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Post by NeverSummer on Sept 5, 2013 8:59:40 GMT -9
Perhaps one this fall, before the snow flies?
AND this next spring/summer!
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Post by barnacle9 on Sept 5, 2013 10:57:03 GMT -9
I would probably be up for Friday night in Girdwood . . .
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Post by NeverSummer on Sept 5, 2013 14:25:27 GMT -9
Oh, crap. I can't attend. I have an open house event here at Alaska Maritime NWR for Refuge Week. There will be an open house for the 100th Anniversary of the Refuge, including tours of our refuge research ship, the Tiglax (TEK-lah, Aleut for eagle).
That open house is on the 5th from 1-4pm, so I might be able to join in for a cleanup on the 6th, but no guarantees.
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Post by akgh519 on Sept 5, 2013 15:34:40 GMT -9
Perhaps an event for the refuge weekend?!?!?
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Post by NeverSummer on Sept 5, 2013 15:45:39 GMT -9
I was thinking about it. There will be the open house on the Tiglax, as well as our annual HAM radio event, "Refuges on the Air" (NOT Refugees on the Air!).
Any HAMs out there?
I wouldn't mind getting something put together down at the Harbor for geocachers to attend. I just don't want to compete with any HOBO efforts if I can help it. Someone let me know if they think that it would be a problem to hold an event in Homer on the 5th in conjunction with the Tiglax open house...
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Post by akgh519 on Sept 5, 2013 16:42:37 GMT -9
I wonder if you would attract anyone to drive by the other events to come to Homer? I would because i would want to take the tour. But, i am not the norm. Yes....i said it! However, I not sure where I will be then. If I can make it, you and I can get together and have some 'evil' fun for others to enjoy at a later date.
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Post by barnacle9 on Sept 8, 2013 15:26:06 GMT -9
Sure hope they get that Whittier ferry ramp fixed by the end of the month here - I can drive around from Valdez on my way to the event (I will be going early anyways) but no way can I participate in Seward on Sunday and catch a boat out of Valdez that same day . . .
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Post by SSO JOAT on Sept 9, 2013 11:38:12 GMT -9
NS... I would really, really appreciate any and all assistance you can muster up on finding a camping site somewhere between T-Pass and Seward. I would like to run the Saturday afternoon CITO as a frog-leap trailhead cleaning from T-Pass all the way to Tern Lake. I drove through yesterday and the road construction at the top of the pass is done. I also noticed the gates at campgrounds were still open, even though we are well past Labor Day, so I don't know what's going on there. Would be good to find out. I've been off grid the last 5 days and have to go back to Valdez tomorrow, so all my work on this will be long distance.
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Post by NeverSummer on Sept 10, 2013 7:15:06 GMT -9
I'll do what I can to track down a site/spot for the crew.
How many should we estimate that we're going to have? 10? 20?
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Post by ladybugkids on Sept 10, 2013 7:24:08 GMT -9
Granite Creek Campground is super nice with good tent and RV sites. Lots of sun on sunny days and Granite Creek runs behind a lot of the sites. It's located between Turnagain Pass and the Hope Cut-off.
Tenderfoot Creek Campground on the opposite side of Summit Lake from the lodge is also very nice.
Both are run by the National Forest Service where Scott S. has contacts.
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Post by akgh519 on Sept 10, 2013 9:06:26 GMT -9
I would estimate 20
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Post by SSO JOAT on Sept 10, 2013 20:22:45 GMT -9
If the NFS will commit to leaving the gate open at Granite Creek for this event, that would be a good spot. Thing is, all of these campgrounds are supposed to be closed as of Labor Day, so I would not commit to any of them unless NFS will make sure we can get in. That said, if gates are closed but we can park in the drive and walk in to the campsites, I'd look at Bertha Creek for its closer proximity between camping and the gate. Long walk at Graniite and even longer at Tenderfoot. There is also Trail Lakes area to consider.
But before we go too far down that path, what is the thinking about rearranging this whole thing to put Homer back on the map for Saturday night? What is the time table on this shin-dig going on in Homer on Saturday?
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Post by fuzzybelly on Sept 11, 2013 6:36:52 GMT -9
Williwaw campground in portage is anually open without charge nor services from (it sounds like) this weekend till after snow falls. I often camp there for free even after snow starts falling.
