Pa Ruck this weekend

[Miss Janet]

This will be the first Pa Ruck I have missed since 2000 and I am going to really miss this event! I met Earl there and enjoyed his company, stories, songs and opinions for years! I met so many people there over the years that are now my friends. I learned so much from the great slide shows, fun Tuckerising, boil offs and just from talking to experienced hikers. I also learned alot about what makes this AT community a real family! I will be thinking about you all this weekend!

If you are going please tell everyone "Hello" from me.

[TJ aka Teej]

I also learned alot about what makes this AT community a real family!

Have a blast, Rucksters!
The Ruck web site:
http://www.artofthetrail.com/paruck.html

[weary]

This will be the first Pa Ruck I have missed since 2000 and I am going to really miss this event! I met Earl there and enjoyed his company, stories, songs and opinions for years! I met so many people there over the years that are now my friends. I learned so much from the great slide shows, fun Tuckerising, boil offs and just from talking to experienced hikers. I also learned alot about what makes this AT community a real family! I will be thinking about you all this weekend!

Well, I won't be there, though I was tempted. But I've been convinced that the annual meeting of the AMC might be more important. So, sometime in the morning, I'll head for Waltham, Mass., where a few hundred of AMC's 90,000 members will gather and ponder the future.

I'm not a particular fan of AMC. But I remain convinced that the club is better than who ever may be in second place in the battle to preserve northeast wildlands.

However, I'm open to be convinced that some other group might be able to do better.

Weary

[Footslogger]

This is when living out in Wyoming kinda sucks. Fresh air and wide open spaces but too far away to make it to any of the rucks

Hey Miss Janet ...take some pictures and post em here. OK ??

[bunbun]

This will be the first Pa Ruck I have missed since 2000 and I am going to really miss this event! I met Earl there and enjoyed his company, stories, songs and opinions for years! I met so many people there over the years that are now my friends. I learned so much from the great slide shows, fun Tuckerising, boil offs and just from talking to experienced hikers. I also learned alot about what makes this AT community a real family! I will be thinking about you all this weekend!

If you are going please tell everyone "Hello" from me.

And we missed you - your name came up a LOT - and people wondered why you weren't there and if you were OK. Yeah - you were definitely missed. But we sent you some newbies (although they won't be quite so new and shiny by the time they get there)

And to answer Footslogger as long as I'm here - why don't you start your own Ruck? There's no reason why there shouldn't be a Wyoming Ruck - any more than there's a reason for there not to be a New Hampshire Ruck. The idea behind the Ruck was to get a SMALL group of people together, to talk hiking, to give the newbies a sense of community and to teach. It ain't Trail Days, it ain't the Gathering - it's one-on-one newbie-to-thruhiker personal interaction. And it definitely improves the probability that the newbie will finish the Trail. Whiteblaze is good - but it don't hold a candle to what 10 or 20 (or more) Rucks spread across the country would do for the thruhike completion rate. So go start your own - use the PA Ruck as a model if it works for you, not as a Holy Grail or as a Mecca that requires a pilgrimage.

Sheesh - how many times does this hafta get said before someone out there gets the idea? They had a Ruck in Forida this year - for the first time. They'll likely do it again cause they found out how much fun it is - and how easy it is. Any takers here for starting one someplace else?

For those who aren't on at-l, I'll post what was posted there this morning about the Ruck. But that's another post ----

[bunbun]

For those who aren't on that "other" list, this was posted on at-l this morning -------------------

The PA Ruck
from our point of view ----

was probably the best PA Ruck for the last 4 or 5 years.

We got there late Friday night - and there were all of 6 people sitting in a
group downstairs. We wondered if we were in the right place. We didn't know it at the time, but there was a gaggle of people upstairs watching some of Spur and Ready's slides. But a group of us unloaded the food, slides,
projector, used gear, Six Moon Designs demo tent and pack, etc - and then
sat and talked for about 3 hours. By 12:30 everyone was tired and ready
for some sack time.

Sat morning started with more breakfast goodies than I've seen in one place
for a long, long time. We had donuts, muffins, coffee cake, danish, lots of
coffee --- not bad for a group that was "on our own" for breakfast. After
breakfast, we set up the Six Moons Europa II tent. It's big - a true two
person tent - and light (34 oz by my scale). The fun part was clearing a
space to put it in - and pounding the stakes into the frozen ground. After
the fun and games with the tent, it was time for a walk in the woods. So we
gathered a group and headed for Pole Steeple - north on the AT for 2.8
miles, then off on a blueblaze to a knob that overlooks the valley. It was
a little tougher walking than normal - the 6 inches of powder snow on the
ground was crusted over - and powder doesn't compact very well. So it was
tough walking. Did I mention that it was cold? The walk took it's toll -
one person decided that walking in that snow wasn't what they wanted to do
and on the way back another decided to leave the group and return to the
hostel at a slower pace - and 2 more decided to stay up at Pole Steeple for
a while. Did I mention the wind up there? <G>

While some of us were out walking (and happily freezing our noses and
toeses), Tin Man was back at the ranch demonstrating his stove making
virtuousity to the unwashed and uncouth (hikers). He's got it down to a
"science" - and has now managed to impress a lot of people at two Rucks in
two weeks. He's gooood.

