Events/Trails PNW Meetup?

[Sundowner]

Follow-up/interest thread for a PNW-edition meet-and-greet, wheel-in, camp-out, smörgåsbord, spontaneous beach party, parts swap, barbeque and/or radical uprising. I'm up around Olympia, Washington; I know we have a few people down in the Portland area, so if we do some kind of wheel-in - and we will do that - logic dictates that we pick a spot that's completely inconvenient to both of those locations, as well as any other likely origin points. I'm not sure where that spot would be, but part of me wants to pull out a Dark Sky map and throw a dart.

Right now, I'm just kind of gauging interest on this; if there is any, I figure we can collectively sort something out. Between now and winter we have a lot of good driving and camping weather. I'm not terribly good at organizing these kind of things, but Kevin Costner assures me that if we build it, they will come...and Kevin doesn't lie to me more than once a day, so I think he's essentially reliable.

Any interest? Ideas for all aspects are more than welcome.

 

[Guyute]

Interested. Maybe a simple parking lot/brewery meet and greet this year then plan a non-sanctioned 70 series run next year? Part of the Oregon or Washington BCDR or Badger Lake on Mt. Hood is a pretty easy wheel-in and camp spot.

And/or I'm always up for a radical uprising.

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[Sundowner]

I'm fine with a simple afternoon/evening meet at any point, but I'm also itching to get out and do some driving. I sidelined a couple of bigger trips this year on account of various Life Decisions, so it's definitely past time for me to put some dirt-mileage on the rig; maybe we could do a brewery meet here in the next several weeks and then a wheel-in overnighter somewhere?

I'm also down to plan something bigger for next season. The Washington BCDR would be a fun week; a south-to-north run would be good for the Portland crowd. I'll bring a red flag in case we want to get wacky.

 

[Sundowner]

Quick follow-up to the above post, because I was thinking that a more concrete plan might be helpful. Let's think of this as a series of (unfortunate) events:

September 2024: Saturday afternoon meet-and-greet at a brewery. Starts at 3:00, goes until whenever, and we'll either find some food on-site or caravan to whatever sounds good.

Autumn/Winter 2024: Drive/wheel-in weekend overnight camp. Show up whenever on Saturday, potluck dinner that night, coffee on Sunday morning, and depart as you like.

Spring 2025: Long weekend wheeling trip. Maybe a BCDR leg in Oregon, or whatever else is good for two decent days on the trail. Maybe two nights camping, and a third someplace with showers and a pub?

Summer 2025: Go grab a beer in Canada, i.e. BCDR Washington, S-t-N (or we could do an equivalent loop of some sort). This would probably be a full week trip, so I wouldn't expect a ton of people to do the whole thing, but participants could run sections/legs of the selected trail with a rolling group as their schedule allows.

I like the idea of a progressive series of trips leading to a bigger one; it's much easier to build a dependable group that way, as opposed to just jumping off into the dirt without really knowing each other. And of course, a few more meetups along the way would be welcome; that could be a fun quarterly thing.

Okay, enough rambling on my part; that's my prospective idea and plan, until someone (again) comes up with a better one.

 

[BigJoeSea]

This sounds like an awesome event! I'm from the Maple Valley area, but currently living/working in Ecuador. Recently picked up an '89 FJ70 (here in Ecuador), and I'm learning lots about it. (as I fix it up)

 

[Sundowner]

No other interest? Man, I feel unpopular, now.

 

[coldtaco]

I might be down for a week long trip, but would probably have to be in late fall as I don't have AC. I have to put in for vacation in November so probably should have some dates set by then if I was to come. I would need a minimum of two weeks off to make it work.

 

[cruiserpilot]

September 2024: Saturday afternoon meet-and-greet at a brewery. Starts at 3:00, goes until whenever, and we'll either find some food on-site or caravan to whatever sounds good.

Autumn/Winter 2024: Drive/wheel-in weekend overnight camp. Show up whenever on Saturday, potluck dinner that night, coffee on Sunday morning, and depart as you like.

PNW is pretty big. I'm kinda itching for weekend trips from Vancouver Island, come down from Pt Angeles but just so I can
wrap my head around it can you narrow down the or an area? My old 74 needs to stretch its legs.

 

[Sundowner]

I might be down for a week long trip, but would probably have to be in late fall as I don't have AC.

I think I'm weird: I never use my AC up here. It's so much cooler than the South that I have to remember to kick it on from time to time. But, that just goes to show that everything is relative...and I'm totally flexible on time, so whatever works for others would also work for me.

I have to put in for vacation in November so probably should have some dates set by then if I was to come. I would need a minimum of two weeks off to make it work.

I'm okay with pretty much any time and any location.

PNW is pretty big.

Sure is; I'm learning more and more about that, every day. It's a beautiful quadrant of the country.

I'm kinda itching for weekend trips from Vancouver Island, come down from Pt Angeles but just so I can
wrap my head around it can you narrow down the or an area? My old 74 needs to stretch its legs.

Well, yes and no. Personally, for a "big" trip I'm good with anything between California and Alaska...but if it's left up to me and we're talking weekend trips, I'd shoot for stuff that's between Vancouver Island and Northern Oregon...but I'm not the end-all, be-all here. I'm just the guy that started the thread; other voices that know the area better than I do probably need to be weighted more heavily.

 

[coldtaco]

maybe do a BDR in Idaho or Washington or Oregon or Montana?

 

[Sundowner]

maybe do a BDR in Idaho or Washington or Oregon or Montana?

That was my initial thought for next summer, which I mentioned above. I had originally said the Washington BCDR, but I'm up for whatevs. I'd like to run them all, eventually, so I'm down for it.

