What we’re about
This Meetup site manages trip announcements and sign-ups, and we are also starting a Facebook group to share our activities with an even larger audience!
We offer various outdoor programs, including beginner backpacking in spring and fall. Our modern backpacking equipment library and wilderness navigation support these programs, and we also organize backpacking trips, day hikes, service days, and other activities.
We are part of the National Sierra Club's "Local Outdoors" program and organize outdoor activities. These outings are open to the KC Area community and designed to be inclusive. We are affiliated with the national Sierra Club's Kanza, Thomas Hart Benton, and Wakarusa groups. We aim to welcome individuals from all backgrounds, and many of our members are committed to conservation, equity, and social welfare advocacy.
Our activities happen at places whose current names we can see on Google Maps, e.g., Missouri and Kansas. And we know the people living there as Missourians and Kansans. Historically, it's worth noting that these areas could have had different names, and the people living there could have had other names, too. Here is a helpful mapping tool to consider these matters, another referencing many established, well-known trails re. these matters and a resource for additional perspective.
Are you looking for a way to connect with nature, meet new people, or get some exercise? Sierra Club's local outings and national trips have something for everyone. Join Sierra Club on an outing today!
While you do not have to be a Sierra Club member to join this meetup group or participate in the outings, we welcome you to join for as little as $15 as it supports the overall Sierra Club, including the Local Outdoors program.
We sometimes ask for small donations on our outings to cover the costs of training our outing leaders in various areas, such as Wilderness First Aid, and maintaining our gear lending library for backpacking courses. It's important to note that the Sierra Club is a Section 501(c)(4) non-profit organization under the Internal Revenue Code, which means that any donations made are not tax-deductible. Additionally, our leaders are unpaid volunteers who generously give their time to lead these outings.
Concerning backpacking, in addition to the beginning backpacking program, our leaders host beginning and higher backpacking locally and sometimes regionally, with regular options for big league trips on Sierra Club National Outings, for which our local outings and programs can help prepare you.
Our Outings leaders are volunteers from the Sierra Club, offering diverse activities according to their interests. Day hikes, cycling, backpacking, and camping are some of our activities, but we also participate in other activities such as picking up trash, bird watching, clearing brush along a hiking trail, crawling in a cave, or eradicating invasive vegetation. You can feel confident that our leaders are certified for outings leadership, including the first aid training required for the level of the outing they are leading, and they complete structured pre-trip planning.
Due to certification requirements, only our leaders may create outings. However, please feel free to suggest nature—or conservation-oriented outings; one of our leaders may make them happen.
To ensure everything runs smoothly during our outings, please RSVP in advance. Just so you know, we do not accept walk-ins. Leaders have the final say before and during the outing, and they may require certain minimums for fitness, experience, and equipment. We will be sure to provide you with all the relevant information to set clear expectations, and we appreciate your cooperation in following the instructions. We thank you for your understanding and look forward to seeing you on our next outing!
Minors can join many day hikes, but only if they are accompanied and supervised by a responsible adult. Please check the outing description to see if it allows minors.
Sierra Club has a policy regarding pets on outings. Generally, pets, especially dogs, are prohibited unless the outing specifies otherwise. However, service animals are permitted and are not considered pets.
Outdoor activities occur more frequently in late spring and fall/winter and decrease during summer when leaders take personal trips or go on the water.
For the safety of all individuals, please be aware that firearms are strictly prohibited during outings.
Carpooling is encouraged among participants, but it is important to note that carpooling arrangements are strictly private and not covered by Sierra Club's insurance. As such, the club assumes no liability for any issues arising from carpooling or ride-sharing arrangements.
All Sierra Club outing participants must sign a standard participant agreement as part of the sign-in process. This agreement will be linked in individual Outing announcements, and you can look it over before signing.
If you plan to go on a backcountry, overnight, or day trip more than an hour away from an emergency medical facility, you must complete a medical form. The trip leader will review the form, and your privacy will be respected. We take the privacy of our participants very seriously and ensure that the responses on the form are kept confidential. In case of any emergencies, the form will be available during the trip. After the trip, we will either return or delete the form.
Whenever possible, we prefer to collect medical forms at the trailhead. However, for backpacking trips, we need to conduct a more thorough vetting process of the participants to ensure everyone's safety. Therefore, we require the medical forms to be filled out and submitted upfront for backpacking trips.
It is important to prioritize the health and safety of everyone attending an outing. Therefore, individuals who feel unwell or display symptoms of any contagious illness are kindly requested to refrain from attending the outing.
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Please immediately let the outing leader know if you have any concerns during or after an outing. If you receive an unwelcome message from another member on Meetup, Meetup provides some guidance on taking individual action. Also, please don't hesitate to contact us for further assistance. This group is committed to posting events supporting the Sierra Club and those interested in participating.
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- Beginning Backpacking Program | Spring 2024Anita B. Gorman Conservation Discovery Center, Kansas City, MO
Program activities prepare you for & culminate with a KC-area BP trip.
