new to the site, Salutations an alpineglow to all!

[backwoodsBob]

Greetings All! By way of introduction~ Backwoods Bob here, Ill just date myself by saying " My backpack is a trusty Ole Jansport D3, purchased in the days when they told us a D3 was so fancy it walked by itself! Im really enjoying ya~alls trip reports! Ive loverd the outdoors from a young age, for you folks in Utah around the Uintas, I spent 4 consecutive full summers teaching boyscouts to swim, sail, row,& paddle canoes at Camp Steiner, (scout Lake) in the mid 70s.... I hope to gather a few old friends and revisit a few of the lakes in the area this summer.... My memories of the trails at this date are useless its been so long ago, But I can remember the Grandaddys, Lofty, Kamas, ruth, jewel and a handful of others I camped at when I was young..... Ive backpacked 80 miles in 8 days thru the sawtooths as well. I ve allways room for a new friend,.... please feel free to enguage me! Regards~ Rog~ aka, Backwoods Bob~

 

[Nick]

Sounds like you know your way around. Glad to have you here!

 

[backwoodsBob]

Sounds like you know your way around. Glad to have you here!

Im tickled to have found the site! I stumbled on it looking for photos and trail maps to tempt an old friend with! I only wish my body was in better condition for my age! Ive spent the last 30 years driving a Semi around the country, An that's had its effect.... Stamina .... that's my sore spot to date, So, Ive resolved to leave the Quads at home & start walking again,. to be able to move in the woods for 5 days, at 10 miles a day under a full pack is the goal. Last summer I found myself back packing for for the first time in probably a decade or more, in orer to check out the Hippy convention going on above Heber Ut, Perhaps it was a lesson in the effects of age to a degree, But I found covering 6 miles in a day with a full pack was stepping firmly into the "enough zone" for me, and I doubt I could have maintained that pace for a week... so I was disappointed in my performance. I intend to change that this year. You folks are a wonderful motivation!

 

[Vegan.Hiker]

in orer to check out the Hippy convention going on above Heber Ut

Welcome Bob. This made me chuckle. I close friend of mine who lives in Hawaii goes to all of the rainbow gatherings and I remember him telling me all about this one. And he most certainly is a hippy if I ever met one lol.

 

[scatman]

Welcome @backwoodsBob. Great to have you on board.

I usually start hiking locally here in Salt Lake during the March time frame and slowly build up to longer backpacking trips in the summer/fall. You're more than welcome to tag along as you build up your stamina for your own trips if you'd like. Just let me know.

 

[Nick]

Yeah, that 'hippy convention' part made me chuckle too. My extended family had a huge reunion this summer very near that event at a mormon church-owned 'camp'. They usually had huge signs for the camp but they wrapped them all up in tarps and placed roadside security at the bottom of the mountain to keep the rainbow people out. It was kind of funny, but at the same time, I never saw any of them. A wee bit paranoid?

 

[backwoodsBob]

Welcome Bob. This made me chuckle. I close friend of mine who lives in Hawaii goes to all of the rainbow gatherings and I remember him telling me all about this one. And he most certainly is a hippy if I ever met one lol.

LOL ! Ill admit to going to more than a few of those gatherings myself! My honey," House Mouse" and I, found a lot of joy over the years, in creating and operating a wilderness kitchen at those parties! We've hauled a kitchen into the woods in W.Va, Ut, Co, and Montana.... In the Hippy conventions were known as "the Way Station Wilderness Café" its become our way of "paying tithes" if you will.... Its a backwoods Leviathan! We absolutely rely on young muscle to move the camp, when you hit the trailhead, and folks realize your a kitchen, a thousand lbs of food stocks divided into pantleg duffel bags.... getting help on the spot is easy, it is however, an exercise in Heavy Haul backpacking in spades. were talking deer carts, and custom built Mini Mormon handcarts...& passing duffels out saying take this to the next fork in the trail please... moving your individual own stuff for a week on the trail is one thing, Moving a kitchen that can feed 500 souls per meal twice a day for 5 to 8 days is a giant.... Way Station usually sets up on the belt route around camp, typically a 2 to 4 mile move, & initially packs around a thousand lbs. of food stocks on the way in, and resupply's mid week. In addition to all the food there's the infrastructure to support a full scale 24hr restaurant in the woods. Our oven, is a homebuilt job from a 55 gal barrel that sits over the fie encased in rock and mud... our fry pans are 3feet across! our rainfly is (2) 20X30 tarps. the camps pioneering kit is a GI footlocker.... we bring in Elk, Deer, and 2k frozen scrambled eggs in Ziploc bags and start cooking! But Last summer In Utah, Id other plans that fell thru, I opted to pack in on my own, wanting to simply enjoy the thing being it was so close to home. I THOUGHT myself able to pack into the heart of the camp in one day.... surprise! Your OLD truckie! so here I am!

