On this Saturday morning a, so far, small group will be meeting at 9 am in Sacramento CA to talk over breakfast about forming a “tracker” club, hopefully to include not only animal- and people- tracking activities, but the full range of survival and primitive skills, edible and useful plant foraging, etc. GPS usage and the ever-present effort to keep the gear light will be topics as well.

We are going to meet at the ?Denny’s?Carrow’s? -type restaurant located on Richard’s Boulevard near I-5. From northbound I-5 take the Richard’s Boulevard off ramp, turn right (east) and go to the first intersection, turn left (north), and left again (west) into the restaurant parking lot.

Weather permitting we may explore the area near the Sacramento-American River junction.

If you are in the area please feel free to just drop in!

Lyons Restaurant‎
300 Bercut Dr, Sacramento, CA
(916) 443-5615

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=l&hl=en&geocode=2479658261976855062,38.597284,-121.502359&q=Lyons&near=38.59752,-121.502416&ie=UTF8&ll=38.59752,-121.502416&spn=0.002822,0.002709&t=k&z=18&iwloc=near

Hey Dweste,

I can't attend this Saturday but I am interested in checking out your new club in the future. Could you add me to your email list for announcing future meetings? loganenator@gmail.com

I'll be moving to Sac in Mid-March.

Thanks,
Cheers,
Nemo.

I would drive out from Oakland but I have plans already.
Let me know when you meet next.
Bill

Nemo, got your email.

billym, I added you to the list.

I will report on the Saturday meeting and announce future get-togethers.

thanks for your interest!

Man, I wish something like this was closer to where I live.

Consider starting one near you!

I'm about an hour out of Sacramento, but I too have plans tomorrow. Can you keep me updated with your group happenings?

denmacii@ncws.com

Best of luck tommorow.

*perks*
unfortunatly i have plans for this weekend, but i might be curious to check it out some time.. how often do you plan on doing this?

NorCalDennis and Katarin, I will post reports on what I hope will be monthly get-togethers.

thank you very much. i will look forward to it.

Sacramento tracker club 080308 sitrep

0900 four (4) of us met at Lyons: Don, Mekal, Robert, and Richard. Great talk and lots of enthusiasm. Consensus: plan to meet second Saturdays at some dirt location to explore tracking, primitive skills, plant foraging, etc. No politics or religion, no formal organizational structure. We are all (my words) cheap bastards who want to minimize costs while maximizing learning and fun. Occasional family outings, volunteer for community /school events related to our interest.

Form Yahoo group to coordinate and inform each other of opportunities, activities, good deals, etc. Idea of going to classes with buddies, carpooling strongly welcomed. Taking turns showing each other skills we already have, ditto. Want to see each others “best” gear ideas in action.

1020 group left Lyons. Mekal and I went east on Richards Boulevard 3 or 4 stoplights to North 10th Street, turned left (north) and parked our vehicles near the end of the street. We walked up the trail to the American River Parkway, across the bike / hike trail, and down dirt trails into the riparian area and onto the narrow river beach to see what we could see.

We spent about an hour of inspecting small mammal tracks and digs, small bird tracks, and larger webbed bird tracks, manfully ignoring human and dog tracks, bicycle tire tread marks, trash, etc. From the tracks, small excavations, and torn apart tree buds, we decided we were tracking squirrels, though we did not immediately hear or see any. A pair of Canada geese obliging called to us from just on shore, then went for swim, letting us confirm the identity of the web-footed track makers.

Richard called on cell phone, told us to look for his camo jacket, and we made our way up from the riverside through the riparian cottonwoods, willows, grasses, mustard, a few fennel plants, what looked like wild grape, and other plants who are not yet friends. Mekal spotted a squirrel up a tree harvesting new buds that solidified our tentative id of the tracks.

Were just starting to walk down river on the bike path to 10th Street when we saw a guy in a camo jacket walk up the levee to the bike path. Greetings and handshakes all around.

I guess we spent 20 or 30 minutes talking about each other and the new group. Richard identified a strikingly handsome Swainson (sp?) hawk that entertained us by gliding and flying into the north west wind, near and above us, at times coming within maybe 50 feet. Did I mention the earlier concerns about rain were misplaced and it was a beautiful Spring day?

Mekal, Richard, and I went back down the dirt trails into the riparian area to continue our conversation mixed with some plant identification. Mekal spotted a couple more squirrels, including a younger and smaller edition that did the bud harvesting thing that eventually was almost overhead and within about 20 feet (thanks for the show!).

Turns out Richard had started a Yahoo group a few months back to try to form just this type of group. He agreed to fire up his group site (or whatever you do) and let the rest of us know how to find it. I will post more on that when I have it.

So there you have it, the first “meeting” of the Sacramento Tracker Club. Please join us if you are in the area.

Thanks.

Yahoo Group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wilderness_Survival_and_Primitive_Skills/

12 strong so far!

15 members now!