History of the group
My name is Lee Trampleasure. I started a geology focused Meetup hiking group in July 2009, leading day hikes in the greater San Francisco Bay Area.
The group grew quickly, and within a few months there were many regulars on the hikes. Side note: Some time in the first couple years, we were popular enough to land as a ‘featured group’ on the Meetup home page.
On one hike, someone suggested, “We should do a road trip.” That December I lead the first of many five-day trips to Death Valley National Park.
Since then, ‘road trips’ have included trips to Lassen Volcanic National Park, Lava Beds National Monument, and Salt Point State Park on the California coast.
Statistics
Between 2009 and the COVID outbreak in 2019, I lead over 200 day hikes in the greater SF Bay Area, and about 20 multi-day trips in California. The Meetup group has almost 4,000 members (although Meetup doesn’t discard people, and most of these members are no longer active). We have earned 4.8 stars on Meetup, from 780 reviews.
About Lee
I have been a high school physics and chemistry for 30 years. I hold a BS in Physical Science from Cal State East Bay, which included several geology/earth science class. During my teaching career, I have attended many earth science related professional development days, including three summer courses with the Bay Area Earth Sciences Institute at San Jose State.
While I have a strong background in earth science, I’m not a professional geologist. Several times we have had hikers with more knowledge than me, and they are encouraged to share with the group.
Katie (and her daughter) attended my first Meetup hike in 2009. As lives get busy, Katie wasn’t able to attend for another year or so, but she then started attending regularly.
Well, let’s shorten the story and just say we were married in 2012, and several members of the group attended our wedding. Since that day, Katie has actively helped with organizing and supporting our trips.
