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Are there any people interested in starting a camping group for regular monthly campouts? Or are there any groups already getting together who would allow a new member to join? I know some groups are not excited about "outsiders" joining them. I am just checking things out right now, but want to start like maybe July this year.

What sort of group? Car, or backpack? Where to go? "Locals Only", or state wide? "Singles Mixer", or "Family Outing"?

As someone who has been car camping each of the past six weekends, I can tell you that I might be interested in a once a month camp/hike with a group (not too big of a group, though - out of town trips can be hard to coordinate). I say post the event and find out if anyone bites at the opportunity.

Are you going to the ABC Jubilee in May?

Well I would have to say four wheel drive at least. That way we can try and get away from the regular campers. There are places statewide that I would like to check out, going to the same place all the time would be really boring. I would have room for one passenger if he or she needed a ride. Being single or family does not matter to me, I have been single for over seven years now and do not see any kind of change in my future status. I do get a long good with kids and adults so families would be fine with me. This is about camping and friendship to me. I am not into distance hiking or going 400 feet underground to explore a cave, or repelling down a 2000 foot granite cliff. Just looking to set up camp, do some fishing if there is water nearby, maybe a couple short hikes, check out some ancient ruins or historical sites.

I do not know anything about an ABC jubilee, is that some kind of thing for alphabet soup?

I linked it for you up in Cindy's post. http://friendshiking.com/ is another good one

Thanks, I will check it out.

Yes, it seems there are a number of meetup groups that have sprung up over the past couple of years. I just belong to ABC--Arizona backpacking club meetup group, but there are lots of them. Seems to me that ABC is not really what you are looking for, as it focuses mostly on backpacking. I have met a few of the folks, though, and they were nice.

A friend of mine was looking for something like that and joined one. He said they spent too much time in camp drinking and racing around on an ATV, and very little time hiking. He was sorely disappointed.

Point is, you may have to shop around.

azbackpackr wrote:Point is, you may have to shop around

HAZ...for your one spot shopping .

Yeah, I will probably end up taking my dog and going alone like I used to do. I do not drink or do any stupid things like going around in circles on a quad or making 2300 trips through the same mud hole. I enjoy taking my time on the trip there to see the sights and enjoy the serenity of nature... and I always believed in the old motto's "Tread Lightly" and "Pack-in and Pack-out".

azbackpackr wrote:He said they spent too much time in camp drinking and racing around on an ATV, and very little time hiking. He was sorely disappointed.

Not surprising. That's the "average American". It's also my main problem with bringing up hiking or anything outdoors as a general conversation started. It can be a constant struggle with new delivery drivers I have to train. They ask me what I like to do, I tell them hiking. Then he proceeds to tell me how great the Crack is, or how going "camping" is fun. Obviously I'm not anywhere as experienced as most of the users on the site, but in my real world life, I'm usually in a league of my own. Sorry, kind of a rant.

Oh, rant on! We do understand! We also have co-workers, neighbors, etc.

hippiepunkpirate wrote:

azbackpackr wrote:He said they spent too much time in camp drinking and racing around on an ATV, and very little time hiking. He was sorely disappointed.

Not surprising. That's the "average American". It's also my main problem with bringing up hiking or anything outdoors as a general conversation started. It can be a constant struggle with new delivery drivers I have to train. They ask me what I like to do, I tell them hiking. Then he proceeds to tell me how great the Crack is, or how going "camping" is fun. Obviously I'm not anywhere as experienced as most of the users on the site, but in my real world life, I'm usually in a league of my own. Sorry, kind of a rant.

The Crack at Beaver Creek? Oh man, to me, it's impressive your fellow delivery drivers would know that much. At my jobs I get called "tree-hugger", "nature boy", "hiker boy" and "Mr. Outdoors" (all rather endearing names in my opinion), and the extent of most peoples' outdoors experience is tubing the Salt. Even worse, some don't even know it's the Salt River- to them it's just "tubing".

