Minutes for Meeting of 02-20-2002

• The Ramblers meet every Wednesday at 5pm in the Forbes Building in room 307.
• All hikes,unless otherwise stated, will meet for departure in the parking lot behind the Park Student Union. After 8pm on Friday the lot is available all weekend for general use.

• Ross did some hiking in Pima Canyon this past weekend. He hiked past the spring and almost to the ridge but it was getting late and hiking in the dark isn't especially fun.
• Hanna, last weekend, hiked the Kent and Bog Spring loop trail in Madera Canyon. Her main purpose was birding but the only birds she saw of extreme interest were some Western Bluebirds. She also did some hiking around an estuary in the Puerto Penasco area. The scenery was a nice change from Tucson its the endless desert. On this hike she saw some cretaceous corpses and birds including quite a few Osprey.
• Bill and his wife, two weekends ago, hiked to Josephine Saddle in Madera Canyon. They saw black bear and lion scat but thankfully didn't encounter any of the animals in the flesh.
• Steve, recently, did some hiking in Pontatoc Canyon and along the Bug Spring trail.
• Susan and seven others hiked along the Cochise trail in the Dragoon Mtns. this past Saturday. The nine mile hike was quite enjoyable as it was a perfect day for hiking. The local bar and grill also proved quite enjoyable after a long hike.
• Dave and his mother spent a few days in Sedona and did some hiking in the area while there. One day they took the West Fork Oak Creek trail and another day Dave did some trail running on the Boyton Canyon trail. As always, the area was exquisite.
• Michael participated in his first orienteering event this past Sunday at Reddington Pass. He completed the 7km course in 3hrs and thoroughly enjoyed himself.
  Matt has sent a bit more info about this to the listserv:
  Greetings all,
  Sorry, I am unable to make Wednesday meetings, so here is yet another trip report.
  Last weekend there was the monthly Tucson Orienteering Club meet up at Redington Pass, using a new map over the Italian Trap. For those who are unfamiliar, orienteering maps are very detailed topographic maps; so detailed that they can show individual rocks and trees. Consequently they take a lot of work to prepare and you don't see a new one too often.
  A total of about 50 people attended the event. Of these we had 4 Ramblers. Drew and Amy completed the White course, Michael tackled the Short Billygoat and Matt went into the Long Billygoat. All except Matt were trying orienteering for the first time, and I think I can say that they learnt a new appreciation for reading the little wiggles in those fine red contour lines.
  The weather was fine, if a little windy. The area was relatively open, offering clear views of the hills we were climbing over and of Mica Mt to the south. It was relatively easy to travel cross-country in this area, with just the occasional barrel cactus or prickly pear to be wary of. This time the only wildlife to be seen were driving around in jeeps.
  The Long Billygoat was won by some Australian bloke; in second and third there were a couple of Kiwis, so you can see that local repesentation was missing.
  The next meet will be March 17 amongst the foothills of the Santa Ritas, SW of Tucson. I will be attending these and able to help provide transport to anyone else interested in giving this a go. This will be a regular meet that requires no pre-registration.
  A version of the map that was used for the Long Billygoat can be found at...
  http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~mc/toc/trap_c1.jpg (90kbytes), or
  http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~mc/toc/trap_c2.jpg (600kbytes).
  Cheers,
  Matt.
• Wolfgang has done LOTS of hikes, some being to more remote and less visited areas, as follows:
  1.) This past Saturday he did a hike with the Southern Arizona Hiking Club (SAHC) up Picketpost Mountain, which is near Superior and also overlooks the Boyce-Thompson Arboretum. [Instead of orienteering (or watching television) on Sunday, he went to the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show.]
  2.) 2 weeks ago, he did a hike with the SAHC up Biscuit and Cake Peaks in the Galiuro Mountains. Sections of the climb were steep; however, the views at the top were spectacular.
  3.) 3 Weeks ago, he went with the SAHC on a day hike up one of the peaks in the Sawtooth Mountains. Sections were steep, and they also came across some of the Hohokam Indian ruins. He came across the register at the summit, and it had Erich's name in it from 1998.
  4.) 4 weeks ago, he did a day hike with the SAHC to the high point in the Tortolita Mountains north of Tucson. They saw an interesting crested Saguaro.
  5.) 5 weeks ago, he did an over night trip to the Chiricahuas. He did a hike at Ft. Bowie National Historic Park and also was up along the Gila River near the Gila Wilderness, where he also did some day hikes.
  6.) During the New Year's weekend, he went on an overnight backpacking trip in the Superstition Mountains.
  7.) During the Christmas weekend, he did several day hikes, where he completed the "network of trails" in the lower elevation parts of the Saguaro National Park East. Also, he did a day hike in Saguaro National Park West, starting at Gates Pass. During all of his hikes, he saw lots of wildlife - mostly whitetail deer, javelina, and various birds. Also he made 4 more visits to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.

• Hanna is planning a day drive/hike in the Santa Ritas this Sunday. Her purpose is to find a particular type of bird for a school project so the day will be loosely structured and highly dependent on the birds and what the group would like to do. She will depart from PSU at 8am and return around 5pm. If you are interested please contact her at hanna@u.arizona.edu.
• Joe is planning another fabulous mystery hike this Saturday. He will depart PSU at 9:30am and return around 5pm. It will probably be a low desert hike and he will announce more details later. If you have any great suggestions or opinions on what/where the mystery hike should be e-mail him at jleisz@ag.arizona.edu.
• Hanna is also planning a mystery outing. Her's will be Saturday evening and will require $10-15 and loose and comfortable clothing. She will be departing for (you'll just have to wait and see) at 6pm from PSU. And YES you can go on both mystery outings for a mysteriously fun-filled Saturday!

• April 11-14 is UofA's Spring Fling at Rillito Downs. We will be co-sponsering a basketball game booth with the fencing club. This will be a great opportunity for our club to raise money to buy new equipment. There will be more info about this later.

Equipment is available for borrowing to members of the hiking club, which is done by contacting Ross and signing it out. The following is the current Ramblers Hiking Club Inventory:

• 2 Backpacking Stoves
• 1 Coleman Dual Burner Stove
• 3 First Aid Kits
• 1 Large Stuff Sack
• 1 Compression Stuff Sack (1 Broken Strap?) 1 Fuel Funnel
• 2 6-Gal. Water Jugs
• 1 5-Ft. Floppy Roll Mat
• 1 6-Ft. Firm Roll Mat
• 1 Air Mat
• 1 Camp Trails Exterior Frame Pack (Ripped Front Pouch) 1 Kelty Exterior Frame Pack
• 1 Jansport Exterior Frame Pack
• 1 Maroon Sleeping Bag (Broken Zipper)
• 3 Red Kelty Sleeping Bags (Rated 25 Degrees ñ More Like 60) 1 Grey Sleeping Bag
• 1 5-Man Tent
• 1 Coleman Gas Lantern
• 1 Volleyball Net
• 1 Volleyball
• 2 Metal Canteens
• 2 Sets of Camping Utensils
• 1 Large Silver Tarp
• 1 Knee Brace