Pardoe Trail

,

Oktoberfest

,

First I want to thank everyone who was able to come up and make this run a success. As we got closer to the trip, it seemed as if everyone was needing to backout for various reasons. For those of you who could not make it, I hope we can do this area again next year. On to the trip, as Trail Boss I was pretty nervous. Was the place going to nice, was the trail going to be ok and could I find it, etc. etc.. As it turned out, everything went really well with even more rigs attending than I thought would be there.

The list of drivers was: Myself, my brother Matt, Tom, Ellen, Darryl and Kathy, Mike and Dede, Ron, Rich, Dirk, Loro, Michael C., Connie, Mike G., Lynn, Myron and Ben for a total of 16 rigs.

I headed over to the resort along with Ron, my dad and brother on Friday morning and arrived @ 10:45 or so. We were greeted by Darryl and Kathy and Mike and Dede. They were off on their hunt for the Halloween Grape shortly there after. The rest of the day was spent hanging around the campsite(s)and greeting all of the arriving 4 wheelers. Ron and I did get a chance to run up and find the trail head and do the first few minutes of the trail. After winching a fallen tree off of the trail, we decided to head back.

Saturday morning everyone started showing up at the store/office/restaurant/bar building @ 8:30, where some people aired down and we had a quick drivers meeting. At 9:02 (not 9:00 sharp), we left the resort and headed out for the trail head which was about 7 miles out, half paved road and half pretty smooth dirt road. We circled up all of the rigs the best we could and got group photos and finished airing down. Then it was onto the trail. The trail was a mix of dirt road, small rock gardens (a couple of decent challenges) and some tight turns and spots. I think we spotted people through 3 different areas. The last rock garden was where I got stuck. A little to much of a hurry to get my vehicle out of the way to get back and help spot. The last rock garden had about 5 different ways to go through. Thanks to Lynn for the tug!

The trip from Bear River Reservoir to the Plasse Trading Post Site took a little longer than I had hoped. I had hoped to arrive between 12:00 and 12:30 and we did not make it until around 2:00. After a quick lunch, we were talking about the time involved with running the upper rock garden and getting back to camp when a litlle rain/slush/snow started to fall and quickly convinced everyone to call it a day. It was still 7 miles of mild bouncing to get back to the freeway and then 15 or so miles back to camp.

The rest of the day was spent around the campfire and I think everyone came to the restaurant for the steak dinner.

All in all a great run. I hope to give it a go again next year, I think I would run the trail in the opposite direction and give anyone who wants to try the upper portion of the trail the opportunity earlier in the day and those who do not want to do the upper portion could just run the trail down the hill to the resort. I also need to get my CB squared away.

Again, thanks to everyone for making the trip up and for all of the assistance in spotting, mapping, tail-gunning and everything it takes for a successful run. ED4 is definitely a great group of people!

Brian

 

,

Oktoberfest

,

I want to echo that the trip was great. I arrived just as it got dark on Friday.

Tom had agreed to share a site with me so after registering my dogs & vehicle I returned to the campsite & was invited to the Kroeker’s site for dinner what a nice surprise (thanks to Kathy & Darell & Mike & Dede for tasty meal).

After I set up my tent I went over to join the group at Brian’s family site where a nice fire was burning and people & my dogs were enjoying visiting with everyone.

Sat AM we met up and headed out for the run. The area was very nice and the route had a variety of terrain & challenges. We had a few rain drops and then some sleet that cut the lunch break short. It was fun to see the historic areas. I want to thank eveyone that helped to spot or offer advice along the run.

When we got back to camp I let me dogs go for a swim & then a hike a ways along the lake shore.

There was still time for a happy hour by the campfire before going in for nice dinner at the resort. After dinner lots more time around the campfire and time to relax and enjoy company of others that enjoy getting out & exploring areas in our rigs.

Brain did a great job finding an area that met the needs of campers, indoor overnight sleepers and dog owners. It was also a bonus to have a place to eat out (inside) and to have nice lake that you could fish or boat in and dogs were allowed to swim in. There seem to be many more places to explore using the same place as a base and I hope we will do that.

