Unless something drastic happens I'll be there.

The weather is going to be real nice Sat., but earlier(IMO) start time would have been better.

I'm going to try to make it. No challenge for me, but it may do me some good to get away from things for a bit.

ETA: I thought Largo was a bit closer to me. I'm not making this one.

I set 1pm this time in case people wanted to drive in from out of town.

If anybody has a BFL flag mounted on a pole for a guidon, bring it!

Don't forget to hydrate in advance!  I'll have a cooler with ice and water bottles for afterward.

Barring anything unforseen I will be there.  It's a 3.5 hour drive for me so I'll aim to get there a little early.

I have the scale, some extra Gatoraid and sunscreen just in case anyone needs any. I won't be caring any weight because my sciatic nerve has been on fire for a few days so if anyone needs any weight I have a 30 pound plate they can use.

Excellent, I aim to be there 1230.

Excellent, thanks.  I'll probably walk with weight the first leg, without the second, I'm still recovering from sickness (no I'm not contagious, just winded).

Well, I'm sick as a dog, so I'm going to have to bow out on this one. I'd come just to meet everyone, but would hate to get anyone else sick. Good luck guys, I'll catch y'all at the next one.

No worries man, I just had the flu/coronavirus last week and it kicked my ass.  There will be more events in the future.

I am getting on the road now, hope to be there around 1230ish.

It is going to be a beautiful day for a walk. Temps in the low 60s and sunny.
Not a chance of overheating, maybe a light jacket to keep the chill off at the start.
I am thinking of bringing my dog, he is my walking buddy. 3 miles is easy for him. Would this be a problem?
ETA; he is a 15lb MinPin, snack size for a BoP.

Whoa! slow down there speedy!
223 miles, that is a long way to drive just to go for a walk. I am impressed.

Nice!

I need to look into getting a real pack for things like this, not just my cooler pack that I wear to Gasparilla every year.  Doubt I'll be rucking anything this go-around, but I'll be there!

heal up and catch the next.   There's also one in Orlando next Saturday at 0830.

Just got here, parked sort of near the restrooms.

Here as well.

It went VERY well!! Thanks to all who showed up!

AAR to follow later tonight.

And thank you for organizing it. I really enjoyed it. Of course I am now laying here in pain but it's a good pain....
Ready for the next stage...

We made our 3 mile provisional in the panhandle as well. Ill update our thread tomorrow or the next day.   If youre okay with it Spartacus Ill use the same format you use in your report so we can somewhat standardize.

Absolutely!

After-Action Review of today’s hike:

We had 12 members show up today, plus 3 supportive wives/girlfriends.  Most members were local, but we also had Arfcommers from as far away as Tallahassee, Miami, and Jacksonville.



Arfcommers:
Miami_JBT
GreatPenetration
MoarCoffee
SIGNAL-ZERO
VerticalGain
Mavros
Disparcher91
GaryM
BayEagle
CZrider
CrazyIvan6115

plus
LAWBunny as Assembly Area cheerleader
June
Stephanie

As people arrived, they received a large sticker for their screenname, first name, and preferred pronouns .  We weighed rucks using MoarCoffee’s handheld electronic luggage scale.  We had a great location at a park with latrines, water point, plenty of parking, and shade, right next to the Pinellas Trail.  Weather was excellent, sunny and 69oF with light breeze.  Future hikes will start early to avoid the heat of the day, but we started at 1300 due to good daytime weather in February here and to facilitate travel for attendees from out of the area.

Attendees were kind enough to bring Walther, aka Fo Dog Jr., and imitation crab meat!





After ruck weigh-ins and safety brief, we stepped off at 1320, going 1.5 miles north (tracked via smartphone GPS app) and back on the Pinellas Trail, and finished in 59 minutes.





We also found the new Arfcom-approved CQB shoot-house.



Upon return, we had a 10-minute period to adjust weight, hit the latrine, and get more water.  Then we completed the second 3 miles by going for two loops around the park’s lake, finishing in 58 minutes.





Several members marched with little/no weight due to recovering from illness/injury, several achieved Provisional rating on one of the 3-mile legs, and several achieved Provisional rating then knocked out an additional 3 miles with 45lbs. towards their 3rd Class rating.  No casualties, although several of us had sore feet by the end.

Upon completion approx 1530, we gathered comments and had a discussion about how to keep this program going.

Attendees’ AAR Comments:

-Great to meet other Arfcommers.

-See this as the beginning of something bigger; need to keep this going; don’t let it die!

-Should have this as a standing monthly event.

-Rotate it between Pinellas County (St Pete/Clearwater) and Hillsborough County (Tampa), choosing new park or other appropriate location.

-Consider attending Appleseed event to train up for the NRA/CMP qualification.