Also, I got the Washington BCDR map on Friday, and from my initial look, it's very doable in sections, if people wanted to do some weekends on the trail.

 

[Houser]

All those ideas sound good to me. I live North of Colville but will try and make it to where ever you finally decide.

 

[cruiserpilot]

That was my initial thought for next summer, which I mentioned above. I had originally said the Washington BCDR, but I'm up for whatevs. I'd like to run them all, eventually, so I'm down for it.

Also, I got the Washington BCDR map on Friday, and from my initial look, it's very doable in sections, if people wanted to do some weekends on the trail.

That’s an interesting route. Heard about it a few years ago. Be very cool to run parts of it or all of it.

Got it from www.ridebdr.com

So I typed in Washington BCDR and in two minutes I’d downloaded the whole route onto my GAIA app. I also downloaded the Colorado BCDR.

 

[Sundowner]

So I typed in Washington BCDR and in two minutes I’d downloaded the whole route onto my GAIA app. I also downloaded the Colorado BCDR.

The GPX tracks are all there, and all completely free (as best I can tell) so if you have good Gaia skillz you can work something up pretty quickly.

Maybe we could start scheduling trips to some sections of various routes? Between Washington, Oregon, Idaho, etc. we should be able to pick out a few places that members can more easily reach from wherever they happen to be located in the PNW...and then maybe do a week-long trip once a year, perhaps?

 

[Mookies]

Down to meet and greet. Would love to convoy a bit of the WA BCDR at some point as well.

 

[Sundowner]

Down to meet and greet. Would love to convoy a bit of the WA BCDR at some point as well.

I think @Guyute is passing through Olympia, Washington in the next week or two on his way back and forth from TorFab; I recall this because either I owe him a beer, or he owes me one...but either way, we're meeting up to pay the tab and I'm sure you'd be more than welcome! I'll post a date on that as soon as we have one, just in case anyone is in the area.

Suggestions on a more formal, planned M&G for late September?

 

[Guyute]

I think @Guyute is passing through Olympia, Washington in the next week or two on his way back and forth from TorFab; I recall this because either I owe him a beer, or he owes me one...but either way, we're meeting up to pay the tab and I'm sure you'd be more than welcome! I'll post a date on that as soon as we have one, just in case anyone is in the area.

Suggestions on a more formal, planned M&G for late September?

If I owe you and you owe me that's two beers and two is better than one.

Dropping it off @ TorFab on Friday the 13th. Thinks he needs it for a week but haven't confirmed a pick up time/day yet. Shooting for Friday the 20th to stop in Oly. Let you know when I know more.

Sorry for the late reply. Been outta town.

B

 

[Sundowner]

If I owe you and you owe me that's two beers and two is better than one.

It's like math, only better.

Dropping it off @ TorFab on Friday the 13th. Thinks he needs it for a week but haven't confirmed a pick up time/day yet. Shooting for Friday the 20th to stop in Oly. Let you know when I know more.

Cool, I'll plan on sometime around the 20th, tbdl. Northwest Beerwerks has a good gravel lot and I'll bet Ayinger's Oktoberfest will be on by then.

Also: anyone that's in the area is more than welcome to come join! If two is better than one, then three or four or five is better than two. Because math.

Sorry for the late reply. Been outta town.

No worries.

 

[Sundowner]

Update!

I had a couple of helpful discussions with a few other members in the last day or so, and afterwards, I made a couple of decisions in order to get this idea moving along. Here's where we stand on get-together plans as of right now:

September 20th-ish, 2024: Informal Pub Meetup in Olympia, Washington. In reality, this will probably be me and @Guyute seeing who has the worst taste in beer on a Friday afternoon. I know it's late notice (and the date/time may still change somewhat) but anyone is welcome to attend; we'll be doing some planning for future trips and possibly swapping headlights in a parking lot, and there's always the option for a meal if anyone wants to grab one. Post here or shoot me a PM if you'd like to attend.

Late October, 2024: Scouting Trip. I'm working on dates and locations for this, but it'll be a one- or two-night trip in Washington and/or Oregon, with the intention of finding routes and camping areas for a fall rally in 2025. I'm planning on doing a test-run of the event format, which - at current - is effectively a wheel-in rally/rendezvous.

First half of 2025: Additional Scouting Trips. Details to be announced, but finding locations for a spring trip in 2026 will be high on the agenda. These will be weekends or overnights, with a similar format to the October trip, incorporating any changes that we make after that event.

Summer, 2025: Possible meetup for wheeling into NW Overland or Expo PNW. This is still very tentative, but if there's interest we could run a stretch of the Washington or Oregon BCDRs into and out of the events.

September/October 2025: Koyo Rally. Since it will be the season of autumn color, and since we're all driving Japanese rigs, I thought it might be nice to engage the idea of koyo, which is a word that describes experiencing the changing autumn season. The woods will be at their most colorful, which should make for wonderful scenery and - hopefully - beautiful weather. By that time we'll have a location selected, so we can post that up and get a list of participants in late summer, and then make our separate ways to the rally point on the chosen date. From there it's camping, wheeling, hopefully an extra-big-ass potluck, and good company. It's gonna be a low-key thing, which should be a nice contrast for any of us that hit up the big events in the summer.

That's all for now. Again, if anyone is seriously considering attending any event at this point, please shoot me a PM in order to help me plan. Also, suggestions for locations and trails are always welcome!

 

[Sundowner]

Quick Update: we're going to push The Great Olympia Drink-Off out to the 27th of this month; anyone that's around Oly on the 27th is more than welcome to join in!