VFTT Gathering 10.0

[bubba]

Happy New Year everyone!!

This may be a bit early, but in view of Darren's thoughts of having the 10th Gathering of Northeast Hikers in the Canadian Rockies in September, I though the more advance notice and decisions concerning this event, the better. Also, with the thread started, this might jumpstart further conversation in a couple weeks at Gathering 9.5 in Vermont.

Darren, what thoughts are in your cast... in mean head??

PS - I just looked to see if Canadian RR service made sense - certainly not with Toronto departure exceeding $1000 and 2+ days of travel!! Anybody own an airline??

 

[Jay H]

We can always bike there...

Maybe you guys can time it with the actual Banff Mtn film festival though I don't recall what time the show is usually held there..

Jay

 

[pudgy_groundhog]

I'm all for the Canadian Rockies.

The Banff Film Festival is in Lake Placid February 4th (which is a Sunday - not very convenient for us weekend warriors). I had looked it up previously because we wanted to catch some of the films, but I don't have extra vacation days to spare.

 

[Peakbagr]

Think about the Lake O'Hara area....spectacular. You'd need to make the bus and campground reservations soon.

 

[darren]

OK, so I have been planning G10.0 in the Canadian Rockies for like 6 years. Doesn't look right now like I will make it. I was supposed to be going home around July so I was hoping for G10 around the beginning of August. The latest word is that I'm not going home until around February 2008. It is very tough for me to take leave while I am stationed at Pearl Harbor. So, you will have to either go without me or we will have to postpone it until G 10.99, which would be the summer of '08, right before G11 in Sept. '08.

I understand if you guys want to do it this coming summer instead of waiting. It's tought to wait for a trip like that. i love it there. I can't wait to get back there, whenever it is.

- darren

 

[David Metsky]

Screw it, G10.0 in Hawaii! Aloha Darren!

-dave-

 

[Mike P.]

Summer Hawaii, I'd have to bring the wife & kids but they might actually let me go & still hike back here. (World's tallest Mt. - okay we don't have to start below sea level to hike it)

 

[McRat]

An extra year to wait is an extra year to plan...

I've never been out that way, but the pictures I've seen are droolingly gorgeous. I'll get there eventually.

 

[Stan]

Banff wouldn't be the same without Darren. I vote we wait for him.

We should do something special for the 10th, however. The sooner we decide the better, especially if it involves reservations of any kind.

I had thought Baxter Park but I'm already planning a trip there early in the summer. Happy to go back in September, too.

Then there's the Tetons, the Chic Chocs, the southern Appalachians ... no end to that list. Probably the biggest impetus for a choice would be someone willing to champion and organize the event.

 

[bubba]

I agree with Stan - this was Darren's trip to toast his success with this board, and IIRC, he was paying our way... so it just wouldn't be right!

Actually, let's do Hawaii!! My daughter has been planning for several years and it hasn't worked (she has her airfare $$ put away). The group she was heading over with this summer just can't gel, so it's very "iffy" - my wife just bailed on her because people she wanted to be with are not going... Hawaii would fit right in my calendar over the summer!! Plans were/are for around Memorial Day. This group includes my brother-in-law -- they head out about every other year. I could find out more about the condo's they stay at, although they windsurf, and base in Maui. Darren could paddle over to visit

Darren, as far as CDN Rockies - the call is up to you. Waiting a year is fine with me, too. Sorry to hear they extended you; do I need to call up Geo W and get you some leave??

 

[prino]

We can always bike there...

Jay

Actually, let's do Hawaii!! My daughter has been planning for several years and it hasn't worked (she has her airfare $$ put away). ........... Darren could paddle over to visit

Or we could Bike and then paddle over to Hawaii

 

[Double Bow]

FWIW, I think the Canadian Rockies trip should wait until Darren can make it. It's his baby after all. For the Gathering this summer (let's call it 9.9 and keep it simple) it should be something special but also something that isn't so exotic that only three or four people can make it.

My suggestion? The Smokies. I'll help find a good location if we do that. Let's get in some of the Southern Sixes and dig on some down home barbeque!!! Gris, that should work for you, right?

 

[miehoff]

Dolly Sods?

I keep missing the Gatherings. Haven't been to one in about 3 or 4 years (Ice Gulch anyone?). I would love to suggest Dolly Sods Wilderness in West Virginia. The area was mentioned on another post...and as I type this, I just so happen to have the USGS maps of Dolly Sods on the wall behind me.