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Post by akgh519 on Sept 11, 2013 9:51:23 GMT -9
If you move things clear down to homer you will significantly reduce your participation in a Saturday night event
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Post by barnacle9 on Sept 11, 2013 10:20:33 GMT -9
Foreman from Chugach National Forest's Kenai Work Center was just in the shop this morning picking up some new signs. He told me the Trail River Campground Eagle Loop (or whatever the loop is that goes down by the lake) and the Quartz Creek front loop (again, by the lake) will be open during September and in to October as snow (the lack thereof) permits. I will point out there's a few new caches to find along the Trail River access road and along the lakeshore... Has anyone looked into this further? Either spot sounds great!
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Post by NorthWes on Sept 11, 2013 10:57:38 GMT -9
Foreman from Chugach National Forest's Kenai Work Center was just in the shop this morning picking up some new signs. He told me the Trail River Campground Eagle Loop (or whatever the loop is that goes down by the lake) and the Quartz Creek front loop (again, by the lake) will be open during September and in to October as snow (the lack thereof) permits. I will point out there's a few new caches to find along the Trail River access road and along the lakeshore... Has anyone looked into this further? Either spot sounds great! I confirmed yesterday (Sept 10) with Alex McLain (foreman at Chugach Nat'l Forest's Kenai Work Center, who oversees closures of the campgrounds in question) that the Eagle Loop at Trailside (close to lake) and the Quartz Creek front loop (again, close to the lake) are planned to remain open into October (unless there's snow, or excessive vandalism). Alex would welcome any cleanup efforts. He's going to review both campsites mentioned above by Friday this week, and will come back with any suggestions he sees for cleanup. His first remark was 'Russian River Campground could use fire ring cleanouts!'
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Post by NeverSummer on Sept 11, 2013 13:33:04 GMT -9
If the NFS will commit to leaving the gate open at Granite Creek for this event, that would be a good spot. Thing is, all of these campgrounds are supposed to be closed as of Labor Day, so I would not commit to any of them unless NFS will make sure we can get in. That said, if gates are closed but we can park in the drive and walk in to the campsites, I'd look at Bertha Creek for its closer proximity between camping and the gate. Long walk at Graniite and even longer at Tenderfoot. There is also Trail Lakes area to consider. But before we go too far down that path, what is the thinking about rearranging this whole thing to put Homer back on the map for Saturday night? What is the time table on this shin-dig going on in Homer on Saturday? I think I would tend to agree with Ray on this one...Adding Homer on Saturday might scare some people off. The Alaska Maritime Refuge open house is from 1-4pm at the Harbor on board the Tiglax. There are still plans in the works to finalize the "Refuges on the Air" HAM radio event at the harbor as well. The operators will be setting up on Friday evening, and firing up the radios to log contacts in the morning on Saturday. I don't know how many HAMs there are in our midst, but it is a cool little gathering to check out. Bottom line is, I don't want to have an event here in Homer if geocacher folks are going to want to HOBO it on Saturday elsewhere. Firefly and I are really the only active cachers here in Homer, so 50% of us will be in Homer for the Refuge events. If I have an event, I really want to be sure there is interest. (I don't want to host an event just for the stat or sake of having anther event. I'd like to link it into the HOBO stuff if we can.) Homer could use another cleanup before winter sets in. From cleanups at the Islands and Ocean Visitor Center, to parks and even sidewalks in town, we could get some good things done here. The Homer newspapers seemed interested in us the last time we did a CITO here, and we might be able to get some more community interest. Spring in Homer has so many organized cleanups, I wonder if we geocachers might want to "adopt a season" down here pre-winter. I know we were just down here, but maybe, if the HOBO events become annual, Homer can cap the fall HOBO path from Anchorage>>Homer, and a spring HOBO could go Anchorage>>Seward or Seward>>Anchorage? Just spitballing here... Thoughts?
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Post by TheFirefly on Sept 11, 2013 14:41:18 GMT -9
I love the idea of an annual fall CITO in Homer. NS is right - there are lots of schedule pickups already in Homer in the spring. That said, moving things to Homer does tend to limit the number of participants. Maybe we could start that next year? If we advertise well ahead of time, maybe some folks will actually plan a trip here?
I wonder if starting somewhere north, dipping to Homer for the night, then another event back north would scare fewer people away than starting or ending in Homer.
I drove back from Anchorage Monday and most - if not all - campgrounds were still open. (Saw a lovely full rainbow on Turnagain Pass, too.)
