Waterman Mountain

5 November 1989

By: Eivor Nilsson

Leaders: Eivor Nilsson, Edna Erspamer

Adhering to new guidelines from the Safety Committee, I did not encourage car-pooling from the meeting place in La Cañada to the trailhead. I simply announced where the trailhead was and if the participants were interested in carpooling, they were to arrange this on their own, but they could also drive if they preferred! Another important thing to remember, for leaders who want to protect themselves from being liable, is to wait with the sign-in until you are at the trailhead. After all the sign-ins were completed at the trailhead, we discovered that we had 45 people. A rather large group for a slow easy hike! There were many new Sierra Clubbers and non-members and it was really gratifying to see the great need for easy introductory hikes. I am also happy to see that a few other leaders are starting to lead easier hikes. There is definitely a need for them.

I thank Edna for agreeing to be my assistant leader (the scheduled assistant went to New York to run the New York marathon) and for doing a good job of making sure everyone made it to the peak. Everyone enjoyed the lovely weather and would have liked to spend more time on the peak than the 50 minutes. We were back at the cars by 2pm and each and everyone checked out when we got there. At that point, I also mentioned several times as people checked out that my responsibilities ended there and they were now on there own. I did, however, make sure all other cars had left before I did. As leaders, we have to be very aware of our responsibilities and, I think, inform the participants, just in case we have a 'sue-happy' person in our group.