By the time everyone got back (yeah - they all made it) lunch was ready -
soup, chili, bread. And it was all good. So good that we didn't get
started on the Tuckerization until 2pm. Sister Stitches was presiding and
she had 3 willing victims. It's amazing how someone as nice as Mara can be
so brutal when it comes to cutting other people's pack weight. <VBG>

After a brief respite, we gathered a few of the Classes of 04 and 05 and had
a little sitdown talk about a few of their questions about thruhiking. The
conversation took some surprising turns - as did the crowd. We started with
maybe a dozen people participating, but when I turned around a half hour
later, the crowd was 4-deep behind me. And there was a liberal dose of
experience in that crowd. And they weren't afraid to voice their
opinions/knowledge. Cool - that's what the Ruck is all about. When our
thruhikers-to-be ran out of questions, we took a break for a while before
Marsha got dinner ready. Of course, "a break" only means that the
conversations moved into smaller and more scattered groups.

Dinner, of course, was the "usual" thruhiker-style gorging on a variety of
great food. If you weren't there, I'm not gonna torture you by describing
the individual dishes. But it was good enough that the Great Dessert
Bakeoff also ran late (I'll let Gary describe that). Enough to say that
there was so much dessert there that the group could barely put a dent in
it. Brad (the hostel keeper) is gonna have enough dessert for the rest of
the month.

Spur's slide show - like everything else on Sat - started about an hour
late, but I didn't hear anyone complaining. On the contrary, all I heard
was "Wow" and "Oooh" and "Aaaah" and "What a great presentation!"

By request, we followed Spur's slideshow with our CDT slideshow. After
which a lot of people headed for their sleeping bags. A few of them managed
to sleep out at the campground, but for Sloetoe's edification, I don't think
there was a whole lot of Guinness being passed around out there. If there
was, they'd have needed a blowtorch to thaw it out enough to drink.

A few of us - again - sat around and "continued the conversation" for
another couple hours before hitting the sack.

This morning was basically a pack-up, clean-up, say goodbye day with the
remains of yesterdays over abundance of breakfast goodies to keep everyone
from starving. If anyone went away hungry, it was by deliberate choice on
their part.

There were at least 70 people there this weekend, but it was definitely a
smaller Ruck than the last several years - and that made it a lot closer to
what the Ruck was meant to be. I'm sure we'll talk about that some more
later.

One other piece of business was also successful - the fundraiser for the
Delaware Water Gap hostel. The Hiker's Garage Sale provided $154 and the
lunch donations provided $203.01. Now, lunch was $3.00 per person, and one person paid $5, but what I can't figure out is where that extra $0.01 came from. But I'm not gonna worry about it either. In any case, I'll send a
$360 check to Karen Nickles tomorrow along with a letter of explanation.
When I finish the letter, I'll also put it on the list.

For those who weren't there - my condolences. For those who were, we were glad to see you. For those who will hike this year, I'll wish you an
"interesting" hike. And a successful one - at least in that you find what
you need out there.

And finally, for Marsha, Gary, Tin Man, Spur and Ready, and Mara --- a great
big "Thank You!!!" It wouldn't have come together without your efforts. And
we DO appreciate you.

[A-Train]

Bun bun,
nice desciption of the RUCK. Wish I was there! I learned so much last yr that helped me tons on the Trail.
The efforts to raise all that money for DWG hostel is most appreciated and i'm sure the hiking community will benefit from it, as well as the hostel and the church, and pastor Karen. This is one of the finest hostels on the Trail, and we need community support to keep it up and running. Thanks!

[bunbun]

Bun bun,
nice desciption of the RUCK. Wish I was there! I learned so much last yr that helped me tons on the Trail.
The efforts to raise all that money for DWG hostel is most appreciated and i'm sure the hiking community will benefit from it, as well as the hostel and the church, and pastor Karen. This is one of the finest hostels on the Trail, and we need community support to keep it up and running. Thanks!

We missed you. Like Miss janet, your name came up in conversation, too. But they only said nice things about you - I think