 

[backwoodsBob]

Yeah, that 'hippy convention' part made me chuckle too. My extended family had a huge reunion this summer very near that event at a mormon church-owned 'camp'. They usually had huge signs for the camp but they wrapped them all up in tarps and placed roadside security at the bottom of the mountain to keep the rainbow people out. It was kind of funny, but at the same time, I never saw any of them. A wee bit paranoid?

perhaps! but it ought be noted, That that party becomes a camp 2x5 miles square! in Montana, it WAS the LARGEST city in the STATE for 2 weeks!.... youll find every type of humanity there, just like any other city. yeah, there are a few folks who will make ya double take.... but the Majority are decent fun folks who love the woods just like (Id venture to say) everybody on this site..... they just wear a different uniform brother

 

[backwoodsBob]

Welcome @backwoodsBob. Great to have you on board.

I usually start hiking locally here in Salt Lake during the March time frame and slowly build up to longer backpacking trips in the summer/fall. You're more than welcome to tag along as you build up your stamina for your own trips if you'd like. Just let me know.

I sure do appreciate the invitation Scatman~ Ill be pleased to take you up on it!

 

[Nick]

Majority are decent fun folks who love the woods just like (Id venture to say) everybody on this site..... they just wear a different uniform brother

Totally agreed! Some friends of mine attended it when they had it up in Franklin Basin a few years back and loved it.

 

[Vegan.Hiker]

Bob, you should have made your username BobTheMagician cause that's some serious trail magic that you've doled out with your kitchen. Not sure if trail magic is an AT only thing or if it exists out west on the PCT too? Been more than a few times I've been on the AT and found a cooler full of ice cold soda cans or snapple bottles near a road crossing.

 

[backwoodsBob]

Bob, you should have made your username BobTheMagician cause that's some serious trail magic that you've doled out with your kitchen. Not sure if trail magic is an AT only thing or if it exists out west on the PCT too? Been more than a few times I've been on the AT and found a cooler full of ice cold soda cans or snapple bottles near a road crossing.

Ok I have to plead im ignorant to your abreviations... I don't grock AT/PCT.... Atlantic/Pacific? Appalachian Trail/? but yeah I can defiantly tell you some Karma tales from the woods! If your heart is in the right place at a gathering, what you need will seek you out, or youll run right into it.

 

[backwoodsBob]

Totally agreed! Some friends of mine attended it when they had it up in Franklin Basin a few years back and loved it.

yup! that was my second gathering! and the beginning of Way Station.... More of a coffee/tea procrastination station back then.... and the one that made me go WOW..... the stuff these folks build in the woods is amazing! theaters.... drawbridges... hot tubs.... treehouse communities .... Bonfires and drum circles where 20 guys are hauling whole tree trunks out of the darkness to toss on the fire.... the SCALE of the thing.... all done by hand, never stops flabbergasting me!

 

[Vegan.Hiker]

Ok I have to plead im ignorant to your abreviations... I don't grock AT/PCT.... Atlantic/Pacific? Appalachian Trail/? but yeah I can defiantly tell you some Karma tales from the woods! If your heart is in the right place at a gathering, what you need will seek you out, or youll run right into it.

Sorry about that... AT is the Appalachian Trail and the PCT is the Pacific Crest Trail. There's also a huge hiker gathering each year in Damascus VA each year. The AT runs through Damascus and most thru-hikers plan their hike to make the festival and they have a hiker parade, etc. You should think about bringing the Way Station Wilderness Cafe there one year. Check it out.. http://traildays.us/

 

[backwoodsBob]

Sorry about that... AT is the Appalachian Trail and the PCT is the Pacific Crest Trail. There's also a huge hiker gathering each year in Damascus VA each year. The AT runs through Damascus and most thru-hikers plan their hike to make the festival and they have a hiker parade, etc. You should think about bringing the Way Station Wilderness Cafe there one year. Check it out.. http://traildays.us/

THAT sounds AHSOME! are folks the pitch in type at this event? Well need Sherpa's!

 

[Vegan.Hiker]

Never been to it personally but have heard from friends who have been there that it's very community co-op oriented.