Gathering of Gear Geeks!

Dang. I lurk for years. Join for going on 3. And less than 2 months after I leave Texas this gets planned.

:). Guess I should have had Luke's initiative.

Gathering of Gear Geeks. Coined by Tony Wong at the first GGG. The 5th Annual is coming up for us out west. Glad to see these popping up elsewhere.

As far as dates go, as long as there's a months notice, I'm a go for wherever.

I'm looking at my schedule for next month, are there any dates that would work for anyone? Maybe the 3rd or 4th weekend of the month?

I can do the 3rd weekend of Oct (20th), but not the 4th....already have a longstanding commitment,but that's just me...majority will decide. Actually could do just about any weekend but Oct. 26-28

I'm thinking I could do the third weekend in October as well. I might be free other weekends as well.

Here is an idea to keep things organized and fair. Everyone post the dates when you CAN come and I'll create an excel spread sheet with a column for everyone's name. Once we have all that we can just select the weekend when the most people are able to come.

Any date except the first weekend in October should work for me...

October 19-21 is perfect on my end.

I'll be out of town for a week.. (trouncing around the winds) I'll check in when I get back, but for now I've scheduled off the third weekend of Oct. I might be able to change that around if you all decide on something different.

Okay so the third weekend in October is looking like a good bet. It works for me, Leigh, John, and Landon. It also looks like the second weekend would be a possibility as well. How about the rest of you guys?

Third weekend is open for me.

It seems the California GGG is related to a hike typically instead of simply car camping. It'd be nice for this to be in central Texas so others don't have to drive far, but I have not hiked much there. Lake Georgetown near Austin has a loop around the lake. That still may be too far for Eugeneius.

Edited by jshann on 09/05/2012 17:22:52 MDT.

Okay so here is the list of those that can definitely do October 20-21

Landon Schrock
Leigh Baker
John Whynot
Luke Schmidt
John Shannon

Couple questions.

1. Do any of you have family or friends you want to bring along? I have no problem with newbies or kids coming along.

2. Anybody interested in car pooling and splitting gas? I'm leaving from Dallas.

3. What kind of mileages would be "fun" to hike with friends along. I can hike farther but I was thinking 10-12 mile days would allow more time for relaxing.

Edit - Just saw John Shannon bring up a good question. Do we want to hike or just car camp and hang out talking gear? Or a bit of both? If we go the car camping route in central Texas I know of a place where we MIGHT be able to arrange a rappelling or rock climbing activitiy. Maybe a hike at Lost Maples on Saturday followed by rock climbing/rappelling on Sunday? I have to stress that is a MAYBE because it would be on a private camp that gets used on weekends.

Edited by Cameron on 09/05/2012 17:35:44 MDT.

I'm fine with 10-12 miles. And I'd like to hike at least some, but open to what the group wants to do. Looks like-if profiles are correct-we've got two coming from the Dallas area, one from Houston, one OK City,and one from Tyler. Either way one person will have a long drive whichever place we go. Having grown up in south TX,it may be warmer there than AR would be. If we decide on that maybe bump the trip back a bit? Just a thought. I'll wait to hear from the rest of the group :)

Just came across this..and I'd love to join ya'll if I'm still in Texas. At this point it's looking like I will be, so go ahead and count me in. Coming from Houston (with 2 awesome border collies, if everyone is okay with dogs).

Gotta put a vote in for the Ouachitas!

Edited by AndyC on 09/07/2012 16:15:05 MDT.

Andy dogs don't bother me. Do those October dates work for you?

I'm voting Ouchitas at this point, probably Eagle Rock Loop.

Dogs are fine with me. ERL sounds great, and we could hike as much or as little as the group wants.

Edited by leighb on 09/07/2012 18:09:33 MDT.

I need to review ERL, I did a part of it once and bailed for reasons I don't remember, I think my ankle was bothering me. Anyway I think it has a lot to offer
1. Scenic
2. Relatively big rivers (given the drought this might be good)
3. Loop - we won't have to shuttle cars.

I'm also thinking that area will be cool but not too cool in October and we'll have more daylight then if we wait until November.

Looks like I should be up there the 1st weekend of Oct to help a friend with his trail maintenance. Doing the entire loop works for me, it's ~27 miles, but again will go with the group's desires.

Edited by leighb on 09/07/2012 18:22:17 MDT.

If Texas wasn't so enormous I would make this! Have fun guys, this will be a great meet and greet for you all. If gear is on topic, Landon can sustain the weekends conversation solo.