Welcome Outdoor Women!

**Please read this general information about the group carefully to be sure this is a good fit for you. It's really aimed at people who are experienced hikers, backpackers, kayakers, and snowshoers who do moderate to strenuous rated trails and who can commit to being active members of this group. **

This group usually meets a minimum of once a week for hiking, snowshoeing, backpacking, kayaking, walking, bicycling, camping, and socializing. We are all "middle aged" - ranging from mid 30s to late 60s with several years of hiking/backpacking/snowshoeing, etc. experience - as long as you are interested in the types of activities we are doing, know you can go at or close to our pace, and want to be an ACTIVE member of the group we'd love to have you join us! We typically hike/snowshoe 8-12 miles per day with 1800-3400 feet of elevation gain and spend about 5-6 hours on the trail - with a bit more "hang out" time in the summer. We take short lunch, photo, and water breaks along the way with lunch usually being at the destination. Our average hike/snowshoe speed seems to be about 2 miles per hour on uphill - less if steep and fully packed. Biking average speed is 10 miles per hour; kayaking speed about 3 miles per hour. We usually lake kayak. There are sea kayaking meet up groups if kayaking is your major focus. The major focus of this group is hiking, snowshoeing, and backpacking.

Guests: We also do some activities with families and partners so it's not just women all the time. These activities will be listed as family/partners welcome. If it does not say that, assume that any guest you bring should be an adult female.

Message Board: Feel free to use the message board for suggesting destinations or inviting people to join you on an activity.

Summer: In the summer, the activities I plan will be mostly midweek, but the majority of the year activities will mostly be weekends or late afternoons. I'm quite interested in finding people who can commit to backpacking midweek for up to three nights.

Dogs: Several members have dogs so you need to be ok with dogs on the trail with us - assuming it's an area where dogs are permitted, of course. The dogs who hike with us are pretty mellow.

Meeting times and costs: We usually meet between 8:00 and 9 a.m. and carpool to the trailhead, but you must get yourself to the meeting place. (If the meeting place is my house, it will not show up until you RSVP "yes"). We save costs by sharing gas this way. We typically do not go out to eat so you must bring food and drinks with you. We might go out to eat if we go far from home. If we do a multiday activity, we will organize a potluck for meals. BE SURE you know how to get to the meeting place. We will only wait 15 minutes after the scheduled time.

Costs: gas sharing and I ask a $1 donation to meet up costs ($12 a month to have this site) the first time you join us for an activity each month.

Calendar: See the calendar for upcoming activities and check the message boards for invitations from members to go out somewhere, etc. You may RSVP weeks ahead of time, but I cut the RSVP time off at least 24 hours before the activity because I want to plan for everyone who's coming - arranging drivers, knowing whom to wait for, etc. ahead of time. Please do not RSVP unless you can COMMIT to following through with attending. Everyone has emergencies, but just canceling at the last minute because something came up or not paying your share really aren't ok with the rest of us. Be sure to join the waiting list if you really want to go on a "full" activity as someone often drops at the last minute.

Overnight Activities: please respond to e-mail messages asking for confirmation of your attendance and/or last minute planning details for the overnight activities. If you do not, I will change your RSVP to "no" because it has been my experience that people who don't answer aren't actually planning to come.

Cancellations From My End: I rarely cancel an activity, but I will if there is a severe storm or if something unexpected happens to my schedule such as my getting sick, etc. I schedule way in advance so check back to the website for updated information or if you forget some details. I put in a lot of information for you on the event so that none of us have to send lots of e-mails back and forth.

Note: I will remove you as a member if you haven't visited the site for 3 months or more. I will then assume that you found this group not to be a good fit for you. I want to end up with a group of people who go out together often. This is a good way to find others who might have the same schedule as you.