We've got company in town from this weekend through the end of the month, possibly with that last weekend in Sept being in Seward. I'm not sure I can rally the crew back on the road that following weekend. And I've been gone for 3 of the past 7 weeks (leaving the Mr with the kids), so I'm not sure I can get away on my own again. Though, if the weather's good, maybe the girls and I will just camp the week in Seward - they've been wanting to go camping again!
I do like the Girdwood to Seward idea, but also like the idea of being in Homer for the Refuge open house. Wishy-washy am I! I think we've got a lot of ideas out here, but probably just need to pick something and run with it.
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Post by akgh519 on Sept 11, 2013 15:12:28 GMT -9
NS and FF... My present plan... You can expect to see me for the Tiglax tour... After... I will find the hobo camp out... Before...evilness will be done in your neighborhood
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Post by barnacle9 on Sept 11, 2013 16:07:46 GMT -9
Spoke with the FVA at CDFU, and she thinks this may just be a core fleet drill (Tier 1) in October. However, she isn't sure on that - I guess Alyeska or SERVS is not telling her a whole lot.
This puts me in a little bit of a bind, especially with the ferry now not scheduled to run through Whittier until the middle of October.
Not sure what I am going to do here - might just have to take my chances. Any insider info would be appreciated (poke)
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Post by SSO JOAT on Sept 11, 2013 20:46:35 GMT -9
Sounds like we ought to drop Homer from the Hobo route. Maybe you guys can organize something separate, perhaps even the weekend prior (e.g. Saturday afternoon CITO on 9/28).
Let's start with Girdwood on Saturday morning Oct 5th per original plan. I'm thinking that maybe a 9:30am kick off would be a decent compromise on time tables to allow travel time to get there, but still allow enough afternoon for the T-Pass Leap Frog series. Plan on wrapping up the highway CITO by about 11:30am to give folks time to grab something to eat in Girdwood prior to heading up to the Pass.
Part two will meet up at the east parking lot at the top of T-Pass at 1pm. Once we have a head count and break into Strike Teams, we'll have half the teams go to the west parking lot and the other half stay on the east and do a quick CITO of those areas. Then each team will have a mission plan to hit specific trail head spots as we all work our way south to the highway junction and ending at the Tern Lake rec stop.
Now we need an overnight camping spot for Saturday night. I was thinking about this but Wes' mention of Russian River brings that idea to the front. We could certainly lay claim to a big chunk of the Russian River campground on one of the back loops (if they'll guarantee it to still be open for us and offer it up at no charge). We have a social event that night with the campfire and all. The next morning, we can hit the campground to do some general cleaning and even tackle some fire ring clean outs. We already have a rather experienced fire ring cleaning crew, though the size of the Russian River campground would take quite a bit longer than it took us at Hidden Lake. If we start the RR CITO at about 10am on Sunday, there is time for folks to drive down to join us who can't make the overnight. I think we would need to stretch the CITO time out a bit to have time to do that whole campground. In doing so, I'm not sure we can make the final leg of the trip to Seward and I still have not been able to pin down a CITO site in Seward. So, maybe we'll look at Seward next Spring and we should just end this particular run in the Cooper Landing area.
If we do that, we can add a 4th CITO to the mix on Sunday afternoon. Perhaps we hit Quartz Creek campground, or even roll out Snug Harbor or something like that. By staying in the Cooper Landing area (which has many, many good CITO site options), we could hit one of the local eateries for an end of event dinner social (e.g. Sacketts).
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Post by NeverSummer on Sept 12, 2013 7:22:25 GMT -9
Joat, I think you're right. Let's ditch the Homer idea for this round, but revisit for next fall's HOBO.
Perhaps next year could be a Cooper Landing campout on the Friday night, followed by another cleanup somewhere along the way, ending up in Homer for the next campout and morning CITO. Then, Sunday can be wide open for folks to stay and visit, or head back up the road. We could put on a non-Hobo series CITO back up the road--perhaps at Crooked Creek or back up in Soldotna before people get back home.
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Post by NeverSummer on Sept 12, 2013 7:38:11 GMT -9
In addition, this whole Hobo CITO was something spawned by we set of lower Kenai Peninsula cachers. We all want to have high attendance at these events, I know. However, to do so, we have to move ourselves even closer to Anchorage. I'm wondering how we might get more Anchorage folks to want to come farther down to help CITO our weekend-warrior playland which so many enjoy.
