Around The Campfire

Special Note: hey guys, it looks like Meetup wants to destroy their own customer base and has put some basic features behind a paywall for USERS and not just for organizers. E.g., being able to see who else is going on trips ahead of time. As such, I'm going to try to keep the attendee list copy/pasted somewhere in the trip descriptions or on the message board for each trip. It's very important for ppl to see who is going to be camping with them and really, this is a self-destructive decision for them, given how badly they need to be fighting as hard as they can to claw business back from Facebook's free event postings. It looks like Meetup might try to stop me from sharing the attendee list but just message me if you want it for a given trip. It's everything when it comes to trying to meet new people, knowing you'll be among ppl roughly your own age, staying diligent and not signing up as the only girl among gruff-looking men (our group always has a balance of genders, though)--and generally just knowing if you'll see familiar faces of you go on a trip. Hell, there's even the risk of going on a trip with an ex by accident if you don't know who else has RSVP'ed.

There's a longer-term solution that I'm working on and will share when it's ready. Just message me if you want the attendee list for a given trip for now.

---

People ask me all the time, "Chris, how can I be more like you?"

"You are so grounded and confident, and never seem to care when we get lost or stuck in a hailstorm."

The outdoors are a religion, and attending church regularly means sleeping in the woods under the 100 billion stars in the upper half of the Milky Way; it means taking a life-changing trip down a river over multiple days, and joining a formal, white table-clothed dinner in the woods with the people you now know better than your own family.

Spring smell-memories, summer swimming hole swimming, and mid-Autumn leaves yellowing and oranging--make me how I am. Winter is the time to hibernate.

Camping, specifically, is the focus of the group. We do the traditional hiking backpacking, car camping where you don't have to exert your "bad back", paddle camping where we pack our tents in kayaks and canoes and travel down calm and whitewater rivers, and hit happy hours hard. We've done everything from 21-mile hikes through bogs, to single-digit temperature car camping to watch the lunar eclipse.

It's 2026 and a brand new season!

I have recently made a lot of changes in my life and now feel like I've woken up from a long fugue. My goal this year is to grow the group and schedule some of the wildest and most hilarious adventures Meetup has ever seen.

...Oh yeah, this isn't a super wholesome group at all, and you'll never feel like you're on a cub scouts trip.

About half of the members have never actually camped in the backwoods, yet I have gear and guidance to lend. The age range is about 70% 20's and 30's, and the rest all the way up to their 70's. The key is to not be a dolt or stuffy.

Although we practice strict leave no trace, respect wildlife, etc., during our trips into the woods--we are specifically NOT the type who bring it way too far and do things like put their camp poos in Ziploc freezer bags to hike out, or who get pissy when somebody steps in a stream "because of the water bugs!"

We all need to resist the trend wherein experienced backpackers try to project hyper-picky and overboard rulesets on how to act outdoors. New outdoorspeople need to feel welcome, and gatekeeping is detrimental to the environment in the long-run.

The people scared off by gatekeepers never learn to love nature, and never feel a need to fight for it years later when a new heep leaching project is proposed in a wild area. People deterred by militant Leave No Tracers don't learn how enchanting a mountain waterfall can be, or understand the appeal of wide swathes of undeveloped land--they will never pay dues to the Appalachian Trail Club, never show up to townhall meetings to advocate against new massive housing developments, and never gain that deep revulsion to the idea of logging a large acreage tract they buy. No gatekeeping!!!

Send me your questions! We want new people!!!