to drive in with 4×4 vehicles). I’ll see if I can put names on the remaining two. If they won’t let me, then it’s first come, first served.

I was also thinking it would be great if everyone can bring a roll of toilet paper, so we can keep the facility supplied.

Really looking forward to this everyone! See you soon.

[Kattt]

What is the tentative count, including day hikers?

 

I am hoping to take my final tonight AND to convince Chris not to work for half a day tomorrow..

[David Gardner]

@Kat: I think the count is 15-20 on Saturday.

Just spoke to the rangers. They’re about to test the roads and will call me, but I’ll be on the road by then. They said they were “cautiously optimistic” but just in case everyone should be prepared to bring in their own water and firewood.

[Steve S.]

Thank you, David @gearmaker , for setting up the event and making it happen.

I was the last one to leave the site. After all of you left, I still managed to find over 20 pieces of readily visible trash, including a well-weathered Corona bottle in plain site from Michael’s tent spot.

Great weather along with interesting and personable folks made for a pleasant weekend.

[Kattt]

We popped in for a very short visit. Nice to say hi to a few friends and that is about all we got do; Chris was his quiet self but enjoyed the hike and meeting some folks he had been hearing about for a long time, plus seeing Casey again.

Coe was very crowded as the weather was great. The drive was nice as well.

Nice hammock set up Rick!

 

[Ken Thompson]

Trip report, photos?

[Rex Sanders]

Photos coming. 1 MB BPL limit is a pain.

— Rex

[Rex Sanders]

A few photos from the 2019 GGG in Henry Coe State Park, California.

We had about 11 people overnight on Friday, and a similar number Saturday. Several people day-hiked in on Saturday – peak population was around 15.

Weather was beautiful. State Parks wouldn’t let us drive vehicles in because of a tree (barely) blocking the road, but they did deliver water and firewood on an ATV. Most of us carried in a lot of water.

If you have people names, tent names, and other descriptions to add, please let me know soon, I’ll edit this entry.

Wood-fired stove burn-off.

How many GGGers does it take to watch water boil? Alcohol stove race was a two-way tie, with one DNF.

The Shelter Tour begins with a hammock this year.

I believe this is a Zpacks Altaplex, recently discontinued.

David Gardner extolling the virtues of a Black Diamond First Light.

Rick shows off a hammock with an impressive camouflaged tarp.

The smallest and tallest setup in camp – a tarp and polycryo, with a 22-foot ham radio mast above.

In previous years we’ve seen virtual forests of Zpacks Duplex tents; this year, only one.

So it gets two photos from different angles and with different admirers.

Here’s a night-time shot of my own tent, post-tour, since I was too busy talking to take photos. A Tarptent Moment-not-DW, with some minor modifications, including bungie cord at the stakes to reduce sagging, and loops-with-bars to hold doors open instead of tying knots in slippery grosgrain ribbon. I’ve “outgrown” this tent via increased pad height, and I’m done with silnylon’s many issues; looking for another tent probably in DCF or silpoly.

Chemlights made a brief late-night return appearance.

Pretty hard to cram a nice GIF animation into 1 MB, but this works.

And of course, lots of philosophizing by the fire late into the evening.

Seemed like everyone had a good time.

— Rex

[David Thomas]

I had a good time. Thanks to DavidG for all the organizational work.  I sensed a theme of romance – between the newlyweds and the newly-engaged couple that came.  OTOH, single, geeky white dudes were also well represented – I was one of 8?, 9? engineers in attendance.

I think I won the “furthered traveled” at 2,156 miles and the “meet the meat” contest with caribou pastrami, salmon spread, and native-style smoked sockeye salmon.

Casey, Jane and I had a great time chatting about Inverness, sailing, cooking, talented spouses and smart kids on the way to and from Berkeley while carpooling.

I’m a decent cook and my wife is better, but Casey married well – Emily is a fabulous cook with skills far beyond normal mortals. My new nefarious scheme is to get her to Adak so I can learn how to best butcher and prepare caribou in new and tasty ways.

[Ken Thompson]

Looks like a nice time.

[Richard Niemi]

Thank you Kat!

[Richard Niemi]

Awesome trip David G! Thank you for organizing it. And Thank you David T for the awesome wild meat treats and other goodies!

 

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