I absolutely love the place. From the Forest Service website: "Dolly Sods is said to be a little bit of Canada placed a hair too far south. Many of the ecotypes are more typical of what one would expect to find in Canada rather than West Virginia."

I have had unbelievable experiences there, stuff that The Whites will never touch (even though I love them for other reasons). When you are there, you feel like you are in another world. It is hard to explain, but very real and so natural and remote.

Fly into BWI super cheap, drive 5 hours to the Elkins, WVA area. Tons of hiking, paddling (Stan) and rock climbing, PLUS...those West Virginians are smokin' musicians!

Check it out: http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/mnf/sp/dolly_sods_wilderness.htm

 

[Jay H]

Or we could Bike and then paddle over to Hawaii

Not until I make my kayak carrier for my bike....

Jay

 

[Jay H]

I'm all for the Canadian Rockies.

The Banff Film Festival is in Lake Placid February 4th (which is a Sunday - not very convenient for us weekend warriors). I had looked it up previously because we wanted to catch some of the films, but I don't have extra vacation days to spare.

You're talking about the travelling show. I'm talking about the actual Banff mtn film festival which is actually in Banff, Alberta! It's probably there in the summertime or so, which means a lot of tourists and the park is mobbed. I remember going to Banff when I was a teenager in the 80s and it was still fairly serene in the summer. I think they get mobbed nowadays...

Jay

 

[pudgy_groundhog]

You're talking about the travelling show. I'm talking about the actual Banff mtn film festival which is actually in Banff, Alberta! It's probably there in the summertime or so, which means a lot of tourists and the park is mobbed. I remember going to Banff when I was a teenager in the 80s and it was still fairly serene in the summer. I think they get mobbed nowadays...

Jay

Ah, well, going to the real thing isn't an option for us so I was looking at the traveling one. I'm pretty sure it doesn't play in the summertime there (I think it's either late fall or winter?). Plus, I don't think I would go to the Canadian Rockies to watch movies.


The park does get mobbed there. We've been twice, both times over Labor Day. There are always a lot of tourist buses, but that time of year the crowds aren't so bad and it was easy to get permits/camp spaces. And I think many of the tourists stick to the townsites (mainly Banff, not so much in Jasper), which we typically avoid like the plague. We also visited some of the adjacent, lesser visited parks (i.e. Kootenay gets only a fraction of the visitors that go to Banff/Jasper).

ETA: I also didn't realize you guys were serious about a gathering in the Rockies. I thought it was 90% in jest.

 

[SherpaKroto]

My .02: Darren's baby, Darren's choice. He's put up with us for 10 years, we chould be able top put up with him for a weekend at the destination of his choice

 

[darren]

Actually, the "Northeast Hiker Gatherings" are not specifically associated with VFTT. The Gatherings were the brainchild of Bertrand Cote (Ridgerunner). That is why the Gatherings have been going on for 10 years and my site has been around for over 12. When Ridgerunner came up with the idea he originally posted it on my site, but it was his baby. He gets the credit. The fact that the X.0 Gatherings occur near my birthday are pure coincidence.

Ridgerunner stepped down from running the Gatherings several years ago and it has been a volunteer basis since then. Teejay has picked up much of the load.

If I have any say, I'd be psyched if people would wait for me to go to the Canadian Rockies. The idea of going there was mine, so I take full credit for that.

So, it is up to the masses. I'm only one vote, but my vote is for you guys to wait for me. It would just be too damn cool to be in one of my favorite places with a bunch of you nuts.

Plus if you wait for me I will take nice pictures for you...

- darren

 

[pudgy_groundhog]

Darren, as always, I love your pictures of the Rockies. Did you use a filter for the Lake Morraine picture?

 

[darren]

I assume you mean the second one. That is Lake Louise, and I used a graduated tobacco filter. I'm not happy with it. I wish I had just shot one with a GND. In my mind it looks fake. Oh well, that is why I need to go back so I can shoot a better one!

The first one is Vermillion Lake. The third one is Lake Oesa (under the ice) in Yoho.

This one is Morraine Lake:

I always enjoy your photos, so you will have to come with us to the CR. Twice the photos, twice as nice.

- d