Hike Leader Resources

Resources

Along South Valley Trail

Dam on South Fork Quantico Creek

Suggestions and Standards

  • Suggested message to send when hikers do not answer the COVID disclaimer question:
    • “We did not see the answer “I accept” to our question when you RSVPd to the ???? hike. In order to attend our hikes, we require everyone to answer “I accept.” To answer the question, make sure you log in to Meetup using a browser on your desktop, laptop, phone or tablet, and pick the option to “Edit RSVP” on the bottom of the screen. You may not be able to go back and do it with a Meetup app. If you are having trouble, please let me know, and I can help you troubleshoot. If we do not see an answer within 24 hours we will have to remove you from the hike. Thanks.”
  • Hike title format:
    • “When creating a new hike on Meetup keep the title (Meetup name) short. Do not include, any descriptive info, mileage or elevation gain in the title, just the hike name and include the rating letter in this format (Rating: A). Also, use title case (title case means that the first letter of each word is capitalized, except for certain small words) e.g. Big Schloss (Rating: A).”
  • How to describe hiking speeds:
    • State the average speed you plan to maintain while you are hiking (moving average). e.g. 1.5-2.0 mph (moving average), 2.5-3.0 (moving) mph. Do not use adjectives. e.g. fast, moderate, slow.
  • Steps to perform while canceling, changing, or re-scheduling a Meetup event:
    • 1. After opening your hike on Meetup first create a message in the comments box telling the hikers why you are canceling, rescheduling or changing the hike. Make sure you always post a comment first so we can tell why it rescheduled, changed or canceled.
    • 2. If rescheduling, after posting a comment, click on organizer tools/edit Meetup and change the date. If rescheduling all RSVPs will carry over so tell people to update their RSVPs if they cannot make the new date. There is no need to send them a separate email.
    • 3. If changing, after posting a comment, update the hike description.
    • 4. If canceling, after posting a comment, click on organizer tools/cancel Meetup. On the box that opens click “Cancel Event” and then “confirm”. This will show it as a strike through on the calendar and all info and comments will remain visible. Do not check the box that says “Cancel and delete event”. If you do this the event totally disappears from the calendar and we have no traceability to what happened to it.
  • Recommended actions to minimize no-shows:
    • When setting a hike limit consider setting the limit about 5 higher than you would like on your hike. This will help reduce the frustration of hikers on the wait list that never get on a hike only to see that there are many no-shows.
    • Consider setting your RSVPs to close at 9 PM or 10 PM the day before the scheduled hike. This will prevent people from getting moved up from the wait list in the middle of the night who have no intention to show up.
    • Approximately two days before your scheduled hike post a message in the conversation section for your hike telling people what the weather may be on the day of the hike and to remind them to change their RSVP to “no” if they do not plan to go as there are people on the wait list (assuming there are people on the wait list).
    • After the hike has been completed mark the people who did not show as no-shows by editing the attendance under the tools menu.  When you do this the no-show does not receive a message. If someone attempted to contact you to tell you that they would not be on a hike, or provide an explanation for why they could not go, I would not mark them as a no-show; just mark that they did not attend. Here is a good article on Meetup on how to do that if you choose to do it.
    • Consider sending a direct message to the no-show via Meetup with text similar to the following:
      • “You had RSVP’d “yes” for today’s hike to  but we did not see you. Unfortunately, your RSVP remaining “yes” may have prevented another hiker from going on the hike in your place. In the future as a courtesy to the hike leader and other hikers would you please change your RSVP to “no“ if you are not going? Thank you.”
    • This may prevent that person from doing the same thing on someone else’s hike.
    • We have updated the Club info on the main Meetup page that new users see when they first find our Club to include RSVP etiquette. To see this go to https://www.meetup.com when you are logged out of Meetup. We will periodically send a message to the members reminding them of the RSVP etiquette.

COVID Guidelines

Carpooling
 
 
Hike leaders may designate a location for hikers to meet and form carpools. Neither the Club nor the hike leaders are responsible for coordinating transportation to/from the trailhead. Hikers are not guaranteed to get a ride to the trailhead from the carpool location. Carpooling is organized by the participants and they participate at their own risk. 
 
Social Distancing
 
Social distancing is not required for those hikers who are fully vaccinated.  To reduce the risk of infection, hikers  who are not fully vaccinated must maintain at least 15 feet of separation from others when hiking and at least 6 feet when not hiking. Hike leaders may impose additional restrictions including masks, vaccination, or 15 feet separation for the hikes they lead. The Club will use the honor system regarding vaccination status.
 
Hike Leader COVID Guidelines-Instructions, has been updated to include all current guidelines to date including the newest changes. Please continue to follow these guidelines for your hike postings as you have done in the past.
 
Here are the instructions for what to include in your hike posting for carpools, it is also included in the attachment. 
 
As before COVID, when including a carpool, put the carpool location in the Meetup location field and put the trailhead meeting location, time and coordinates in the description. Please insert the words below along with the suggested carpool fee which can be calculated from this table. https://www.meetup.com/NVHC-Hiking/messages/boards/thread/47065862. Also specify if the leader will be at the carpool location.
 
Sample:
Carpools: Meet at the Centreville Park and Ride at 7:30am or at the ???? trailhead at 9:00am, GPS coordinates xxxx, yyyy. 
 
Suggested carpool fee is $7. The leader will be at the carpool location.
 
Neither the Club nor the hike leaders are responsible for coordinating transportation to/from the trailhead. Hikers are not guaranteed to get a ride to the trailhead from the carpool location. Carpooling is organized by the participants and they participate at their own risk.
 

Advance Notice of NVHC Meetup Hike Postings

NVHC Hike Leaders,

The NVHC Officers have updated the original guidelines on giving advance notice of hike postings.

NVHC recently received comments from hikers who were concerned that some of our leaders may be giving advance notice to select people about exactly when a hike will be posted, e.g. date and time, thus allowing some people to get on hikes faster than the general membership. Also a concern was that some people were being added to the hike prior to the announcement.

NVHC is a community of hikers and we strive to balance the needs and concerns of both the hikers and hike leaders. We are a group of volunteers that share a passion for hiking and we try to offer a variety of hikes to our members.

It is important that leaders do not do anything that may give hikers the idea that they are giving advance notice, as it will hurt the Club’s reputation. If you hear people saying that this is happening, please tell them that NVHC treats everyone without favoritism. All members must have an equal chance of getting on a hike.

Regarding the waitlist, people should get on the hike in the order they are listed. Please do not promote hikers out of turn. Hikers watch the waitlist to see if people are moved ahead of them. You still have the ability to promote hike leaders ahead of others if space is available.

Continue to screen hikers as necessary. Screen them in the order that they are on the waitlist. Leaders will still drop people from hikes if they do not answer “I accept” to the question, do not answer your request for screening info in a timely manner, are habitual no-shows or frequent last minute dropouts.

The following are responses to specific items that were raised recently:

– If you are concerned about safety, you can recruit a co-leader prior to posting your hikes. If there is a person you always want to have on a hike, encourage them to become a leader.

– To ensure as many people as possible have a chance to respond to a hike posting in a timely manner, you can post your hikes during the evening hours.

– If you want to hike with your friends just contact them and arrange a hike outside of NVHC Meetup.

– Remind people on the waitlist that if they no longer want a spot, they should remove themselves from the waitlist as soon as possible so that others may have a chance to get on.

The NVHC Officers hope that taking these steps will meet the needs of the hikers, leaders and the Club. Thanks for your cooperation.

Dave Erdman
NVHC President