What went right or wrong? Give your input!

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First of all, a big THANK YOU goes out to everyone involved with this years FG. I know what it takes to pull something like this off.

As a whole, the event was great. Field and Forest is a really nice campground, despite its lack of bathroom/shower facilities. Porta potties got a bit rough the second day, and I would have loved a shower. Tent sites were roomy and nice, and it was really well kept.

While I applaud the FJ Cruiser Trail Team for showing their support of both the Fall Gathering and YT, I would not rely on them for a meal. Raw burgers and cold dogs were tolerable at CMCC for a free meal, but when you charge $$ for dinner it should be something worth paying for.

FnF trails were really a lot of fun and right there. I mean we could go back to the campsite for spare parts. That’s awesome. Carnage was a fun run as well. A bit tight for the wagons, but a lot of fun. I really didn’t think the drive was bad at all. It was very nice. What would have been helpful is to have GPS coordinates for the trailhead, in case the group got separated, but that has its own set of problems.

In whole I had a blast. My kids were pissed that I didn’t take them, but that’s another story. Good job.
 
The Trail Team co-sponsored meal (we brought in the sides, drinks & desserts) worked well for 40 last year but for 70-80 it doesn't work. Next year we'll do it differently for sure. Let the TT feed for free Friday night and do our own thing Saturday. Not their fault, it just allows each group to do what they do best and not try to stretch resources.

The $10 bbq cost just covered our expenses. When we did our own BBQ we charged more ($15 iirc) but there was significantly more variety and quantity. We'll go back to that next year assuming we can get a club volunteer group together or have it catered.
 
I wish Stew would do the BBQ again because it was awesome!
 
It was amazing that year, when I walked into the lodge and there were checkered table cloths, chips and salsa on all the tables I was pretty stunned, Stew L. and his family did a GREAT job that year.

KLF has done it in the past and always did a killer job as well.

It's a gigantic effort for whomever does it though.
 
jonheld said:
What would have been helpful is to have GPS coordinates for the trailhead, in case the group got separated, but that has its own set of problems.
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The trails at Carnage are on private land and as such we, the NEA and its member clubs, must be responsible stewards of land that people are kind enough to allow us to use. I think GPS coordinates would be an invitation to unauthorized and/or illegal use. The trails already see an excessive amount of impact from NEA clubs without adding additional users to these trails.
 
Scott Hatch said:
The trails at Carnage are on private land and as such we, the NEA and its member clubs, must be responsible stewards of land that people are kind enough to allow us to use. I think GPS coordinates would be an invitation to unauthorized and/or illegal use. The trails already see an excessive amount of impact from NEA clubs without adding additional users to these trails.
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Scott is right, we don't need to advertise where "our" trails are.
What we need are more trail leaders taking smaller groups to the trails.(yea, I'm pushing the volunteer thing again)

Lane
 
I would like to see some lower level intermediate trails. Maybe I'm just getting wussy in my old age or just "exhaust system" sensitive. As my vehicles get older, I'm more sensitive to breakdowns (not sure if it's the vehicles or me).

We had some fun "class VI" trails that would have been touchy with a real stocker. But a good mix of trails at different levels would allow us to keep the numbers down for each trail run (assuming we get sufficient volunteers).

Rough estimate, 5 to 6 vehicles for each hardcore run, 6 to 8 for intermediate and 8 to 12 for stock. This at least gives an estimate for trail leaders / gunners.

Until Toyota confirms that the FJC Trail Teams will be around next year, I would not count on it. They were scheduled to run for 3 years, 2005, 2006 and 2007.

If they are around, setting up a "drive an FJC" run at FnF would let people get in them. We did something like this last year at CMCC. We parked at a loop trail in Paragon so people got a chance to drive the FJC. I'm assuming there would be a suitable loop at the FnF trails.

Hamburgers and hot dogs are OK for Fri night but I miss the old BBQ's we used to have.
 
jmylie said:
We had some fun "class VI" trails that would have been touchy with a real stocker. But a good mix of trails at different levels would allow us to keep the numbers down for each trail run (assuming we get sufficient volunteers).
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Once we have a general location we need to get our people on the trails to scout hopefully in the weeks just prior to the event. I know that the Friday run let me pick a route that I think worked well for the true stockers Saturday.

jmylie said:
Hamburgers and hot dogs are OK for Fri night but I miss the old BBQ's we used to have.
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Nothing wrong with hot dogs and hamburgers, but I think Dave's suggestion of the Trail Team if available on Friday is the better time for it. Maybe cater (bbq or clam bake type thing comes to mind) Saturday unless someone from the club really wants to do it.
 
There was an opportunity to "scout" lots of the class 6 roads during the NEA Fall Crawl but no one took advantage of this. Perhaps next year someone can attend and run with one of the 3 different groups that run class 6 roads.

You could also solicit help from other NEA clubs to lead groups...
 
Scott,

I think your wife must be a saint. :) :) :)

I tried this year to do exactly that, attend Fall Crawl to scout for FG. Unfortunately, and I suspect it's like this for most of us, it's hard enough to get the one weekend off for wheeling (FG) without convincing the wife/family we need to go wheeling the week before as well. ;)

We'll try to do better next year.
 
green40 said:
Looks like you just volunteered to lead a run next year!
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:lol::lol::lol: I was hoping to have my 4Runner done by then, my wife gets pissed when I break her truck. :eek:

but yeah, I'd be down for leading something.
 
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