[Bedivere]

Anyone here a member?

[jimmymac]

I'm not a participant if that's what ya mean. ("Member" just doesn't have a good ring to it, when it comes to meetup.com.

[Bedivere]

??? Not sure I understand??? Not a participant in what? If you join that group then you are a member, whether or not you actively participate in their scheduled activities. Is there some social stigma attached to being a member of a group on meetup.com that I'm unaware of? But, this is beside the point. I'm just wondering if there's any crossover between that particular hiking group and the membership of this site. There sure doesn't seem to be yet that group has over 1700 members... That and I have a question about one of the organizers over there that I was hoping I could ask someone that I at least have some connection to (by both of us being members of this site, if nothing else.)

[Dayhike Mike]

My impression is that most of the people in the groups on Meetup have little to no idea of what they're doing. Many of the organizers *do* have a clue, but the members just tend to be more casual about the whole hiking thing.

• Often, people will show up for hikes with inadequate gear.
• Many of them are looking for a guided experience.
• For many of them their idea of a "hike" is something on Cougar / Tiger or going up Si. ("Not that there's anything wrong with that.")
• Some of them are experienced, but just from out of state and looking for direction re: local destinations.

The bulk of them are new, from out of state, think to themselves "I like hiking. My dad took me car camping as a child." And they sign up.

[Tazz]

WILL... you are way too good out there for meet up. Isn't this the group who was rescued from snow lake trail cause they didn't look at the forecast and could not handle the walk in the deep snow? Or was it the other easy lake trail. there was a thread about it here. can't remember which lake it was.

[David¹]

I looked into the Vancouver version and it seemed to confirm exactly what Mike describes. I also noticed another flavour of Meetup - young single athletic types that do trail running/biking and other uber fitness activities.

[wamtngal]

It was the Melakwa Lake trail, Tazz...

[Tazz]

Thanks! thread about meetup rescue

[Dayhike Mike]

Realized while I was showering my original post may have seemed overly negative / judgmental. Full disclosure: I'm an organizer on the Seattle Outdoor Adventures Meetup (have organized a few trips in the past) and a (big ol') member over on the Seattle Backpackers Meetup. I've met a lot of really nice people on my trips with the Meetup groups -- many of them are just looking for a way to break into hiking and wanting someone to help get them out and into it, and several people I've met early in their "careers" have really taken off since then and run with it. In my experience, though, it's not a great place to organize any kind of a technical or strenuous trip. People don't read the warnings you post, no matter how many warnings you post, and simply show up without gear or experience and expect you to be able to carry them through. Even if everyone is well equipped, it can be hard to deal with the unknowns. Some people just hike more slowly than others, and as result effectively slow down the entire group and and set you up for failure if time is of the essence. Easy hikes, yeah...it's great. But not so much when you really need to know the speed/level/experience of the folks involved. I've never actually gone on a hike with the Seattle Backpackers, as they tend to go to the same locations again and again, and/or if they're going someplace interesting, they want to go at a pace that I'm not comfortable with. (glacial)

[GeoHiker]

Here's a Readers Digest version of an e-mail I received yesterday. I just about choked to death........ I'm sure he's learned enough from his Melakawa disaster to teach a class. He has after all "4 years of guiding NW enthusiasts" Announcing a new Meetup for The Seattle Backpackers Meetup Group! What: NW Washington Backpacking 101 by Cameron SeattleBackpackers oganizer When: October 28, 2009 6:00 PM Price: $85.00 per person Where: (A location has not been chosen yet.) Exclusive Seattlebackpackers.com Backpacking 101 by your humble organizer. Based on four years of guiding NW enthusiasts. This is a two day class that will be held at one of three venues in Seattle depending on the number of RSVP'S. Location will be parking and public transportation friendly. Classes are from 6:00PM to 9:00PM Wednesday and Thursday the 28th and 29th of October. We will be covering all season backpacking. This is 100% about educating new backpackers on all aspects and concerns of backpacking in the NW. To support the Seattle Backpackers we require an advance fee of $85.00 or $115.00 at the door. Payment instructions will be emailed to you after you sign up.

[Carie Yawn]

Yeah, I saw that. Liked the handy provided outline:

[matt.greenlake]

Yes, I'm sure it's the same dude. Yes, he's approached people in the past regarding cashing in on meetup. Yes, the spelling of his name changed from Ownbey to Ownby, at least on meetup. When I first saw this stuff he had just moved to Seattle from Chicago. I refused to join in on the spamming of this stuff because I thought he came here to make a new life, potentially change his ways. Benefit of the doubt. Besides I'd seen that he had accumulated something like 600k in fees(or settlements, whatever, 300k noted in pdf link) for shady practices. He's a [removed by mod] who has endangered lives with his incompetence and now thinks he's qualified to sell his backpacking genius. Please distribute. http://www.cftc.gov/opa/enf03/opa4843-03.htm http://www.cftc.gov/stellent/groups/public/@lrenforcementactions/documents/legalpleading/enfownbeyorder.pdf

[Carie Yawn]

Interesting, but I'm not sure it's the same dude. Oddly enough, Zabasearch has no record of a Cameron Ownby here in Seattle, neither does Intelius. Zabasearch only lists a single Cameron Ownbey in Chicago, IL. Records in Zabasearch come from public records, generally info gleaned during the purchase of real estate/land. But Intelius does confirm that there's one "Cameron S. Ownbey" who's lived in Elgin and Chicago in Illinois, then in Everett, WA and finally in Whitewater, WI *as well as* another "Cameron Ownbey" who's lived only here in Seattle, WA. The thing that makes me think they're two separate individuals are that the relatives listed for each of the two are very very different. As an aside, I do feel that he's trying to take cash in on the whole Meetup thing, with the corporate sponsorships and whatnot.

[matt.greenlake]

Ownby wasn't a legal change I don't think. He was Ownbey when he got here from Chicago and for the next few years after.

[JimK]

The person fined $600,000 by the CFTC in Chicago was listed as living in Seattle when the case was closed. News Article