While y'all were having fun near Roswell, I was in Denver with the kiddos. Sad to miss another recent event. Been to many of those schedule collisions lately.
The NMTA 4 & 5 event will be at my Oachado place with prep work sprinkled out until then. We'll hit it hard in April, and I need to get in my work of fully marked loop trail BEFORE the first working days of the TMs.
WEATHER THIS YEAR
Oachado gets snows of course, but most years they will melts off instead of building up. We typically have access all year long, but this is a strong El Ninyo year which could result in building snow pack on the access road, and patches of snow enduring into April. My neighbor reports as of January 8, 37" of snow have fallen on Oachado.
LOOP TRAIL
I'm planning ONE loop trail with sections from ALL FOUR events scattered along it. The two AM events will use less of the loop to avoid steeper and rougher loop trail.
COMMUNICATION
Oachado is a new place, unfamiliar to most. Critical will be familiarization visits by TMs. Thereafter, TMs will be able to go there and work independent of me, but never alone.
Very helpful would be all the TMs and some event volunteers on one What's App group. I will send invites. Oachado is in a 3G area. I've had simple texts fail to upload at Oachado when a VIDEO What's App will have no issues! What's App is an international, encrypted, communication tool that is easy to download and use and mind-blowing efficient.
And it's time to abandon texting. For one, I'd sure not miss the insane flurry of group text notifications. Ding ding ding, duh ding! Gaak!
TM-HOST COORDINATION
My aim is for a very high quality event at Oachado and making the TM experience fun and efficient.
Have you spent many hours planning and clearing a section, only to return to another TM's section plastered across and claiming your hard work? I have. The Oachado event will have four event's worth of sections along the same general loop, so plenty of opportunity for TMs stepping on other TM toes.
I'm borrowing the top four line-hierarchy flags for gates from my marking system to make a handy tool for section area claiming. The aim if for TMs to secure their section area to later marking with the mandated NMTA system.
Each TM to get from me 40 flags in their event color. Flags are not bulky and easy to carry. Example, through two pants belt loops. TMs to ride the already-marked loop and claim up to 10 section areas for their event.
The method is 4 flags per one section area. Two flags where the section entrance is claimed, and two for the exit. What the section number is, and which flags are entrance and exit, and where perimeter tape might go in between isn't important to specifically define up front. What is important is that the other TMs will who is claiming an area and for what event. The TM claiming can then return later to pull the one-color flags and mark with the NMTA marking system.
Very simple.
And since every TM will know who and what event by the one color, communication is direct and easy. "Hey Chuck! I see you have claimed that area over there (pointing)." "Yeah, it's a good one." "Hey could you show me where you intend to run perimeter tape so I can claim the area next to it?" "No problem, let's go look."
Easy peasy.
WORK DAYS (WHEN)
I'll keep you all up top date on when I'm going up if anyone wants to join me for a particular trip.
Right now the windows are vague, as in some time(s) between January 13 and 21, February 17 to 11 March, and after the NMTA April event.