BIG history: 2009-2024
Tysen Mueller
Shortly after I retired in December 2006, I set a goal of hiking a stretch of the Pacific Coast Trail (PCT). This trail runs 2,660 miles from the Mexican Border in California to the Canadian Border in Washington State. Each year, about 300 hikers attempt to hike the full stretch in a single year, requiring about three months or more. A smaller number try to hike it both ways in a single year.
Originally, I wanted to hike from Mt. Ashland, near my home in Ashland, to the vicinity of Mt. Shasta. When I finally examined a trail map of the PCT, I realized that this stretch of trail is more than 200 miles long. As a result, I set a more modest goal of a week-long, 49-mile hike of the PCT through the Marble Mountain Wilderness.
I enlisted my old friend Jim Ross, who lived in the Bay area but who had never gone backpacking. We decided to take a 4-day, 20-mile, backpacking trip into the Sierras east of the Sonara Pass in the Walker Basin. This light-to-moderate trip allowed us to check out our gear as well as our fitness. I had not backpacked for ten years. From this trip, I learned the value of keeping my electrolytes balanced to avoid heat stroke. I also learned the value of trekking poles so that I could use all four limbs when climbing or descending on a trail.
Jim joined me on our PCT trip in August 2007, after only two prior backpacking trips. For me, it was the realization of a goal that I set for myself in December. It was also my longest trip in more than 40 years. On that trip, Bob Campbell, my backpacking mentor, and I hiked through the Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park in nine days.
Jim and I hiked the PCT for more than 50 miles between Etna Road and Grider Creek Campground in six days without difficulty. During the days, we had sunny weather with clear skies and temperatures into the 80’s at an average elevation of 6,500 ft. At night, we had a full moon and temperatures in the 50’s. My gear weighed more than 45 lb at the start while Jim’s weighed around 28 lb.
Rather than continuing to count on Jim to join me for backpacking trips in Northern California or Southern Oregon, I decided to find backpackers in the Ashland area. So I prepared a course on backpacking to be taught at Southern Oregon Learning in Retirement (SOLIR), currently known as OLLI. This is an adult education program in Ashland. The course was taught January 2009, under the title: Backpacking in your 60’s. While this first course consisted of only three lectures, I attracted a group of like-minded individuals.
From a small group of people that had taken my course, I founded the Backpack Interest Group (BIG) in February 2009. Our mission statement is:
BIG provides opportunities for backpackers in their 60’s and 70’s to backpack in Northern California and Oregon with like-minded individuals.
I believe some of the founding members were: Alan Pendleton, Elizabeth Aitken, Terry and Chiyemi Doyle, Mary Ehlers and Rhoda Ralston.
I taught this course again during the Spring 2009 Term and continued teaching versions of this course for the following four years. From these courses, I continued to draw members into BIG.
Our membership growth has been:
- 2009 – 10
- 2010 – 16
- 2011 – 16
- 2012 – 26
- 2013 – 22
- 2015 – 42
- 2017 – 43
- 2018 – 43
To provide an online presence, in 2009 Elizabeth Aitken created the BIG website, which you are now viewing (https://ltbackpackers.wordpress.com)
We both had taken a SOLIR class on creating websites and blogs, taught by Terry Doyle. At the end of 2009, Terry took over the blog. In 2011, Steve Weyer took charge and under his stewardship, it was greatly enhanced. Currently, Tony Davis is maintaining it.
The backpack trips are led by experienced members. Trips are planned at the beginning of the year at our periodic (monthly) potlucks. These popular potlucks also provide an opportunity to network as well as to show slides from recent trips.
I led the Group for two years (2009-2011). Then, I turned over the leadership to Steve Weyer and Maria Geigel who led it for four years (2011-2015). They in turn, handed over the leadership to Mary Ehlers for two years (2015-2017). I stepped back in again as the leader for one year (2017-2018). Elisabeth Zinser then led the group for two years (2018-2020). She was followed by Linda and Dick Thomas (2020-2022). Currently, Tony Davis has the led the group since 2022.
Based on a member survey in 2017, 91% are experienced backpackers, although 27% have not backpacked in the last five years. Most (68%) prefer trips that are moderate in difficulty while 23% prefer easy trips. Also, most (77%) prefer shorter (3-day) trips.
(Steve, Elisabeth, Mary, Tysen & Maria)
For the first ten years, Tysen borrowed a digital projector from his Rotary Club for presentations to be made at the BIG potlucks. Tysen argued that we ought to charge a nominal membership fee, with the funds to be used for purchasing our own projector. These discussions didn’t get much traction. Instead, Elisabeth led a drive prior to the BIG 10th Anniversary that collected sufficient funds to purchase our current BIG projector. Tysen donated his projection screen, providing the only assets that BIG currently owns.
For our backpacking trips, our initial focus was on the wilderness areas in northern California. These consist of the Marble Mountain Wilderness, the Russian Wilderness and the Trinity Alps. as shown on this map.
I had seen a lot of beautiful lakes in the Marble Wilderness from the PCT trail that followed the ridgelines. As a result, I promised myself that I would hike into these lakes when I had a group of backpackers to join me. Here is one of our first backpack trips into the Marble Mountain Wilderness.
in the Marble Mountain Wilderness, July, 2009
I eventually hiked into at least four of these lakes as in the next map. Here, a stretch of the PCT that I hiked is shown in red. The hikes in yellow show the routes that we took to Sky High Lakes, Little Elk Lake, Cliff Lake and Maneaten Lake.
(red: PCT, yellow: Sky High Lakes, Cliff Lake, Cliff Lake & Maneaten Lake)
This year, 2024, BIG is celebrating its fifteenth anniversary. Over these years, I have led a variety of backpack trips in Northern California and Oregon. Typically, these trips were moderate 3-day trips. However, I have also led a few 4-, 5- and 7-day trips:
- 2009: Sky Lakes Wilderness, 5 days
- 2010 & 2011: Trinity Alps: Caribou Lake, 4 days
- 2012: Trinity Alps: Emerald Lake, 5 days
- 2016: Three Sisters Wilderness: ‘Reverse Traverse’, 7 days
- 2019: Mt Jefferson Wilderness: 5 days
Ltbackpackers 
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