New Hiking Club for San J!

[Kathryn61]

Hi Everyone,

I've been trying to find a Meetup Group specifically for the Coachella Valley and especially for San J. There are two clubs here, but I wanted to find one that did more of the hikes that I love, such as Skyline, Vivian, Guadalupe to Sugarloaf, Jo Pond, Painted Canyon and then all the snow and ice hiking/climbing that Ellen has been kind enough to introduce me to, as well as the many hikes starting at Long Valley at the top of the tram in warmer weather. So, I just started one! I am more interested in getting this group going than being a hike leader. So, I wanted to give you the link and invite you to join and to feel free to organize and lead hikes, as well as share your expertise with whoever may join.

http://www.meetup.com/Hiking-in-Southern-California/


I look forward to having any of you help me with this if it appeals to you and hope to see you again soon on one of our awesome trails!

Thanks in advance!

Kathryn

[Cy Kaicener]

This is great news Kathryn Thanks for posting.
Do they have a group that car pools from the San Bernadino area?
Kathy Wing is a member of this group - Redlands area.
The Coachella Valley hiking club has hikes, but they are too tame for this group -- http://cvhikingclub.net/schedule.html

I tried to register but it did not go through because I could not upload a picture.

[guest]

Now there you go Steve, tryin to mess with Kathryn's project, although you do have a good point from what happened with the MeetUp group last spring on SC.

Hope you get some fun folks Kathryn, as you may know, I tend to shy away from groups, since I am with them a lot during work.
I'm sure you & friends will be thorough in explaining & warning prospects about the hike scheduled, and a disclaimer etc.
As you may know, some over estimate their own ability, and underestimate the severity of the hike, (bad combo).

Hope to see you on the dusty, (or snowy) trail, (or off)!

ss

[bluerail]

....

[KathyW]

Nice idea - I hope to join in on a hike sometime if the pace isn't too fast.

[halhiker]

I see our old buddy Fight On joined the group.

Wonderful!

[zippetydude]

Maybe you two can find some common ground hal. Say, go for a hike together, and you and FIGHTON could kick over cairns that lead into areas that have No Trespassing signs posted. You could become BFF's!

Kathryn: Nice idea! I'll check out your link when I get home. (I'm at work right now, so I shouldn't be playing around on the internet like this.)

z

[Kathryn61]

Thanks Cy, SS, Kathy, Hal and Zip for your encouragement. It's very interesting watching this group start from nothing. I have some people signed up now, so I guess I need to come up with a hike! Hal...feel free to lead us somewhere if you'd like. I'd like to do the Boohoff/Guadalupe/ Sugarloaf hike with the group, but I don't know the way! Anyone in??
Also, I'm new to creating such a site, so I'm learning on the spot. Kathy, I'm a member of your Meetup group and it's so well organized. Please feel free to PM me if you have any tips for me. I'm open to suggestions from any of you as well.

Oh and Zip...you could conduct a class for us on sliding down the mountain upside down and in various other positions with an ice axe! The drills we did last year were a blast!


Thanks again!

Kathryn

[HikeUp]

FO....I thought you moved to Canada or something.

What do you have against Canada?

[halhiker]

I don't lead hikes much anymore. I don't like babysitting.

Once when I took a group up to Carey's Castle we stopped 30 minutes into it to wait for tail draggers and people thought we were taking a break and started to dig their food out of their packs. HELLO! We've been hiking 30 minutes.

I was probably one of the first idiots to take groups up Skyline back in the 80s and we'd have some people finish in less than 5 hours and others in 10. It's never a comfortable feeling to have people on the mountain that you feel responsible for. The last time I did it a guy went to the hospital for IV fluids and I said never again.

If anyone is interested in exploring out of the way places I'm ready to go. Just shoot me a message but when it comes to leading groups I'd rather have a prostate exam and a root canal at the same time.

BTW, my picture's in the latest issue of Backpacker Magazine. Page 50.