I also know several people who only enjoy car camping... And for the record, I always have a BLAST car camping with a grill and a couple full coolers... But, it's always so weird to me when I ask "where are you all camping?", and the response is always a puzzled look, followed by "I dunno... Up north?" I get the same feeling when I plan a camping trip with my friends, get all excited telling them about where we're going, and they just shrug and say, "as long as there's beer."

azpride wrote:The Crack at Beaver Creek? Oh man, to me, it's impressive your fellow delivery drivers would know that much. At my jobs I get called "tree-hugger", "nature boy", "hiker boy" and "Mr. Outdoors" (all rather endearing names in my opinion), and the extent of most peoples' outdoors experience is tubing the Salt. Even worse, some don't even know it's the Salt River- to them it's just "tubing".

I also know several people who only enjoy car camping... And for the record, I always have a BLAST car camping with a grill and a couple full coolers... But, it's always so weird to me when I ask "where are you all camping?", and the response is always a puzzled look, followed by "I dunno... Up north?" I get the same feeling when I plan a camping trip with my friends, get all excited telling them about where we're going, and they just shrug and say, "as long as there's beer."

I guess my shop has more of an outdoors orientated group of people. Everybody's been talking about fishing at work lately, and they seem reasonably knowledgeable about types of fish and the local lakes. One guy is a hot springs and car camping junkie, though not too much of a hiker, but he knows his way around the backcountry. But those are the people I am friends with at work. The people I was complaining about are usually the frat boy type that hear you mention the word "creek" and immediately jump in to the conversation, "Are you talking about Midgely Bridge?" And actually they normally reference "Beaver Creek" rather than "The Crack", but I know that's what they're talking about.

Many of my co-workers have some outdoors experience. When I first moved up here, I met two sisters at work (I still work with them, since I have returned to that job.) Now, I for one have never gone in for the foofoo: nails and makeup, loads of jewelry, etc. Here were these two women sitting there with all their foofoo on, nails out to here, telling me the best place to hunt elk in Unit 1, and telling me their elk hunting stories! No mention of men "helping" them either, although both are married with kids...

azpride wrote:At my jobs I get called "tree-hugger", "nature boy", "hiker boy" and "Mr. Outdoors" (all rather endearing names in my opinion). . .

Haha - that's what my wife calls me. I did get some respect after we watched the movie Defiance with Daniel Craig and she realized it's ok for a Jewish guy to be a nature boy.

azpride wrote:I get the same feeling when I plan a camping trip with my friends, get all excited telling them about where we're going, and they just shrug and say, "as long as there's beer."

You camp with Randal?

Al_HikesAZ wrote:

azpride wrote:I get the same feeling when I plan a camping trip with my friends, get all excited telling them about where we're going, and they just shrug and say, "as long as there's beer."

You camp with Randal?

For the win!

At my jobs I get called "tree-hugger", "nature boy", "hiker boy" and "Mr. Outdoors" (all rather endearing names in my opinion), and the extent of most peoples' outdoors experience is tubing the Salt

Ah, that sounds familiar. Sometimes, when coworkers or buddies are feeling clever, the old "granola" jabs come out, lol. Though some of them have started hiking up Piestewa & Camelback after work after seeing some of my photos, and they're starting to enjoy it. That's always cool to see people get into hiking and appreciate it.

I might be interested in this sort of thing. Set it up on here - post it as an event!

Does anyone have any ideas on cool camping spots where there is something interesting to explore? I am thinking the Harquahala Observatory, but that depends on the weather and time of year. Would also like to find places up by Woods Canyon lake and Bear Canyon lake. Camping someplace that has had several hundred recent visitors is not much fun for me, there is usually so much trash it looks like a landfill. So that is one reason why I like to go to the less traveled places.

I am fairly new on here. So can anyone help explain how to post an event? I have been checking out the website here, but no luck figuring it out so far.

It's pretty easy, just post a New Topic in this forum viewforum.php?f=4
After you post you will see at the top of the page where you can link hikes (only one is necessary) and set a date. If the hike isn't listed or you're just looking to camp then select a hike nearby. You can find those on TrailDEX Map. You can also just post and I'll figure out the rest.