Minutes for Meeting of 06-26-2002

Hello Ramblers!

• The Ramblers meet every Wednesday at 5 PM 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 8 PM on Friday the lot is available all weekend for general use.
• This was Michael Dumke's last Ramblers meeting, since he is returning to Germany. He was on and also lead many interesting hikes. He was also the webmaster, in which he did outstanding work maintaining the Ramblers website. Certainly, he will be missed!
• Ross Lampert will be hosting a gathering every Thursday at around 5 PM at his house southwest of campus. After a couple of hours of drinking beer and several varieties of liquor, the group will proceed to La Placita Village to watch a movie. You are welcome to take part in either of the two events by calling 241-2022 for directions to Ross' NEW residence. Please note that he has recently moved.
• Ross had to give up his duties as the Gear Warden for the time being. If anyone has a storage shed or room in their garage for a few packs and sleeping bags, et cetera, please let me know ASAP. It is preferable if you have a residence closer to campus.
• We will need to find a new person to take over the position of webmaster. If you are good with computers and have the time, please contact Dan Carroll: [dcarroll@u.arizona.edu].

• Despite the lack of hiking areas open to the public, Dan, Ross, Torsten, and Hiroko did a "Car Hike" up Mt. Lemmon to enjoy the viewpoints, play a little frisbee at Ski Valley, eat some pies, and socialize. They did see some of the burned out areas from the Bullock fire.

• Wolfgang did lots of hikes, almost every weekend. Here he is presenting the 3 most important:
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  First, he (and Michael Chamberland) went on Joseph Wood's interesting trip into Pumphouse Wash/James Canyon a couple months ago. This involved hiking, some swimming in cold water, and rappelling. The canyons are located north of Sedona, and the Pumphouse Wash is a tributary to the Oak Creek in Oak Creek Canyon. Particularly interesting are the geological features, containing those interesting rock formations in the Coconino Sandstone and the vegetation.
  
  Second, he also did an interesting trip with the Southern Arizona Hiking Club to the Mazatzal Mountains, where the group hiked and climbed up one of the 4 peaks. They had excellent views of Roosevelt Lake and the Sierra Anchas, looking east, and the Superstition Mountains, looking south.
  
  Then, he was on a vacation in northern Arizona, southern Utah, and eastern Nevada. He first went to northern Arizona, briefly stopping in Wupatki and Sunset Crater National Monuments. He camped at Jacob Lake and went north the next day to Bryce Canyon National Park. There he did some day hikes and an overnight backpacking trip, starting at Yovimpa Point. This allowed him to get away from the other people, and the temperatures were quite pleasant. He continued to the Great Basin National Park, where he visited the Lehman Caves, camped for a couple of nights, and did several day hikes. As he arrived at the national park, it was actually raining and, above 9,000 ft, snowing. It was clear, the next day, when he did the day hikes, however, he was hiking in the snow. It would have been nice to make it up to Wheeler Peak (~13,000 ft), but he did some of the forest hikes, since they were doable. After Great Basin National Park, he continued the trip east to Capital Reef National Park, where he continued with some other hikes into some territory, which he began to explore from a previous trip there about 5 years ago. It was quite hot there, but he was camping for 2 nights along the Fremont River, which was very pleasant at night. He also attended a couple of the ranger presentations, and also hiked to the Cassidy Arch. The hike on that plateau to that arch was very scenic and interesting, which was good to do in the morning, when it was still cool. He spent the afternoon outside the national park, where he hiked in the Goblin Valley State Park, which had some interesting geological structures in the Entrada Sandstone. The next day, he did a little exploration of the Escalante Staircase National Monument. This was interesting, but exploratory, and this is a good place to return to hike and see more of in the future.
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• Drew did some hiking in Bandalier National Monument.
• Hanna was on a trip in northern Sonora, Mexico, where she did some hiking and bird watching in the Sierra Huma (Smoky) Mountains not too far from Magdalena. It was hot, but the shady canyons were interesting, providing respite from the intense sun and heat. They saw lots of little pygmy owls in their nests. She also had some goat tacos.
• Joe Leisz did a hike near Park City, where it was green, and there were some snow fields there.

• Joe Leisz mentioned that, despite the closure of many public places, the Southern Arizona Rescue Association is still doing hikes. Stay tuned to the listserve, since announcements of hikes will be presented.
• Hanna mentioned that there will be volunteer projects on the Apache-Sitzgreaves/Blue Range Wilderness area planned. Such projects would demand volunteer time of about a week, and they would also involve hiking. For more information contact Hanna: [haacoy@yahoo.com].

• Again, at this week's meeting, there was another EXCELLENT slide show, courtesy of Michael Chamberland, which highlighted the Yosemite National Park part of the trip to Mt. Whitney, which was organized by our departing German friend Michael Dumke.
• If anyone wants to add information or post additional announcements, please feel free to use this listserve. Meanwhile, enjoy your summer, and, where possible, keep Rambling!

Wolfgang