Thursday night, the Sierra Club hosted a Beginning Backpackers Seminar under the leadership of Ron Shrieve and Steve Harvey. This was the club's first effort with backpack training; Ron and Steve were unsure about the response. By "showtime" 34 people had signed up and everyone who signed up, showed up!

Ron and Steve enlisted several of SC's backpacking "experts" to participate. Duane Simmons and Will Skelton were assigned food, stove and "how to #%I# in the woods." Bill Adams and Ray Payne talked about tents, pads and sleeping bags, while Steve and John Finger tackled the topic of packs and navigation. Ron and I shared the vast topics of boots, footwear, clothing and layering. Whew! It was a lot to cover and even more to absorb in 3-hours.

Participants were broken into 3 groups and rotated between speakers. I thought the level of enthusiasm shown by the participants and the "experts" was catching! Lots of questions were asked and the participants were very hands on, trying, looking and touching. I was particularly pleased that the women in the group really bonded. Lots of conversation was had about a "women only" backpack.

What a great way to spend the evening. Congratulations to Ron and Steve for a very successful presentation!


Setting up tents on the lawn behind the Fellowship Hall. From left (red shirt) Bill Adams, John Finger, Ray Payne, Duane Simmons (front-big orange shorts) and our leader, Ron Shrieve (grey shirt). At this point, we were about 30 minutes from opening presentation.

People arrived just about on time and everyone that signed up, showed up! The participants were attentive and most stayed until 9:30 pm or later.

Ron opened the seminar talking about the local hiking clubs and hiking schedules, Leave No Trace, and organizational and administrative issues when hiking with a club. Steve was standing to his left but somehow I missed getting him in my viewfinder.

Bill and Ray talked about sleeping bags, pads and tents. Ray, our most experienced backpacker and long time champion of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is in the yellow shirt on the left of the picture. Bill is hands on with the sleeping bags.

Will and Duane shared duties talking about stoves and food. In this photo, Will is lighting his backpacking companion, the Seva stove

Duane talking about food and sanitation. Duane is the most creative backpack chef we hike with. He is also willing to carry the weight.