Updated 1/25/2012

First and foremost, the Golden Rule: Please treat everyone with respect and courtesy. Drama is not something welcome in PNW Leisure Hiking. Your Organizer has very little toleration for anyone being disrespectful or rude. PNW Leisure Hiking is formed from a great group of wonderful, supportive people, and your Organizer will take whatever measures are necessary to ensure that it stays that way!

Meetup Descriptions: Please be sure to read the event descriptions of each Meetup completely and carefully, as they will vary from event to event. They often contain important information and directions. If you fail to follow these directions, you may not get a spot in the event or you might miss important details that you need to be aware of. In addition, pay close attention to any packing or equipment lists and/or RSVP or prepayment deadlines.

Joining PNW Leisure Hiking: If using only your first name as your member name, please use your last name initial so we can tell the difference between Jane A. and Jane B. PNW Leisure Hiking frowns on using aliases because it makes it very hard to get to know you and identify you in case of an emergency. In addition, please fill out each profile question. These questions are geared towards letting us get to know you. After all if you aren’t willing to answer a few basic questions then how can we be assured you will commit the time and energy that we are willing to commit to making this Meetup great? Finally, PNW Leisure Hiking requires an image to be uploaded to associate an image with your profile. It doesn't have to be a photo of you, but it has to be an image of some sort.

Carpools and Carpooling: Your leadership team, which includes your Organizer and Assistant Organizers, spends many hours researching and planning each and every event. They do not and will not arrange carpools for members. Some hikes are carpool-mandatory. You are expected to arrange your own carpools. In some cases, events will be designated to meet at a pre-arranged carpool location. You are still expected to arrange your own carpool. Some of our events have incredibly limited parking (sometimes less than 20 spaces) and those that do carpool will be given priority parking over those that do not. Carpools- both requests and offers- are restricted to the Message Board forum indicated on each event description. Any carpool requests and offers posted as comments will be deleted without notice by the leadership team. Remember: Even two people sharing a car cuts the number of their necesary parking spots in half. Please note.... if carpooling continues to be an issue, then your leadership team can and will begin limiting RSVPs to most hikes in order to ensure adequate parking is available.

Prepaid Meetups/First-Pay, First-Serve: Some events require prepayment through Meetup or on other sites before you can RSVP, and in these cases RSVPing with “Yes” does not guarantee you a spot until after you prepay. Events requiring prepayment through Meetup require a non-refundable prepaid payment paid through Paypal or Amazon Payments. Please note, you are not guaranteed a spot until you have paid. Prepayment is non-refundable and will not be credited towards future events unless otherwise specified. Guests may be brought to pre-paid events unless otherwise indicated in the hike description.

RSVPs: RSVP ("Yes" or "No") to all events. This will cut down on the number of emails you will receive from Meetup; the most common complaint we receive is that there is too much email generated. The organizer can and will remove members who No Show to Space-Restricted RSVPs (ie the number of allowed participants is limited or restricted). We expect that if you RSVP “Yes” to Space-Restricted Events, then you will be attending. There will be no exceptions. We understand emergencies happen, and you can change your RSVP at any time up to 24-hours prior to indicate any changes in your schedule. In addition, everyone is given the opportunity to get the Organizer’s cell phone number, so please consider calling or texting the day-of if you are RSVPed “Yes” and cannot make it. If you're unable to make it to events that are not space restricted, then there are usually no consequences except that you're missing out on an amazing hike, although we make no promises that it will remain that way in the future.

Trip Departure Times: Please be prompt for all events. If you have never been to the Meetup location for an event, give yourself an extra 15 minutes in case you get lost or turned around. We will begin hikes approximately 15 minutes after time posted, which gives hikers time to show up, park, get their gear on, etc. This is not time to habitually run late- keep in mind that we do not always wait a full 15 minutes. Please be sure to keep your Organizer’s cell phone number with you in case you do get lost. If you are late contact your Organizer ASAP as we will be starting or leaving on time with or without you. Please keep in mind that some of our hike locations are outside of cellular range, and you may not be able to reach your Organizer because of that... so plan accordingly.

Changes/Cancellations: In spite of all precautions, problems can still arise at any time. Be aware that plans might have to be changed and you might be inconvenienced. If this happens please be flexible, open to compromise, tolerant, and try to keep a positive attitude. Unfortunately changes to events can happen at the last minute, ie due to cancellations or postponements of a meeting spot, or due to inclement weather. Prepayments may be refunded or credited in these situations, at the organizer’s discretion. If you are planning to attend an event, please check your email and the event description the evening before an event. You can also sign up to receive text messages to your cell phone by going to “Account” then "General" on your Meetup.com accoun (scroll down to the checkboxes- one of them says "SMS/Mobile Event reminders."

Inactivity: We expect all of our members to remain active in PNW Leisure Hiking. If you are not active, you may be contacted to check on your continuing interest, and if you do not respond, then you will possibly be removed from the Group for continued inactivity. Meetup also purges inactive members, and so you may be removed without being contacted. When you agree to Meetup.com's ToS, you are pledging to meet other people face-to-face; however, we understand that your schedule is not always going to mesh with ours, so please note that remaining active does not necessarily require you to attend Meetups. It does require you to visit our Meetup web site at least once every 60 days. Approximately once every six months we will be purging our member database and if you have been inactive then you will be contacted once via email. If you do not respond or take action according to the directions in the email then you will be removed, but will be welcome to rejoin at any time unless otherwise specified. Please understand that these processes are at least somewhat automated.

Children & Pets: Children and pets are welcome at our events. However, there are some guidelines:

1.    We ask that you refrain from bringing children if they are going to be out of control. Please remember that you are fully responsible for your children and their behavior. You must have your children under control and your direct supervision at all times. We will not condone children running around and causing disturbances. We see no reason to risk our meeting spaces due to your children’s behavior. Children are welcome at pre-paid events unless the event detail specifies otherwise.

2.    Well-socialized dogs are allowed at events where permissible (posted on each event listing). Only well-behaved dogs are allowed (dogs that do not bark incessantly, do not jump all over people or lick them uninvited, and get along well with other strange dogs). You must have your dog under control at all times. This means that either your dog responds to your voice command to come and/or stay, or you keep it on leash. Please note that if your dog is off-leash in an area where the rules and/or laws require a leash, then you alone are responsible for any consequences.

3.    Please do not abuse these privileges as they can and will be revoked if necessary. If your leadership team feels that your pet(s) and/or child(ren) is(are) out of control or out of line, they will specifically ask you to refrain from bringing them again. If you are asked to refrain from bringing them and then do so, you will immediately be removed from PNW Leisure Hiking. The definition of "out of control" and/or "out of line" is at the leadership team's discretion.

Removal: Although removing members from PNW Leisure Hiking should never become necessary there will always be those circumstances that may call for it. Should removal from the group become necessary, no dues or fees will be returned. The leadership team retains the right to remove members or refuse membership to anyone in the best interest of the group and at their discretion.

Message Board: The PNW Leisure Hiking Message Board has its own rules and regulations, clearly posted in each folder. Please be sure to review them prior to posting.