PRIVATE TRIPS... good or bad?

“From the number of times the words "arses," "beeyatch" and the like are used on the Alaska trip thread about its private trip participants, it would seem more than a few people are at least thinking about it, if not somewhat perturbed about it.

What do ya think??”

“Boon or Boondoggle?”

“I don't think there's a problem with folks setting up trips and inviting people they know they'll enjoy being with. It's maybe not the nicest thing to announce you're going but sometimes it's hard to be quiet when you're so excited.

The people on the Alaska trip are probably being mauled by mosquitos anyways. Would the folks who weren't invited really want to volunteer that much of their blood and pay heftily for the priviledge?”

“When people go on private trips it makes me so mad I have to go hurt myself.”

“I'm sure Alaska is one expensive trip. I sure wouldn't want to spend that much money and not get along with my companions although, I think I've gotten along with every TTer I ever hiked with. I wasn't invited, either.”

“i think private trips are okay. sort of like what sass said, so I don't have to repeat it again.

still... I am sad :(”

“Bitpusher! Put the sandpaper down! It's not nice to do that to yourself. (Maybe you woulda enjoyed the mosquitos)”

“I always get left out, so what's new :-P”

“If you want, I'll hurt you bitpusher!

Oh, they're mean, rotten and evil!

Ha ha, Pennsy will get his arse roasted at Ithaca!

I'm thrilled for them!

The magnatude of the Alaska trip made it worth telling us all.

Other private trips are just.......trips.”

“I only called 'em bastards because they got to go somewhere I want to go and haven't gotten to yet, not because they did a private trip. If you want to invite only certain peeps more power to you, I'd set up a private trip if I felt like doing so, probably will someday.”

“I agree wholeheartedly with Sass on this one. It's a free country, right?”

“They definately have one hell of a nice trip planned! They're doing all kinds of fun stuff. I can't wait to read the TR and see the pictures!”

“lol...of course I was being sarcastic.

I don't understand why people get so upset when others go on private trips. Damn, can't we be happy for our friends or acquaintences that they get to go? Or are we all so damn self-centered that all we can think about is how hurt and pissed we are about not being invited?

The reason the private trips are becoming the norm is because not everybody wants 75 people along on their trip, which has a tendency to happen with this group.”

“Interesting. I have hiked on two occasions on private trips. Typically I post all my hikes public.. and even do my best to get some people from 'the other side' to go.

I haven't personally read any of the holla-squabble regarding the Alaska trip, but I did know about it almost two months ago. One of the participants said there would be some moaning about it, but as it was explained to me, the transportation contraints, site limitations, and other assorted problems made it impossible to invite anyone to come along.

As for anyone calling the individuals 'arse' or 'beeyatch', it seems quite shallow and reminiscent of sour grapes to me. Yes, I would have liked to travel to Alaska. No, I don't think any less of those who went because they kept it somewhat hush-hush.

On the private trips I have participated in, I found the reasons to keep it quiet to be in order, and justified. I hardly think anyone was left out, but rather the logistics of planning for a crowd, when it made more sense to take a small manageable group made a lot more sense.”

“Yep. Those grapes are probably sour anyway, <G>”

“Private trips are absolutely fine....if indeed it's kept "private".

Once you utilize a public forum to exploit and boast about a private trip then you introduce a behaviour that lacks respectfulness and maturity.”

“No big friggin' deal...hope they have a good time...I consider them all my friends and wish them the best.”

“It's their business what they do and nobody else's. There is no oath of exclusivity we sign here on TT, that we'll only go on announced TT trips. People can hike alone, with friends who are not TTers, TTers on private trips, or TTers and anybody else on public trips.

On trips like the one to Alaska, it's reasonable to suppose that a small number of people is more manageable than a large group, so they invited who they wanted to be with and so be it.

Pennsy is hardly a hiking snob. I've hiked with him a couple of times and will again, despite the fact that I'm not up to hiking at his breakneck speed. Hell, he's even hiked with Buddha Bear.”

“That Pennsky, I'll rip every hair outta his head, one by one!!!!”

“I wish I knew more about where to go and how to set up and plan a private trip. Heck, I would do it more often, but I would prolly be the only one going though. LOL
I think they have every right to do whatever they feel like. Posting this BIG trip, like Bit said, is not gloating. Maybe if you posted every "day trip" that you and a few selected TT'ers went on just to rub salt in our eye's, may get irrating.
Any BIG trip thats cool!
Heck I'm jealous & I'm envious.
I hope I can go there someday too. If it never happens at least I can live the trip vicariuosly through them.
So I hope they have trip of a life time and party like a grizzly.

PS...My "bassterds" remarks on other thread where obviuosly jokes.”

“Do bass turds float?”

“Well said, stratusloop.

I would have just said it was cliquesh and very 'Tacky'.

If you do something you KNOW is going to hurt someone's feelings and then brag about it.....
low class.”

“If they did, you could probably walk across Lake Guntersville without getting your feet wet.”

“Up to them completely.”

