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ALDHA-West Gathering 2001

Dave Porter

Gathering 2001, Lake Wenatchee

'If you remember the 60's, you weren't there!' or so it is said. If you were at Gathering 2001, you won't forget it! Although there was an initial concern that the location in northern Washington and the events of September 11 might seriously cut back the number of attendees, such was not to be the case. What a glorious location and great weather for 92 distance hikers to get together to lie, brag and retell their hiking adventures of recent years. As best as can be determined, the following attended : Richard Alexander,Alan Artman, Chris Bailey, Karen Berger, Rick Bombaci, Cecilia "Zaz" Brelsford, John Brinda, Jeff Budd, Roger Carpenter, Michele Champion, Freedom Child, Zeuss Cochrane, Roberta Cobb, Dave Cobb, Scott Conover, Lora Crampton, Bill Davies, Phyllis Davies, Mike Dawson, Monte Dodge, Bert Ewing, 'Meadow Ed' Faubert, Dave Fleischman, Brian Frankle, Karen Gardner, Alice Gmuer, Gordon Graham, Paul C. Griffith, Bill Gurwell, Hagit Cohen, Brice Hammack, Peter Haskell, Ben Haskell, Bruce J. Heine, Tom Hennessy, Larry Holm, Lana Holman, Roland Horth, David Hough, Linda Houser, Caithlin Hull, Richard Hunt, George Hupka, Eric Jensen, Wendy Johnson, Kevin Kalthoff, Marshall Karon, David Kessler, Sue Kettles, Mike Kirby, Thomas Kistler, David Kmet, Chris Knight, Paul Leech, David Leth, Gary L. Lindberg, Stephen Lundberg, Ken Maddox, Thomas F. Magee, Marmot, Ken Martin, Kevin "Hawk" Metheny, Ron Moak, Jason Mulkey, Joris Naiman, Craig Nielsen, Bob Norton, Kim Owen, Jennifer Ownbey, David Patterson, Dave Porter, Steve Queen, Romeo Quinter, Ed Reilly, Jen Schaeffer, Jake Schas, Joe Sobinovsky, Claudette Stephens, Roger Stephens, Lesya Struz, Cindy Thieman, Chris Townsend, Bob Turner, Chris Turner, Donald Varecamp, Mike Vermillion, Chris Vermillion, Katy Warner, Jenelle Wilhelm, Rudy F. Williams, George Woodard and Del Zander.

Following a spaghetti dinner Friday evening, three outstanding slide presentations were made. One of the most beautifully photographed and sound coordinated AT slide show was presented by Rick Bombaci. Encourage him to do the same for the PCT and CDT. This was followed by a fascinating slide presentation from Ed Reilly on a trek on Ellesmere Island in the far north of the Canadian arctic. This was an experience in difficult logistics, difficult weather in a hostile but striking environment by two intrepid adventurers. Not to be outdone, Chris Townsend traveled from Scotland to northern Washington to present a beautiful and very informative thru-hike on the Arizona Trail where he occasionally met fellow ALDHA-West member Jake Schas. If you were contemplating an AZT hike, this very thorough and informative talk would inspire you to forge ahead with your plans.

Saturday morning after breakfast the first of three distance hiking trail roundtables took place and was moderated by Rick Bombaci and Gary Lindberg, while downstairs Jake Schas gave a CD digitally projected slide show on his hike of the Arizona Trail and Monte Dodge the same for the PCT. The digital projector was of quite an early version and didn't do justice to Jake's and Monte's images, but in the future perhaps a higher end digital projector could be used. These were followed by a CDT roundtable moderated by Dave Patterson wherein the New Mexican portion was emphasized, but applicable to all segments and much discussion about the northern segments. Later in the afternoon Karen Berger topped off the roundtables with a thorough discussion of the PCT and lively participation from some of this year's thru-hikers. These roundtables have been in the past and continue to be very popular. Also on Saturday afternoon Brian Frankle gave a well researched review of off-the-shelf lightweight, ultralight and conventional gear. In addition Brian had some equipment samples from his own company, ULA-Equipment (www.ula-equipment.com) on view during the weekend. Others with comments on their own products were Tom Hennessy with the Hennessy Hammock (www.Hennessyhammock.com) also on display outside all weekend. Shortly after Brian's presentation Bill Gurwell presented a program on making your own gear, showing his own designs and with many handy hints. Practice sewing for beginners was available after Bill's presentation. His tarp-tents were outside for inspection (bgurwell@hotmail.com). Other tents were also outside including Ron Moak's 'Wedge'. Almost without stop, Monte Dodge built his pop (beer) can stoves outside. These attracted a lot of attention from most everyone, and his description of how to make these ingenious little contraptions is included elsewhere in this issue.

After dinner on Saturday a quartet of slide presentations kept us well entertained until about 11 PM. The first was a slide/sound presentation by Karen Berger on her Triple Crown hikes. A partly tongue-in-cheek presentation by the ever entertaining Jeff Budd chronicled his quest to be the first hiker to traverse, descend, occupy or otherwise acknowledge the deepest canyons on all seven continents. His story-telling abilities can not be surpassed. John Brinda then presented a beautifully photographed hike from Lake Tahoe to Mt. Whitney via the Tahoe-Yosemite Trail and the High Sierra Route crossing many high and spectacular mountain passes which are mostly off-trail. Some of us older Sierra Nevada afficianados saw sites and sights not previously appreciated. Thanks, John. By no means least, but unfortunately last was a stunning presentation of Chris Townsend's summer of hiking the Scottish Munros contiguously in a single season, which are those Scottish peaks over 3,000 feet. Since we don't need to be reminded that Scotland is renowned for severe weather, it is no wonder that there was plenty of rain and wind, in particular, to deal with. But from Chris' previous presentations to ALDHA-West, there could be little doubt that he was more than adequate to the task and his photos were once again of his extraordinary standard. Thanks, Chris.

After a short business meeting and election of new Directors (Lesya Struz, Wendy Johnson), and a new president in Ron Moak, there was a very well attended and presented roundtable on backpacking foods and menus with an emphasis on dehydrating from Jen Schaeffer, who has become our new food editor for the Gazette. Audience participation emphasized how keen distance hikers are regarding their dietary needs on trail. The final presentation of the weekend was a brief discussion of the Pacific Northwest Trail by PNTA volunteer Mike Dawson. The best can be left to last. Three Triple Crown recipients were announced. Ron Vaughn - AT '91, PCT '98, CDT 2000 was still on trail (PCT again) and not in attendance and Dave Valenzuela - AT '95, PCT '97, CDT '99 from Lagrange, NC was not in attendance. But George 'Billygoat' Woodard - AT '71, PCT '89, CDT '97 from Nathrop, CO was indeed present and gracefully accepted his award and recounted an amusing encounter with some Native Americans on his CDT hike. Many congratulations to all of you for your intrepid accomplishments.

Next year's Gathering will also be at Lake Wenatchee YMCA camp and will be the weekend before Columbus Day, unless a future issue of the Gazette announces otherwise. ALDHA-West owes an incredible debt to Chris Bailey for not only acquiring the Lake Wenatchee YMCA site for the Gathering, but also for putting together the program, coordinating the logistics and generally working his **** off on our behalf during the entire weekend. Can't say enough, Chris! Also, our sincere thanks to Bert Ewing, ably assisted by Wendy Johnson, for their almost full time staffing the registration table, which by the way, kept them from participating in all of the foregoing fun activities the rest of us enjoyed so.