Originally Posted By: Daves Not Here
From WBTRAVIS 'Are you really hiking in a group? Many start up together but in a few hours they are separated by miles. This is the meetup.com way of hiking which can lead to what my friends and I call mufu. '

Thank you for your unjust generalization that all meet up groups hike this way. I happen to own a meet up hike group. We are 2000 strong and have been hiking 4 years this coming November. In this time we have not left one person behind or had to report one of members missing.

Again from WBTRAVIS 'The name of the game is trust. Do you trust the people you are going out with to be there for you. If you don't, it is incumbent you find people you do trust or you might as well hike alone.'

This is not a game. Hiking in any venue requires knowledge. Knowledge of your limits is the first priority. Second is knowing your surroundings. Third is preparation, having the proper clothing, equipment and supplies you need to reach your destination and to make a safe return.

Members of my group that can't or don't want to follow these simple guidelines are not allowed to participate in our events.


Dave, where did I say all? Nice strawman built then destroyed. It is not unjust. I have hiked many meetup groups hike spread over many years and I have seen them while volunteering in the San Gorgonio Wilderness. Your sample is your group while I have sampled many. You know like the fast group that went up to Grinnell last winter and left someone well behind...he complained to me when we met up on the trail near Poopout Hill. Like a south Riverside County group that was spread out by at least 2 miles last weekend...that not a group, that is hiking as individuals. I could go on but I do not want bore everyone. Maybe you should talk to some local SAR volunteers about their problems with meetup hiking groups...I know I have, that is where I first heard the term mufu.

You don't like name of the game is trust, eh. Then you name all that things that make people trustworthy.

As meetup organizer, I screen people but you are counting on them to be honest. Over the years, I have found you end up with some whose skills are not what they say they are and they do not have the required gear you requested they carry. When you discover that 3-miles up a cross country ridge route, what do you do? Send them packing? No, you slow things down and make the best of it for everyone involve...then you do not allow them on your hikes.

You are responsible, many in meetup are not.