Sierra Club on San Jacinto

[rpm4463]

This past weekend my fiance and I went on a overnight snowshoeing trip to San Jacinto. We went up the tram, hiked past Round Valley, and then went cross country to find a quiet camp spot away from any other trails or tracks. We set up camp and started to relax in the tent when I noticed a group hiking towards us...and before I knew it there were 15 people standing 3 feet from my tent! I guess the Sierra Club "guide" chose to march his troops through my camp spot, all of them peek in my tent, then throw snow balls at each other 10 feet away!

I'm not sure about other people, but if I see a person's camp spot I will change my route to avoid bothering them. I'll be sure to avoid the same destinations as the Sierra Club from now on. Are there any Sierra Club members out there to explain this behavior?

[OtherHand]

It's not a unique behavior to the Sierra Club. Almost any large group of people tends to become less considerate than they would be individually, and engage in all sorts of socially stupid stuff. This seems to be compounded if they know each other well. In the wilderness, the most common groups you'll come across is the Sierra Club and Boy Scouts so they tend to get the rap.

Oooooh....Here's a topic....Would you prefer to camp next to a group of Boy Scouts, a group from the Sierra Club or the Hell's Angels?

[hikehigh]

Hells Angels for sure!

[bluerail]

absolutely, Hells Angels.

Do they hike ?

[leaftye]

Perfect opportunity for a LNT training exercise.

[rpm4463]

It is true most large groups would do that. I guess I just expected something different from the Sierra Club. From the looks of the people in the group, I don't think half of them had ever been hiking.

[sdtrackrunner]

This might have been part of a 'wilderness basics' course... they are doing their snow camping trips right about now. Its a course for noobs so they are mostly oblivious to the normal outdoors etiquette.

[tinaballina]

I camped (for those who know me, yes i car camped) in JT last year, ended up next to a group of boy scouts, i thought it was going to be hell getting to sleep. The group organizer had them shut it up by 10pm, i was impressed, not one word out of them.
I feel for you, no one should go out of their way to annoy people in tents. I even shut my mouth when i am on Whitney through the camps early in the am.

[bluerail]

and we all know how hard that is for you to do.

[halhiker]

I don't think this is typical Sierra Club behavior. They tend to respect solitude a bit more generally so it must have been a group of newbees or maybe they were trying to subtly tell you that you were camping in the wrong place.