Sat, Nov 22 2008 - Beginner Backpacking - Pine Mountain Trail (View Original Event Details) Trip Leader(s): Jason Kotz, EB Participants: EB, Jason Kotz, Mike Panetta, David, Tian, Bryan, Judy Bowers, John Bell, Paula Schubert, Christopher Bolton, Jack Litten

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Write Up:
We started off this event with EB and I having some of our group out to the AOC Social on November 11th and walking them through backpacking gear and other tips that they might need. This was extremely beneficial because several of our new AOC Event members had never gone backpacking and some were borrowing or buying new backpacking gear for the first time.

Our trip on the 22nd was a little slow starting as we met at the carpool and then again at the FDR Ranger Station while we accounted for everyone and got all of our gear ready. 11 of us and 4 dogs that spent most of the morning freezing while we waited around in temperatures down in the teens. The trip started off really well and we kept at a leisurely pace without any issues, except for Paula throwing her poor dog into the stream :) We had lunch next to the Wolf Den's Waterfall and watched Chris and Jack play on the rocks.

We arrived at our campsite around 2pm and everyone had plenty of time to set up camp; we all pitched in to gather a large pile of firewood for Chris to start sawing through. We then discovered that our nearby water source was dry, so half of us started trail running through the woods to keep up w/ John Bell guiding us to the next water source. After a 3 mile journey and a few nasty jokes around the watering hole, we managed to arrive back at camp before sundown.

Paula, Chris, and Jack strutted out their dogs in new cold weather dog gear complete with jackets and hoods, while Mike's dog took this opportunity to pounce on the first desperate dog he could find. After pulling apart this impromptu dog fight, we got a big fire going and all settled in to dinner, some good conversation, and staying warm. Later in the evening we all passed around marshmallows and Tian got to experience his first s'more.

Most of us stayed warm in the low temperatures throughout the night, but Mike had issues finding space in my extra single person backpacking tent along with his big dog Max. We slowly made our way off the trail and after a few thanks and good-byes, most of us caravaned back out to the town of Pine Mountain and found a really good diner (27th Grill) with a wide variety on the menu. We chowed down on burgers and pizza... but no beer or wine... they don't serve on Sundays :(

It was a really fun event and we hope to see everyone again on another backpacking trip.

EB&J

EB found a new love for Yorkshire Terriers

Paula's FDR pictures!

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