“"That Pennsky, I'll rip every hair outta his head, one by one!!!!"
MarkO

One and One.....I think you got them all marko”

“I don't think any of the name calling on the Alaska thread were serious.”

“I was gonna say, what's he gonna use, tweezers?”

“I heard about it in March.

They only had so many slots and they were full.”

“Thanks....SS....actually I was about to go into a diatribe about the nature of "clique" but thought i'd keep short and sweet....”

“ok then, we all have to pretend to be pissed and not respond to their thread when they return. oh.... and we'd better let this one fall off the bottom too ;o)”

“Well, somebody got my joke!
>8^O”

“I say more power to them, no matter what anyone's reasons are for hosting a private or a public trip. For crying out loud, isn't eveyone here always telling the newbies/trolls that they need thick skin around here? Practice what we preach. Don't get bent out of shape about it. If you don't want your nose rubbed in it so to speak, don't read the thread. I'm happy for anyone who gets out on a trail by whatever method they had to utilize to get there. Hike on!”

“yer mammy, yer a genius!”

“Pennsy? Clique? LMAO. Pennsy's the antithesis of clique.”

“There's an Alaska trip?”

“New, it's just anti-Pennsy propaganda.”

“Pennsy said he was not on the 'selection comittee' so any anger toward him is misplaced.
The unknown 'selection comittee' is where the controversy lies.

Pennsy just screwed up and anounced the trip. ;-)”

“So, who do we beat if not Pennsy?”

“People on this forum actually have the audacity to take trips on their own? Freakin' muthuh-lovin' sons-a-beeeeyatches. That does it. I'm going to that other forum. THIS PLACE SUCKS! It's an exclusive members-only hiking club while the rest of us are forced to sit back and hurl chunks as we listen to the giddy little muthuhs talk about their friggin' little hiking trips. I'm oudda here, and I'm tackling somebody on my way out. YOU, GET OUT OF MY WAY... AND GOOD RIDDANCE! Or, ahem, you can just invite me on one of your little trips, pwease? Just one? I won't even talk or anything, I promise...”

“MarkO - You'll need to ask one of those invited. ;-)”

“Buck has never invited me on one of his PRIVATE trips! ;-)”

“i can't belive some of you really are offended by this. Get over it!! There is nothing wrong with private trips.

There prolly alot of good reasons why this trip was kept private.”

“I don't have a problem with a private trip. Heck, I still wish my Savage Gulf trip last Jan had been private after the headaches it caused. If I was having to plan for the nightmare of travel logistics that goes into getting 6-8 people into Alaska and back, then it'd be a private trip.

I think there is a place for both. Everytime I've been on a public trip I met someone new and that's great. There are some trip types that I would want private though. Slow, low mileage trips are great hang out trips, but you wind up with lots of people. Maybe the solution is to just flat out say that only xxx can attend. The problem with that is how to deal with the normal attrition that happens the last two weeks before a trip. High mileage trips take care of themselves. You're not going to have people sign up for 20mpd that can't do it so no issue there.”

“I fail to see what the big deal is.

Someone planned a trip and invited some other people and they were so excited they had to let everyone know.

So fugging what? Face reality, not everyone can go on every trip. Are any of you aware that in Denali some zones only allow 4 people to enter per day?

Anyone want to trash me because I asked about the High Sierra Trail, didn't invite any TTers on the hike, posted a "see you later thread" and posted my HST trip report here last summer?

How about the TTers who live near each other who plan get small (and I assume private) get togethers here?

Who got hurt here?

Much ado about nothing.”

“Some people look for reasons to be offended.

You have to learn to ignore those people.”

“Who went and when? I must not've been paying close enough attention that there was an Alaskan trip. My only comment about the trip in question is congrats. I'd love to have the time to take that sort of trip and am glad that others get to experience that scenery.”

“I've done all the planning and logistics for a Alaska trip and frankly there is now way in hell I'd take more than 6 people and this is coming froma guy who is taking 20 people to the boundary waters next month and frequently hikes with groups in excess of 20.”

“One day I hope to be invited on a private trip - ::sigh::”

“Here is something that bothers me and is a slightly different approach.

When I planned the Yellow River State Forest trip in March, April or whenever it was, I made a point of asking at least some Michigan area people with Matt's "Trips" page invites. Got no interest. Later found out they had a private trip that weekend. Which I felt was too bad. When we're all in the Upper Midwest, it would be nice to have trips set up on weekends when potentially the whole Upper Midwest contingent could go.

Also, I was looking at some point setting up a trip to the Shawnee Forest in southern Illinois. Some people expressed interest. But after the Yellow River deal I kinda felt like, wow, try to plan a trip to meet some people and you're aiming at a dartboard in the dark, cuz you just don't know when their private trips are.

Just something else to think about....”

“HPM, is the Boundary Waters a scouting trip? A guy on my Smokies trip a few weeks ago talked about planning and taking a YMCA group there years ago. His son (our age) still talks about that event being a turning point in his life.”