One Pan Wonders

This past weekend I had the privelege of attending the annual ALDHA-West Gathering at Camp Arrah Wanna in Welches OR. It was a bit of a drive from Seattle, but more than worth the travel time. I love these events because I always learn something new, reconnect with old friends, make new friends and generally get to enjoying being in a large group of people who just "get it" when it comes to the hiker mentality. I always come home with a buzz that lasts for days, if not weeks.

I arrived at the camp a bit early (before registration had begun) so I wandered off to the pavillion and helped Warner Springs Monty and Yogi set up. It was good to see both of them again! More people rolled in as it got closer to dinner time. Half Mile, who had given me a grand tour of section A in California earlier this year was there in addition to many other hikers I've met over this summer at various events (and on the trails).

I was scheduled to give a presentation after dinner. Having found out that there was going to be a bonfire after the member presentations, I had brought some interesting ingredients for "recipe testing" and gourmet s'mores. As a result, my talk got moved to the campfire. There was some confusion and I think some people who wanted to attend missed it as it was at the same time as the other presentations... I was bummed to have missed The Onion's talk on PCT alternate routes. I like his sense of humor.

I spoke about no-cook, portable lunches. Since it was dark, it was hard to see what I was doing and the products I was showing. The recipes and information will be available in the next ALDHA-West Gazette. (Yet another reason to join!)



It was really fun to play with the different ingredients for the s'mores. Amazing what happens when you put a bunch of creative minds together. We came up with some pretty creative ingredient combinations. Some of the ingredients available were fresh pears and banana, Nutella, peanut butter, various types of chocolate, cream cheese and various types of cookies and graham crackers.

This one is a plain graham cracker with Nutella, fresh pear and marshmellows.


I turned in fairly early Friday night. I was pretty pooped from the sugar overload, drive down and the excitement of seeing everyone. Saturday promised to be another very full day.

After breakfast, the festivities got rolling with a talk about the PCTA and their acomplishments by Dana Berthold. This was followed by the first annual Backpacker Olympics. Remy and WS Monty had made me promise the night before that I'd participate. First event? Bear Canister stuffing. Despite being the "food lady" I didn't win this one.

Next up was a Ultra Light gear clinic with Andrew Skurka. He talked about how he customizes what he brings depending on his trip. I thought the parts about regulating your body's temperature with a clothing and sleeping system were particularly interesting. I think I sleep a lot colder than he does though. His system would never work for me!

Sorry for the blurry photo - it's the best of the worst.


After a quick group pic, it was time for yet another Backpacker Olympics event.



This time it was Fastest Tent set up. They even threw in a surprise "rain storm" ala water pistols. Fun!  I smoked the boys. They didn't have a chance! WS Monty was stylin with his Mickey Mouse poncho though.



After lunch it was off to more talks. The first was Doug Scott with "The Impact of the Public Lands Omnibus Act of 2009."  I felt a bit like I was back at college, listening to one of my upper level professors speak (in a good way).  It was an interesting talk. This is the Act that gave our area the Wild Sky Wilderness this year. Thank you Doug! For all that you do to protect our wild lands. I am glad there are people who are brave enough to battle the politics. I am not one of them.



Next was Jon Knechtal with the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail. This trail runs from the Continental Divide to the Pacific Ocean. I enjoyed seeing all the slides of the trail, especially those of the Olympics which I am so familiar with. Jon is another one who has battled politics to bring us the trails.



After sitting for so long, listening to speakers, it was nice to get up and stretch our legs a bit with another Backpacker Olympics event. The Water Carry obsicle couse, which almost turned into a wet t-shirt contest.



Then another event - fastest Bear Bagging. Do thru hikers bear bag? I thought they slept with their food! But we did great!

I skipped the next panel on hiking as a couple because I just couldn't sit any longer. I socialized with some hiker friends instead, catching up on gossip and generally goofing off. I also checked out the gear swap/sale and picked up a couple new books. You guessed it. Backcountry cookbooks! Some old ones that are out of print. Neat! I also spent some time admiring Deems Burton's ice axe collection.



Dinner was next, followed by a quiet Triple Crown Awards Ceremony. Only two hikers present this year. Chipmunk had came and found me and asked if I knew Tom and Tori. Firefly had a poster with un-named hikers... Who do I see? My friends! Glad you could be there with me! It was fun to see your faces at the Gathering. Next time come for reals, kay?



After dinner was the much anticipated feature presentation - Andrew Skurka on "The New Frontier of Long-Distance Hiking: Long Distance Adventuring." What do you do when you've hiked all the trails? You've got your triple crown and you've done all the "easy" stuff... (which isn't easy!)  You start looking for bigger adventures. Finding new Dragons as Andrew would say.

I kept thinking of two things as I listened to him talk. The first was that I have done a lot more "adventuring" in my life (on a much much smaller level than he) than I realized. Second, I was wishing my friend , Mike was there to see him talk.  Much of what Andrew had to say echoed what Mike has talked about many times. I'm glad there are people who take on these grand adventures. I love to hear and read about it, but for now I think I'll stick to the trails.



After all the excitement throughout the day, many of us weren't quite ready to turn in quite yet. We had a little gathering in one of the cabins, which eventually turned into ultimate pushups and cheerleading tricks... And pickled eggs. Don't ask.

After breakfast, which came way too soon, we had the awards ceremony for the Backpacker Olympics, then the Membership meeting and Gear raffle. WS Monty must have spent a fortune on raffle tickets because he came away with a huge haul of goodies. Next Adventure donated a TON of stuff, thanks to Lint. There were books, a Deems Burton stove, backpack, snowshoes, trekking poles, s'mores ingredients and a lot of other stuff. I won a copy of Disco's CDT Walkumentary. Awesome!



We had a short membership meeting. WS Monty had nominated me for the Board of Directors... And I won. I am proud to say that I am now an ALDHA-West Board Member! I am super excited about this. I could not be in better company. Next year will be California. I wasn't planning on attending, but now I am! Come join the fun.