-Develop further into other events, such as doing additional rating qualifications together, attending Appleseed together, contact ranges for group events for us, etc.

My AAR comments as organizer:

-Get a handheld luggage scale.  It's far easier than my original plan of "have Arfcommer stand on scale with rucksack, then stand on scale without rucksack, then do math."

-Remind people about hydration with the adage “if you don’t have to urinate, you arent’ drinking enough water.”  I saw nearly everyone hit the latrine halfway thru, which was an indicator hydration was good.  You can fit two normal water bottles into each cargo pocket on cargo shorts.

-Break in your footgear!  I had broken-in boots but new Dr. Scholl inserts.  My heels were VERY painful during miles 5 and 6, I was sure I had the mother of all blisters.  Turns out it was the ramped edge of the inserts, which weren’t broken in and my feet weren’t used to them.  No blisters, but lots of pain.  Break in your footgear, inserts too!

-Walk with your rucksack and weight several times a week for a mile or two. It will help you break in your feet, your footgear, and your shoulders (carrying a heavy rucksack strains your shoulder, lower neck, and upper back muscles).  Plus it will help you sort out your gear; you want it to fit well and not bounce or rattle.

-Do a headcount before you step off, and designate someone as official Last Person In The Group to sweep up stragglers

-We received some very strange looks from some people, and some asked politely who we were.  We smiled and greeted everyone we passed, and if asked we said "we're a hiking club."  When I wondered why people looked at us funny, a member pointed out "we're a bunch of middle-aged white guys marching together in military gear, of course we scare people!"

Overall, a success, and I look forward to planning the next event.

Yes! You go Fo Dog Jr!! 6 miles!
Next time the slacker carries a pack though.

Made it back home about 20 minutes ago. Thanks to everyone who showed up, it was a very good group and everyone seemed motivated and on the same page.

It was great to meet everyone and hopefully we can keep this up and continue to organize.  It will take me at least a couple more to remember everyone's names, but everyone I met today were good people.

Thanks to Spartacus2002 for getting this event planned.

This is where I ordered my avatar shirt from, I don't have any affiliation with the company.

I had a great time!  It was a pleasure meeting all of you!  Looking forward to the next one.  Spartacus, Thank you for putting this together!!!

I definitely won't have a problem falling asleep tonight

Got home about 2130, and I certainly had no trouble getting to sleep.

This was a great event.  After lurking for so long, it was great to put faces to names.  I can't thank Spartacus enough for putting this together.  
A couple of thoughts:
- The site selection was excellent, even if the disc golf crowd looked a bit concerned.
- I need to work on keeping a consistent pace.
- While I doubt I can make it up to this every month, it is still a reasonable distance for a day trip.  Even from way down south.
- I like the idea of making this region a central nexus for FL, with satellite groups spread throughout the state.  This allows for a high frequency of events, but still maintains a cohesive group.  Given this event was within ~5 hours of most of the state, I think it works.  The western panhandle and lower keys are a tougher challenge, but such is the nature of our geography.
- The discussions held during the AAR, Miami_JBT's in particular, were extremely valuable.  I enjoyed the hike, but the networking and organization was a major highlight of the event for me.  I fully plan to steal Spartacus' best practices for use locally.

Resources:
The link for the luggage scale is here:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/American-Tourister-Digital-Luggage-Scale/100926699

For anyone prone to joint pain after these things, I've had good luck with this stuff:
https://www.amazon.com/Christophers-Formula-Complete-Tissue-Ointment/dp/B000FVDY2A/

Great event - it was good to meet you all and come together for a good cause! I wish I could've stayed for round 2, but I'll have to put in a little more practice first so my legs don't fall off halfway through

Great organization and execution, though, and the little side game of "count the concerned onlookers" was pretty fun as well! I think I stopped at 5. Good chance to evaluate gear too - I'm making sure to bring a pack with a waist belt for any future outings so my shoulders hate me a little less afterward. Looking forward to the next one though!

Excellent, glad you could make it!

Yes, it's a great opportunity to shake out your gear.  Waist belt is an excellent suggestion, also pick up a sternum strap so the shoulder strap pressure is centered on the chest instead of digging into each shoulder.

One other AAR comment:
--bring garbage bags to pick up trash on the hike

Thank you to all who put in and put on this event.  The absolute worst part was having to grab my pack after an hour and a half of driving.  Someone us have wet my sandbags because it seemed really heavy carrying it inside

The main thing I hoped To accomplish was meeting people in person, and no one disappointed.  And don't worry CZ it will come.

https://libertytreeblogs.blogspot.com/2011/04/building-hellcat-hybrid-ruck-from-us.html

New FLBB event:  Tampa-area hike 14 Mar 20 at 0900, location TBD

Please post in that thread if you intend to come, so we can get a tentative headcount.