Organized Groups?

[BSquared]

Hi, all. I'd be interested in hearing about anyone's experiences as part of an organized hiking group. I live in Vermont but grew up hiking in the Sierra and long to get back on a regular basis. The rub is that no one I know seems to share that interest (including my spouse), and I've tried solo hiking and found I really don't like it at all; besides, at 75 it's probably not really safe for me. So, I've been thinking about looking for an organized group in 2022 (talked my spouse into a base-camping trip in the Green Lakes/Virginia Lakes area this year ). I've never been hiking with an organized group, and I wonder what the pros and cons might be. The Sierra Club, in particular, seems to have a lot of trips into many parts of the range, at reasonable lengths (5-8 days) and reasonable costs. During my years of Sierra hiking I've heard plenty of comments about such groups of course, usually negative, but I don't think I've ever chatted with anyone who's actually been on one.

I'd also be interested in hearing about other organized groups to explore; so far I only know about Sierra Club and REI.

[bobby49]

I spent twenty years organizing and leading backpacking, climbing, and cross country ski trips in the Sierra, all for the Sierra Club. It seemed like a good thing. Right now, the Sierra Club is semi- shut down due to the pandemic, but it seems as though they are getting ready to fire up again.

The way that I see it, it is the young pups who dropped out early, and the old geezers are still going, at a somewhat slowed pace. Yes, the trick is in finding the right trip so that your speed and expectation matches the group.

[freestone]

https://andrewskurka.com/guided-trips/

I traded messages with him earlier this year and seniors are welcome but judging from their group pictures, its a younger crowd. I'm surprised that there are not more offerings geared to seniors, especially those those that are still capable of alpine adventure. Maybe 2022 will have more to offer.

[Sierra Miguel]

I did one Sierra Club National Outing and thought they were obscenely overpriced. The leaders are volunteers, so you're paying to subsidize their organization. The local chapters were cheaper, but the good trips were usually booked quickly. It's the usual problem of too few volunteer organizers. So you're either paying or praying for a spot.

I organize trips for free on Meetup, but they're probably a bit too intense for your speed. You don't know who you're going to get on the trip, but that's also an issue on the paid trips. A good organizer can at least filter out the ones who won't be able to complete the trip.

If you know the area, organizing your own trip on Meetup might be a solution. Just keep the number of people small to minimize the hassle, and be clear about your abilities and what you expect. A problem, though, is that most people don't have a week to take off from work (or job hunting) and spend in the backcountry with strangers. I generally don't get responses for trips that are more than three or four days scheduled around a weekend.

[BSquared]

Thanks, all! I'll definitely keep my eye out for next year's Sierra Club Trips, expensive though they may be. Miguel, how do people find each other on Meetup for Sierra hiking? I've only used it for local things, and at that a long time ago.

[Sierra Miguel]

how do people find each other on Meetup for Sierra hiking?

It's best to pick a group local to the destination. You can search for "backpacking" groups.

Bay Area Mountaineering Meetup may be a good choice. I used to be in Backcountry Buddies, which had less aggressive hikers, but the group got spammy. Groups with fewer than about 1000 members seem to be more congenial. If you're into peakbagging, California Peaks North may be a fit, but they tend to do dayhikes.

[SSSdave]

I am not familiar with what has been going on with Sierra Club, SC, trips either national or local the last 2 plus decades. However before then, most national trips that are always larger groups and expensive, were led by those with similar attitudes about itineraries and daily schedules. Such trips spent a lot of time morning and late afternoons in camp with shared community camp chores while hiking all the rest of their days. Local SC trips were a broad mix of trip types however enthusiasts tended to have long mileage hike all day attitudes and peakbaggers were most active. In both cases leaders designing itineraries created trips that in my opinion tried to visit too many places without spending much time at best locations, hiking excessive miles to hit a list of well-known places, and without adequate time to do much wherever they camped at each day. Of course such is also true with ordinary backpackers, the majority of which are content to hike all day without any more specialized interests like peak bagging, fishing, photography, geology, and nature science.

In this era, meetup dot com at least in my SFBA region, is likely to have more diverse types of backpacking groups for one to better fit one's interests and expectations. Although many people have been introduced to backpacking through organized group trips, many probably don't continue any further due to lack of acquaintances to share the activity with. That shows in the significant numbers of experienced backpackers like this person that most often do so solo out of necessity. However it takes a certain kind of personality to be able to enjoy being alone on trips just as it does in their urban lives that tends to be unsatisfying to the majority that from their childhood have always done things in groups. Personally as a gregarious person, I prefer independent small groups of compatible people with natural science interests versus solo because sharing experiences can be more fun, and prefer to semi base camp.