Who do you miss on BPL and why?

Dan McHale — knowledge

Peter Vacco — knowledge (I had the privilege of spending time with him on two different occasions during the past 3 months)

Delmar O’Donnel — enthusiasm

Joe Annese (rarely), Christian Edstrom (none since ‘the transition from hell’), and I haven’t seen Ralph Burgess around in quite a while.

I already said it, but I miss Bob Gross and it stings a bit more than others that left on their own volition. He was really a wealth of knowledge on many subjects, from lightweight gear to photography; he had  decades of experience backpacking in the Sierra and had some great adventures overseas…

He could irritate people… but I met him when he came to my house and we hiked to my trail cameras and he seemed like a genuinely nice guy,  just wired a bit differently.

I already said it, but I miss Bob Gross and it stings a bit more than others that left on their own volition. He was really a wealth of knowledge on many subjects, from lightweight gear to photography; he had decades of experience backpacking in the Sierra and had some great adventures overseas…

+1

As you and I discussed a few months ago, Bob was/is one of my favorite BPL people.

Charging people to post on forums kind of kills bringing in new people which means the forums slowly runs out of newbs for the experts to teach.  And then experts will move on.

Charging people to post on forums kind of kills bringing in new people which means the forums slowly runs out of newbs for the experts to teach.  And then experts will move on.

Yup.

Most, if not all, of the folks mentioned above.  Brendan Swihart for his photos and insights to canyon country hiking.

I miss the large number of noobe posts. I miss the large number of expert posts. I miss the woods, and, hills, and, the love of being out that bound our participants and readers together. I miss the different people, nay characters, of this site. And, I miss the world wide diversity they brought to my sport.

Does anyone miss the young guy who worked at REI who offered to answer and solve all our questions about backpacking?

How about the Death Valley Kickstarter guy?

:-)

I miss my fellow Michigan dwellers Rog Wilmers and Ike Jukowitz.

-B.G.- for sure.  Hasn’t felt the same since.

Also, currently, Jen. Give us the damn trip report already!

Buck Nelson may still be around, but he posts far less than he used to.

Bob Gross definitely added to the knowledge base around here.

Delmar cracked me up.

Just about everyone mentioned.  trolling through old threads, you realize how many names have wandered away.

I post here much less myself, and only poke my nose in a couple of times a week, not a couple of times per day.

I rarely post but have to chime in to agree with a great many of these named above, especially Bob Gross.  I’m a member of quite a few internet forums across a wide diversity of interests, and IME this one “eats its own” more than any other, and drives away some high quality contributors.

Katharina, thank you and everyone else who posted in this thread.  Over the years I learned so much from BPL.  It reignited my love affair for backpacking and like most love affairs, cost me a lot of money! :-)  We have lost so many wonderful members, so many friends!  This community is a shadow of its former self but I want to thank everyone who has hung in there and still contributes.  We still have some wonderful members.

PS:  Katharina, I too own an incredible Javan Dempsey 10deg quilt.  21.6 oz with Event foot and top band and yes, keeps me warm down to 10 deg…amazing!

+1 to the comments about missing the posts of Bob Gross.

Also many of the original contributors to the BPL book left the forum. Alan Dixon comes to mind.

Also on another note, kudos to Roger Caffin for his continuous content rich contributions. Not to mention that there seemed to be months and months without end where he appeared to be managing the forums solo.

Eugene – His posts about hiking with his son were pretty good.  Hasn’t posted on his blog since 9/2016 and that was a RARE update.

Adan – Wasn’t he related somehow to Eugene?

George M – good guy

Miguel – I didn’t agree with him a lot of the time, but he had a ton of info.

Tons more others have mentioned.  But that is what happens over time…

Skurka

Travis L

All the former staff members that have disappeared over the years.

Ive been trying to remember travis’s nickname and i finally remembered!  T-Funk!

Yeah, Bog Gross was a great contributor here and is missed by most of us who read his posts.

Regrets regarding Bob’s forced absence will not die easily.

Jus’ saying’…

and the first post of a thread : )

Many of the folks already listed, especially Thom Darrah and Eugene Smith and Miguel Arboleda, and Bill Fornshell, he pushed the envelope on MYOG and I enjoyed his thoughts (thanks Link for mentioning him already). One person not mentioned that I miss is Mike Dundee from Scotland, not only for his European perspective but for his wonderful sense of humor. Wish he was still on BPL.

The folks that I mention are folks that I felt I connected with in some fashion, which makes the missing all the more tangible. And now I’ll turn this thread a bit, hope Kat doesn’t mind, here are a few tangible things I’ve been blessed to get from BPL members. I use all of these things regularly. Thanks BPL friends. (This doesn’t include all the liquor and cheesecake my good friend Peter V. has shared with me over the last few years.)

Many of the folks I was thinking about have already been mentioned, but I’ll add a couple more BPL MYOG gurus: John Roan (who wrote the MountainUltralight blog) had lots of creative, often inexpensive ideas –I used his pattern for a pack from one yard of material for my pack– and Newton, whose attitude and enthusiasm  were so positive and infectious.

….and also Bryce F, who was a fun and (once) prolific poster, and was instrumental in making the first NE BPL gathering happen.

New guy here; this thread sounds like a requiem.  It’s apparent that most of you believe that BPL has seen much better days.

I’m thinking I may have wasted 5 bucks.

New guy here; this thread sounds like a requiem.  It’s apparent that most of you believe that BPL has seen much better days.

Don’t worry, when I first got on this site in maybe 2011, people were lamenting the decline of BPL back then too.

“It’s apparent that most of you believe that BPL has seen much better days.”

I might change ‘most’ to simply ‘many’, but I think that’s a fair statement.

“I’m thinking I may have wasted 5 bucks.”

I don’t know what you get for $5, but if you can read articles, then you haven’t wasted your money. If you can post in the forums and get advice from some BPLers for the year, then you haven’t wasted your money.

“if you can read articles, . . .  If you can post in the forums and get advice from some BPLers for the year, then you haven’t wasted your money.”

+1

“Charging people to post on forums kind of kills bringing in new people which means the forums slowly runs out of newbs for the experts to teach.  And then experts will move on.”

+1  Probably.  Also, some people, in response to a honest question, don’t post an answer, but links to past answers.  How is “That’s been covered before” welcoming to newbies?