This is designed for injury-free people with hiking experience or a regular fitness routine who want to start backpacking as a lifelong pursuit or who have already started but see value in a baseline program to help level set.
The classroom day will start with a discussion and then exercises to demonstrate critical skills. We also want you to read and gain expertise through your efforts and will provide you with a reading list and curated content to review. Studying and further reviewing our online content will give you invaluable information to leverage and accelerate your backpacking chops.
How Do I Get to Go?
- Read everything.
- Join the waitlist, and if we're in sync. we'll send you a Google survey to complete and move forward with additional steps.
- We have spots for ≈16 people (12-14 participants and up to four instructors). FREE for up to five people in their 20s and 30s! Scholarship scoop. If you're looking to nab a scholarship, RSVP in both places.
Afterward, take it to the next level with additional KC-area BP trips & options for a wide variety of big-league adventures w/ the Nat'l Sierra Club.
You have no Equipment?
We have a program gear lending library with sleeping bags & pads, tents, backpacks & stoves for Sierra Club members & scholarship recipients. Join the Sierra Club (membership as low as $15).
Recommended Donation
$75 if you're not on a scholarship (see above), exclusively contactless via PayPal. This pays it forward, helping to finance the gear library, leadership training & trail maintenance. Instructors are uncompensated volunteers. No refunds < 30 cal. days from the 1st activity - a confirmed RSVP takes a participant opening.
Staying in Touch
We will use Slack to communicate with participants.
Activities
We've streamlined the contact time commitment, optimizing hands-on kinetic learning:
1. 3/23/24 - Class, 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM, Anita B. Gorman Discovery Center, 4750 Troost Ave, Kansas City, MO, 64110. We'll have hands-on kinetic learning through a series of how-to activities, where each participant completes various tasks important to backpacking, e.g. using a water filter, pitching a tent, preventing blisters, hanging a bear (varmint) bag, lighting and using a stove, properly lacing footwear, setting up a sleep system, staying warm at night, using hiking poles (length, hand straps, rubber tip vs. carbide tip), seam-sealing a tent, loading a backpack, etc., and then conduct a several-mile shakedown hike toting full backpacks. If you have your gear, you'll bring that. If you need to borrow our gear, we'll have it there.
2. 4/19/24 - 4/21/24, 8:30 AM - 2:00 PM, BP Trip (place TBA), ≈four hrs. from KC. We try to rotate these locations from class to class. The leader(s) might bring a dog(s). Except for the confirmed gear lending library kit, you'll get and bring everything you need/be self-sufficient, e.g., food, water, gear, etc.
Links to prior programs (see the pics, etc.)
f 2021
w 2021
s 2022
f 2022
s 2023
f 2023Participants complete a standard participant agreement & medical form in class.
Bring a personal 1st aid kit to all activities.
We will use LNT practices.
The Outing officially begins & ends @ the location designated by Sierra Club, i.e., the trailhead, & does not include carpooling, transportation, or transit to & from the Outing; each participant is personally responsible for all risks associated with this travel. The times shown on Meetup do NOT account for travel to & from the Outing.
There are no vaccine, mask, or testing mandates.
- If you're sick, please do not attend.
- If you develop symptoms/illness during the trip, you may be removed for your and others' safety.
- Knowing the above, it is your choice to attend the outing.
Not open - 20’s & 30’s Beginning Backpacking Program ScholarshipsAnita B. Gorman Conservation Discovery Center, Kansas City, MO
Are you in your 20s or 30s and would like to learn how to backpack? We have five spots available at no cost to you at our beginning backpacking class. RSVP here and I will send you a message to confirm that you are in your 20s or 30s, can attend all 3 classes, and help at a monthly trail maintenance. Backpacking is great for cross-training and is a lifelong fitness activity. Backpacking also immerses you in the beautiful scenery of backcountry and wilderness areas.
Outdoors for All programs ensure that each new generation stays in touch with nature and learns the importance of protecting it for the next generation. The Nearby Nature initiative is committed to building a more equitable, just, and inclusive movement by increasing access to and protecting natural spaces in and around urban areas. After the class, we ask for your participation in a couple of trail maintenance mornings at a nearby trail.
The backpacking class activities prepare you for & culminate with a KC-area BP trip and are for injury-free people w/ hiking experience - or those injury-free people with a regular fitness routine. If you are interested in this scholarship, you must attend all activities. Go to this link for a complete description with dates and activities -https://www.meetup.com/kc-sierra-club-outings/events/297222196/
Not open - March Virtual book Club: Paved ParadiseLink visible for attendees
Gary Brush will lead a discussion of Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World by Henry Grabar.
According to Amazon, "Henry Grabar is a staff writer at Slate who writes about housing, transportation, and urban policy. He has contributed to The Atlantic, The Guardian, and The Wall Street Journal, and was the editor of the book The Future of Transportation. He received the Richard Rogers Fellowship from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and was a finalist for the Livingston Award for excellence in national reporting by journalists under thirty-five."
Many commenters seem to find the book "wry" and "a fun read."
Gary Brush is the local leader of discussion group Drinking Liberally and a Sierra Club THB group member.