[at-l] PA Ruck

[spiriteagle99@hotmail.com (Jim and/or Ginny Owen)]

Jack Tarlin wrote:
>Many thanks to G.Roberts for assembling the list of folks who'll be at Pine
>Grove in January; one small incidental correction to his list; not that
>anyone cares, but I live in Hanover, NH, and not Baltimore.
>
>In any case, am looking forward to seeing lots of you guys there.  Lemme
>try this one again:  When will we see more info on the Ruck page as far as
>scheduled events, driving instructions, etc.?  I'm corresponding with
>several folks who are curious about this, and could use the information.
>Thanx in advance to anyone who can help with this.

Jack -
Red says the PA Ruck info will be up sometime in the next couple days.  Take
a look when she gets it all up and if you have specific questions, hang'em
out here and we'll do what we can.  I'm sure someone will answer them,
although it may not be me.  I haven't managed to even read all the traffic
on at-l (or TA) lately - my job is interfering with my life. I'm gonna have
to fix that.

I don't think we've actually "scheduled" much yet.  We try to keep the
"schedule" as loose as possible - meaning "absolute minimum".  We sorta plan
on having slide shows and a campfire at night, meals, a short hike on Sat
morning - maybe a stove cookoff if anyone's interested, equipment demos if
anyone shows up, a low-key fundraiser for the Museum ---- and a LOT of
hiking talk including a Saturday  afternoon "thruhiker bull session".
Anyone who wants to add to that list, just let me know.

For those who might be interested, we spent last night with Mountain Roamer
(AT-98).  She was one of the attendees at the second Ruck (the first PA
Ruck) and she told us that it was the most valuable part of her pre-hike
preparation - far more so than the email lists.  She also said that the
"small group size" at that Ruck was very helpful.  Since the Ruck as a whole
has gotten a lot larger, my advice for those who intend to hike in the
future would be to get thyself to the "thruhiker bull session" - and then
grab yourself a thruhiker and sit them down to answer questions for an hour
or so - and then find another thruhiker to answer more questions or tell
Trail stories or...... whatever.  And then........ do it again. Get the
idea?

We've done the  routine for every Ruck except one.  I can't quote numbers
because I've never "counted", but my impression is that those who've
attended those "sit and talk" sessions seem to have a very high "success"
rate when they get on the Trail.  YMMV

Y'all have a good day -

Merry Christmas,
Jim & Ginny



_________________________________________________________________
MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 3 months FREE*.
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus&xAPID=42&PS=47575&PI=7324&DI=7474&SU=
http://www.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/getmsg&HL=1216hotmailtaglines_virusprotection_3mf