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12/04/07 - The Southern California Tacoma Club completed another successful event on December 1 and 2, 2007. This time a fun adventure to Anza Borrego.  The club and guests enjoyed Fish Creek, Split Mountain,  Pinyon Mountain, South Coyote Canyon, Calcite Mine and Truckhaven Hills.  That sounds like a lot of wheeling and it is!  The Southern California Tacoma Club likes to have fun.

Most of the group met in Julian in the morning, gased up, talked about the plan of the day and headed down the road.  The team then split into two groups with one heading to see the desert, Split Mountain and up Fish Creek. The other group headed to Pinyon Mountain.

Trail leader Dell  had an opportunity to talk with the ranger at the trailhead of Pinyon Mountain. The ranger was very much pleased that the Southern California Tacoma Club is a Tread Lightly Club in association with California Association of Four Wheel Drive Clubs (CA4WDC). 

The Pinyon group all managed to avoid all carnage by slipping through the Squeeze with ease and dropping off the end of earth on Heart Attack Hill.  One member caught his drivers tire on the wall coming down and needed to be winched back a little so he could get the steering to straighten out. Team work pays off!  Everyone was successful and safe. All did an outstanding job and it was obvious  that everyone enjoyed themselves (a sense of relief maybe after having survived).

At the end of Pinyon with everybody safe and seemingly satisfied of their accomplishments, the Pinyon group went on the hunt to find the other group.  Contact was made via CB and eventually the groups combined on Fish Creek.

The team then headed out for South Coyote Canyon and the trip through the water and up to Santa Caterina on the Anza route. The 3rd crossing was probably near 28 or so inches deep. Again trail leader Dell had the pleasure of representing our club with a ranger who was heading down. She (the ranger) also seemed pleased that the Southern California Tacoma Club is associated with CA4WDC.  It is becoming obvious that our association with CA4WDC has immediately made us a respectable club, part of the larger solution set that is CA4WDC.

Going up the rock chute was not a problem for anyone.  The team ended up camping up in Sheep's Canyon.  It turned out to be a perfect camp with no noticeable neighbors but for a couple of hikers from which no one could hear a peep. Camp was great and all had a good time. There was a great fire (in a tub) and plenty of wood up. The team stayed up very late into the morning hours, joking and having fun. It was perfect.

After breaking camp the team headed out towards TruckHaven. Some of the group headed home but the rest  headed up the Calcite Mine Trail. they had lunch at the Calcite Mine. After lunch they headed for TruckHaven And again a few broke off for home and the rest decided to go play an hour or so in TruckHaven before heading into the sunset.

Good times!

Pictures here: http://www.socaltaco.com/images/thumbnails.php?album=8 

12/08/07 - The Southern California Tacoma Club prides itself in small groups on runs and offering members a selection of events in which to participate.  Nothing exemplifies this more than the club offering two very different snow runs on the same day, one a technical harder run in Big Bear and the other a geographically close event in the San Jacinto Mountains. Both are wonderful areas and great places to go play in the snow.

Big Bear

The Big Bear group’s plan was to meet in Big Bear, have breakfast at Denny’s and be at the trailhead by 9.  Unfortunately just past Snow Valley they had shut the road for the  weekend and the group had to make a large detour to go up Highway 38. The group arrived in Big bear at approximately 11:00, and had a quick breakfast at Jack in the Box.

The team was on the trail by 12:30 PM and  following some fire roads they ended up at the end of the Holcomb Creek Trail, rather than the usual start. Seeing tire marks and no closed signs they headed up the first rock garden.  Everyone started to have fun, while it lasted anyways. Right after the first rock garden a huge fallen tree from the forest fires blocked the trail. The team was considering moving it when they noticed an even larger fallen tree just up the trail. 

The team turned around,  regrouped and fixed a flat on one rig and then headed to Dishpan Springs only to encounter a closed sign. The team then decided it would be best to just call it a day.  On the way back to the highway the team got a little thrill slipping and sliding on the now slick fire roads and even stopped to just play in the snow a little bit.

Although the group didn’t get to run the trials they’d anticipated, a good time was had by all who came.

The San Jacintos

The other run for the weekend started in Hemet and headed up Bee Canyon and Indian Mountain. The morning started out dry and the team wondered if they would see any snow in the San Jacintos.  Then a few sprinkles came down and as the drizzle got heavier things got slipperier. As the group ascended up into the cloud ceiling they began to see light snow on the ground and would see a few flakes falling here and there.  Then as the team traveled further up they were blessed with more snow until there was an even coating on the surrounding landscape.  When the team got to the Indian Mountain  Trail ( adopted by the Hemet Jeep Club)  it was clear to see, with no tracks in the new fallen snow, that the  group was the first to venture into this area that morning!

The team got a good dusting of snow as they traveled on the upper end of Indian Mountain and it got heavier as they neared the end on Hwy. 243 (Vista Point).  The team got on Highway 243 toward Idyllwild just to have a look to see if Black Mountain Rd. was closed and unfortunately it was.  Black Mountain is the highest accessible area in the San Jacinto's by 4X4, perhaps 7500 ft, and to the team’s misfortune the Forest Service  normally closes that when snow is expected.

At this point a suggestion was offered that the team might try another way down rather then back track the trail they used to come up the mountains.  We found the trailhead approximatly 5 miles down the road and off we went down the mountain on the alternate route. It even had a nice a water crossing after which the team headed back to Bee Canyon.

The most interesting moments came when the team was  near the end of their return to Bee Canyon. It had been raining heavily at that lower elevation and it was really slippery and muddy. Coming up over and down a by pass it was fun to watch the team members as they slipped and slid all over the place, dropping down a very slick decent  and a final short steep decline back onto the main trail. Braking was not a good idea here, most came down a little sideways, and left their fate to luck!  However, all made it down without damage. After that it was back to the staging area and then home.

Two runs on the same day?  That is something that maybe only the Southern California Tacoma Club would try to pull off.  But thanks to excellent team work, fantastic trail bosses (Jeremy and Dell) it was accomplished with the main goal, fun, having been accomplished!

Pictures:

Big Bear: http://www.socaltaco.com/images/thumbnails.php?album=10

San Jacintos: http://www.socaltaco.com/images/thumbnails.php?album=9

10/04/07 - The Southern California Tacoma Club completed an amazing run in Death Valley National Park with three days of dirt and two nights of camping. The group saw all the wonderful and remarkable places, petrogylphs, waterfalls, moving rocks, and more on this 160 mile trek through the desert landscapes of the Saline Valley area. We had a number of club members as well as guests and all were treated to perfect weather and a wonderful time.

On Friday the SCTC went up Hunter Mountain, through Hidden Valley to Teakettle junction then down to the Racetrack Playa and camp at Homestake. Saturday had the group go down the Lippincott and up Saline Valley with stops at the Salt Tram and Hunter Valley before getting into camp at Saline Warm Springs. Sunday was Steele Pass, DeDeckera Canyon and Eureka Sand Dunes before heading home. This trip is always a long one but well worth it as it is the kind of trip about which one tells their friends for years!

The only carnage was one flat tire and a throttle body that needed to be cleaned up prior to hitting the trails. But, these were minor issues and the event was enjoyed by everyone, both on the trail and around the fire in camp.  SCTC will retuned to Death Valley in the spring of 2008, with a trip up Goler to Butte Valley!  See you there!

Pictures from the event are here:

http://www.socaltaco.com/images/thumbnails.php?album=6