Wind-o-Rama

“I'd like to try to make this trip, too, but if you have to big of a group already that's OK, I'll hit the Beartooths. But, I'm only 4-5 hrs. away, soooo.....”

“well, if aero is going.....:)

i dont remember having to have permits in the winds...group size? it is a huge woods out there and room to disperse...

i saw some cowboys take large groups up for camping once with horses...

this liteweight/lnt group wouldnt have horses even.

dont mind rebellious me tho....”

“Max group size - permit or not is 15 people.”

“That's OK BigPoppa, I'll take the blame. If they can find me bringing up the rear that is.”

“Surely we can find a way to be multiple groups if we need to.”

“There already are two groups, The 5 day and the 7 day groups.”

“We can always invoke the ECT pledge and tell them we are on a mission. It is ECT? Did I get the acroynm correct?

I think I am going to post a new thread on the trip page. How many of us are on the East Coast. It may or may not be possible, but I wonder if we all met at one airport and was able to get a group rate with the airlines. The thought just struck me that this is a large group, how many of us live close together. I will problable post it after I find out the particulars from a travel agency. There is one in my office building, I will go down there and ask.

I am also thinking about driving depending on my employment situation. I got downsized a few weeks ago and am thinking about venturing out on my own in the freelance world. If that would be the case, then I might drive.”

“With enough people, yo may be able to charter a flight through a private company.”

“If it gets too crowded, I'll be in a group of one and accidently run into you guys.”

“Hey Aero - Maybe you're along the way from here. (I really don't know how to get there yet)

;-)”

“Hey Hodge! I'm about 260 miles from Lander, if you're going in on the east side, and 360 to Pinedale on the west. I'm not sure what side the trip is starting on!”

“What's the closest city with an airport to the trailhead?”

“I think Salt Lake City is the closest city with a cheap airport. Besides it's en route for everyone driving up from CA. All the CA drivers should stop by SLC and pick up someone who flew in.

We will drive for sure, but may come or go via OR or WA, depending on another obligation. I should know by the second week in January.”

“I can just picture a bunch of people with no luggage except a backpack standing on the curb outside the Salt Lake airport with cardboard signs "Wind River Range".

LOL”

“I'll probably fly in to Jackson. Any chance of a lift??

The hike begins on the west side of the range.”

“Once I figure out the driving route we'll have to get the PacNW carpool going again”

“Hey Hodge, since it's on the west side of the Winds you could come down I-5, then across Oregon and Idaho on I-82,I-84,I-86, to Pocatello, ID, then over to Jackson, WY.”

“Not to volunteer anyone...but...you could fly into Billings instead of Jackson and hitch a ride with Aero. Probably much cheaper.”

“waddayasay aero, you up for that?

I'll be flying out from Atlanta to somewhere.

We could coordinate a bunch of us and rent a van out of Salt Lake too.”

“I just called and my maps are still not in. ... I am waiting...not very patiently, but waiting.”

“Thanks Chief! :P”

“Actually, not to poopoo the idea, it would be cheaper and closer to fly into Salt Lake; if you were on Delta or United, you'd have to fly into Salt lake or Denver. It's expensive to get up to Billings instead of one of the hubs. Plus, I'm still on the "undecided" list.”

“No problemo. Now, let's see, who else will be needing a ride?”

“Hey chief, merry christmas!”

“I have always driven to the places I hike. When you fly what do you take with you from home and what do you pick up along the way?”

“I've never flown but I know that you can't carry any pressurized fuel cannisters. Don't know about white gas, but probably not.”

“No on the white gas too.
Sometimes they'll even give you a hard time about the stove without the fuel.
Best to dry out the fuel bottle and tell them, if they ask, no stove then pick up some fuel on the way to the trail head.”

“I recall a pretty well-equipped outdoor store in Pinedale. And isn't the manager of a SLC REI on line here somewhere?”

“I got through one airport with bear spray and another with them throwing it out. They almost took my stove. The security people looked Middle Eastern. I know that is a prejudicial statement, but it was still kind of odd with the sensitivy level so high in this country. The only thing that pissed me off is they did not speak much english.