I'm thinking that we could make this thing irresistible for folks who might come from points north of us down here on the Peninsula. Make the campouts a huge goofy, family-friendly party that everyone will want to attend. Costume contests. Skits. Cache container contests. Celebrations of milestones. A "clean-your-freezer-from-last-year's-fish" Hobo Iron Chef Salmon Shootout. Maybe Saturday night is the big party, and Sunday is a small campground CITO.
This needs more than a month to plan, but I'm starting to look to next spring or end of summer. Hmmm, if anyone else might be on board to help with planning for next year, PM me, and we can start another thread. I've totally hijacked this one! :\
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Post by akgh519 on Sept 12, 2013 12:05:10 GMT -9
I like you idea NS! Let's start another thread...you or me?!?
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Post by NeverSummer on Sept 12, 2013 13:57:04 GMT -9
Got your message. I'll start the thread! (pcwhack)
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Post by SSO JOAT on Sept 12, 2013 20:22:28 GMT -9
Actually, starting at the north end and working south should be exactly what draws more Anchorage cachers down to the Penninsula. The way we laid it out in the Spring (starting Friday evening at the southern end) made it so that only a couple die-hard cachers could even get off work and make the nearly 5-hour drive down to the kick off.
I think we've pretty much settled the layout for the Oct 5-6 weekend with some final confirmation on the Russian River begin worked up. With the series starting at the north end and finishing up in the center of the KP (Cooper Landing), I think this will have the highest draw for getting folks out of Anchorage for what may be the last camping weekend of 2013 before we're warming up our snowmachines.
NS... how late will you be tied up in Homer on Saturday? Any chance you can make it up to Cooper Landing that evening?
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Post by barnacle9 on Sept 12, 2013 20:32:32 GMT -9
Well, I got some good news - I was reminded I have a 24 hr response window as tier 2 - I am accustomed to the 6 hr Tier 1 window, which makes life difficult. I think with 24 hrs, I can certainly make it back, if I even get called up - crisis averted :-) The plan looks good to me so far - thanks Scott for making the effort!
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Post by TheFirefly on Sept 12, 2013 20:58:26 GMT -9
Ditto to the last few HOBO CITO planning things y'all have said. :-)
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Post by NeverSummer on Sept 13, 2013 7:49:20 GMT -9
Actually, starting at the north end and working south should be exactly what draws more Anchorage cachers down to the Penninsula. The way we laid it out in the Spring (starting Friday evening at the southern end) made it so that only a couple die-hard cachers could even get off work and make the nearly 5-hour drive down to the kick off. I think we've pretty much settled the layout for the Oct 5-6 weekend with some final confirmation on the Russian River begin worked up. With the series starting at the north end and finishing up in the center of the KP (Cooper Landing), I think this will have the highest draw for getting folks out of Anchorage for what may be the last camping weekend of 2013 before we're warming up our snowmachines. NS... how late will you be tied up in Homer on Saturday? Any chance you can make it up to Cooper Landing that evening? Agreed. Maybe even a "there and back" trip with someplace like Cooper landing to start, Homer in the middle, and Soldotna at the end would be a way to cover some of these places and still reach Homer whenever is desired. Seward is simply much closer to Anchorage, and I think working in Seward in the spring and Homer in the fall might be a way to have 2 Hobo CITO events a year on the Peninsula, and draw some crowds. I'm still hoping to make it up if I can on Saturday. It will all depend on what there is that I need to help with for take-down at 4pm. Then I have to calculate our energy level for the drive up to the event at the Russian.
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Post by TheFirefly on Sept 13, 2013 20:24:47 GMT -9
Actually, starting at the north end and working south should be exactly what draws more Anchorage cachers down to the Penninsula. The way we laid it out in the Spring (starting Friday evening at the southern end) made it so that only a couple die-hard cachers could even get off work and make the nearly 5-hour drive down to the kick off. I think we've pretty much settled the layout for the Oct 5-6 weekend with some final confirmation on the Russian River begin worked up. With the series starting at the north end and finishing up in the center of the KP (Cooper Landing), I think this will have the highest draw for getting folks out of Anchorage for what may be the last camping weekend of 2013 before we're warming up our snowmachines. Awesome. Agreed on the north to south direction, and ending in the middle of the KP.
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