Thanks to everyone that made the trip so much fun for me & Sierra & Alpine too. Loro

 

,

Oktoberfest

,

Hello to the few that did not get a chance to join us. Kathy and I left San Jose around 10:30am on Thursday morning and headed North. We had a nice drive with not to much traffic at that time. Stopping several times for this and that along the way, we finally arrived at Bear River Resort around 4:00pm. Selected our campsite and got set up. What a nice place this is even with the lake being very low and getting ready for the winter. Mike and Dede arrived, we fixed some dinner and made room in our wine cabinet for the next day. Friday morning others started showing up and setting up their camps. The wine group, of only four of us headed out Omo Ranch Rd to find some wineries. Success!!!! We took some back road that I recognezed the name of at the last minute. I am sure that Mike and Dede thought that we might be lost. Within about 6 miles, our first winery was in sight. We spent some time at Oakstone Winery along with also spending some money. Great wines as always. Next to Flur de Lay Winery. We were met by Frederick the very old Dashound, and two very large bins of cabernet grapes in the small tasting room. Purchased several bottles and on to the next winery. We arrived at Windwalker and had a nice picnic lunch before our next tasting experience. Windwalker is noted for their great Barbera and Zinfendel wines. Darn the Barbera was already sold out. Forced to buy something else and on to our last stop of the day, Latcham Winery. Samples of wine and of course their well known delicious brownies, we headed back to Bear. Knowing that the gas was $5.00 a gallon at Bear, we stopped and topped off at Cook’s Station for $4.89 a gallon, what a deal. We arrived back in camp to meet with all of the new arrivals. Dinner was put together by Dede and Kathy with Loro and Tom being invited to dine with us. Camp fire was enjoyed at Brian’s family site. Early to bed for me to be ready for the trail. I knew that I would have my work cut out to manage the trail. I brought my 68 Bronco that is a little light on power, no power steering, and very little clearance. Scrapes scrapes and more scrapes were the sound of the day for me. We came upon an area that was labeled rock garden on the map, where several of had some problems, but other did not. This was not the rock garden that was to be at the end of the trail. Kathy decided to take Tinker for a little walk up the trail and would wait for us to catch up. Once we cleared everyone from the rocks, we were back in our rigs. Kathy was back. Kathy and Tinker were about a 1/4 mile up the road, when suddenly Tinker stopped, stood on her back legs and sniffed the air. Kathy was wondering what was up. As she looked into the meadow, about 150 yards away was a cub and mother bear. What a highlight for Kathy, you know she loves bears. To the top of the trail, lunch and a decision was made to head back to camp instead of trying the real rock garden. Arrived back in camp about 3:30pm and did a little tasting from our Friday trail run. Conversation by the fire again and off to a very good steak and shrimp dinner. More conversation and warmth for the inner and outer of the body, and a good night sleep. As with all outings, the last day does come way to soon. I safe trip back home and a great time remembered.

A special thanks to Brian for finding this area, Alan for bringing the fire wood, for all of the family of ED4 and those special guests that joined us on this trip. As always a very enjoyable time and may our friendships grow. Darell

,

Pardoe Trail - Oktoberfest

,

Hello All,I hooked up with Brain and we left on Thursday to head to his father’s house in Pollock Pines, CA. We sat in a lot of traffic, but that was OK, as we knew what fun was ahead of us. We got to Pp around 830-9pm and relaxed a bit with his family. We got up early Friday and Brian, myself, his brother and his father all caravaned to a close by campground to pick up his father’s travel trailer…our home for the next three days. We traveled across Emigrant Trail and headed out to CA88. I will be back to that area on my motorcycle to ride some of those roads! After getting to the campground, we set up the trailer and got everything situated. Excellent place to have an event like this.

Congratulations to Brian for some great research and thank you for doing this for us. Brian and I set out on a short pre-ride of the trail we would be taking on Saturday. We both agreed that the trail was perfect for the type of wheeling for the group. I forgot to mention, that group grew to 16 vehicles by Satruday morning. I’m not even going to try to mention everyone’s names, as i know I wouldn’t remember all of them. Saturday morning we had a short safety meeting and off we were. we aired down, removed sway bars, etc. etc and the trail was waiting for us. The trail was just challenging enough for each type of vehicle we had. There were some stucks and everyone jumped in to help.

What a great group of people ED4 is and just one of the reasons I am a fan of offroading. All in all, the offroading went well and I think everyone would agree that this location works well for everything that the group needed. They have fuel ($5/gal!), a bar, restaurant, air, water, showers, cabins, excellent steaks (LOL) and more. The scenery was amazing. Thanks to everyone for a great trip. Thanks especially to Brian and his family for letting me stay with them. Til next time, Ron