My advice is if you are iffy about the item, pack it deep in the bag, bag the bag, and play ingnorant if they find something that is on there hit list. Also challeng it and ask for a supervisor. They told me that I could not take my stove. I told them to get a supervisore and she said the stove was not a problem.”

“How about my Bowie knife, saw and shovel? I will leave the six-shooter at home for this trip. I don't need the bear spray if I have the bowie. I just hamsting someone slower than me. %)”

“I live in northern Colorado. If anyone wants to fly in to DIA (Denver) and carpool to the Wind River Range with me, I'd be happy to pick you up in Denver. You might want to come out here a couple of days early to acclimate to the elevation.

Denver is 40 miles south of where I live.”

“According to MapQuest, I live 890 miles from Pinedale (15 hour drive). I wouldn't want to make that in one day, although I could...just don't like long driving days.

Still thinking about it.”

“Hey trailgirl, I may take you up on that, but it's a long way off still. Thanks for the offer!”

“I talked with a travel agency and she said we could get a group discount if we could all meet at one airport. Food for thought. Us Eastcoaster might want to take a look at our group meeting at one place and flying into one place.”

“Group rates might be nice. Wonder where the good meeting place for departure might be???

Atlanta? BWI? New York???”

“Trailgrl, that's gotta put you pretty close to Cheyenne, I lived there for 7 years, a couple lives ago.”

“Phx-Pindale is over 900 miles. I've done it straight thru, but it's a long day. Going thru SLC would add a bunch of time, usually skirt the city to the SE.”

“Mapquest skirted SLC to the Southeast for me. Looks like it saves some time.”

“The Wanderer-mobile won't be available for this trip.

Just finished finalizing our Venturing Crew calendar for 2004. While you guys are BP'ing in the Winds, I'll be sea-kayaking in the San Juan Islands!

Have fun & be safe everyone!!”

“I think it would be good to fly in a group from my part of the woods. i live in Cincinnati. Also a comment about flying with stoves. Im going to order a small stove that burns wood-small backpacking type. Im going to try it out, camping around here before i decide if i want it for a week long trip. the advantage would be possibly less hassle at an airport. They are basically a tubular piece of sheet metal and you dont need to carry fuel”

“Wanderer, have fun on the trip sea kayaking. Sounds great.”

“Cinci might be pretty central - plus its a hub city.

I'll be curious to hear how the wood stove works for you. I'm going to try out an alcohol stove, you can get denatured alky at any Lowes or Wal Mart.”

“I'm going to pack all my backpacking gear in a suitcase except for fuel, then fly from Ontario, CA to Salt Lake City where I'll rent a car and head to Wyoming. I can buy fuel between the Airport and the trailhead. If anyone else is going to fly into Salt Lake City, they are welcome to hop a ride with me.”

“Cincinnati would work for me for a SIGNIFICANT discount. It's a 4 hour drive from me. Maybe we should start a thread on the trip page for....."air pools?"”

“Group rate on a flight might be tough since we're all so spread out. A nice van rental might be cool though in Salt Lake.”

“I agree, had that thought myself. What kind of drive are we looking at?”

“I will try and get all the locations of Eastcoast TT's and see how many there are. Then I will see how much we will save when I know the number. I will worry about that sometime in january.”

“Big Wave Dave is the guy who has the REI in Salt Lake, I think. He might be a good guy to look up if you're flying through there.

BTW it's about 80 miles from Salt Lake to Evanston, WY, then about 155 from there to Pinedale. So, 235 all together.”

“Rental van sounds good. I intend to come near SLC, and had originally thought I could pick some folks up, but now my Exploder is probably pretty full with some add-ons from here.

If that changes and will be able to pick up riders, I'll let folks know.”

“I live in Cincinnati but never fly out of here,its way too expensive. i fly out of Indianapolis or Columbus ohio. I could meet up with anyone within a few hours drive of me. Bigpoppa,good idea to found out locations of Easterners.”