January 2023 General Meeting

Education Workshop at 6:30 pm:

Winter Backpacking Skills with Jonathan Coupal

Planning Your Winter Backpacking Trip

Rather than another discussion about what gear to buy, this introductory session

focuses on the winter season and planning steps you may want to take to ensure that

you have a fun winter backpacking experience. Topics include course/trail selection,

weather planning, food preparation, and how to make the most of the equipment you

already have!

Jonathan grew up in the Finger Lakes and started camping with his family as a child

and began backpacking in earnest with a trip to the Adirondacks when he was 17 years

old. Jonathan began pursuing his passions for the backcountry with his son through the

local BSA, where he still trains new scoutmasters on outdoor trip planning and is a

backpacking and camping merit badge counselor. Besides plenty of camping,

backpacking, snowshoeing, skiing, kayaking, and canoeing in the Allegheny and

Adirondack regions with family and friends, Jonathan has backpacked hundreds of

miles in the Pacific Northwest, including a 6-day thru hike of the Wonderland Trail on

Mount Rainier in 2021. Jonathan and his wife Karen also enjoy bikepacking and bike

touring, and in 2022 he completed the GAP and C&O trails from Pittsburgh to

Washington, DC. You can hear Jonathan’s passion for outdoor adventures in his own

voice on the “HYOH Podcast,” a podcast about hammock camping which he co-hosted from 2015 until 2022.

Main Program at 7:30 pm:

East Aurora native Lauren Molenda

A discussion of her March 2022 Mt. Kilimanjaro climb, and raising funds for the Kitenga Girls Secondary School