Trek alternative

Hi All, again. Mike, Dede, Kathy and I headed out Monday morning after having a very nice time at the Summer Campout.

We headed down Hiway 4 and stopped in Arnold for breakfast off on a Menu!

We continued down 4 and found ourselves once again in the little town of Murphy’s. More shopping, wine tasting, and looking around.

We decided to take the scenic route to the Trek Alternative and headed down 49 through Sonora, Jamestown and a bunch of other little towns. We ended up in Mariposa and stayed the night at the Mariposa Fairgrounds. They provide electric and water hookups for $25. Tuesday morning it was up and down the road again to Oakhurst. We missed several winery’s and shops, but we made notes of the shops for our return trip back up 41. The four of us ended up at my son’s house down in Clovis. Some visiting, checking out the newest Bronco, out to dinner and over to see a couple of very well equipped Broncos. The one has a 3 page article in this Bronco Driver magazine. Spent the night at Tad’s and left about 8:30 wednesday morning headed back up towards Big Sandy campground. Stopped at several of the shops that we had made note of and dropped a couple of dollars here and there. No more winerys. We reached our destination early afternoon. Only two other campsites were taken. A friend of ours came and joined us on Thursday, her name is Eileen and she lives in Coarsegold which is only about 20 miles away. Thursday we went wheeling on a little road out of camp and over to a “town” Fish Camp. This has a little general store and not much more than that. Friday morning we said our goodbyes again to Mike and Dede as they headed towards home after another wonderful breakfast. Shortly after noon or so Ed Lorensen showed up with his dog Spikers. About another hour or so and Dirk and Mark arrived. On Saturday morning after all had had breakfast, Dirk, Mark, Ed and myself set out to find Star Lakes Trail. After several hours, we did in fact find the trail, but did not ever see Star Lakes. We did discover several very old cabins and did a little looking around at what was left from all of the years. As we were standing there looking at the cabins, we spotted a Yellow Bellied Marmot at the top corner of one of the cabins. A great campfire both Friday and Saturday evenings with great friends. Sunday morning again with the goodbyes and headed for home. All in all a very wonderful 10 days away!!!!!

Thanks again to all that made our vacation a very special time with very special friends.

Darell

Sierra Trek

Run Report for Thursday, August 10, 2006. (Sierra Trek was August 10-13,2006). I ran the Thursday Short Wheel base, Fordyce Creek Trail. I got to the trail head sometime very early on Thursday, in an attempt to run more towards the front of the group. (Thursday line up it at a first come, first in line bases). Who needs sleep! I was about the 6 or 7 vehicle, after the trail leader.

The trail was a different kind of difficult this year!!! For those who have not yet attempted Fordyce Creek trail, it’s only 12 miles. Well this year it took me 9-1/2 hours. Not bad, 6 hours is my record. No real trouble, other than the trail, and in between the 5-winch hills were challenging to say the least, but not impossible.

What a good job the volunteers and trail crew do on the winch hills, and trail. They really want to keep everyone moving along the trail. Their practice is to give you 3 tries on the hills, then you get the hook, if you can’t make it. The volunteers that man these winch hills do an excellent job. Can’t say enough about those volunteers.

The Sierra Trek event is the only time during the wheeling season that you can run the entire trail from start (near Eagle Lakes Road), to finish (Meadow Lakes), unless you have a vehicle that can traverse very high, swift water. Cal-4, or I should say the chairpersons and the volunteers put on an excellent event for 4-wheelers to support and enjoy. Also lots of thing going on when you get to base camp.

Great trail, good time. Think about running it next year. That’s it for now. Happy trails, Sherry Stortroen

Sierra Trek

My Sierra Trek was a little different than years past, but it was a good kind of different. I met up with Jason Green and a friend of Jason’s by the name of Tom, don’t know his last name, at Cisco Grove @ 9 a.m. on Wednesday, August 4th. By 9:20 a.m. we were 4-wheeling on the Fordyce Creek Trail.

What a trail, and I thought the water crossings were going to be a problem…wrongo…we encountered rocks, big rocks, bigger rocks, and more rocks. I really don’t think I have ever seen the trail so torn up. And except for a trail-weld job that Tom offered to a 4-wheeler we meet on the trail, who had broker a steering mount bracket, we kept moving (wheeling).

When we got to Winch Hill One - we all stopped, got out of our vehicles to access the hill. Tom was the lead, and the first to attempt Winch Hill One. Somehow, Tom dislodged a very large rock, and the rock rolled onto Tom’s Bronco, doing damage to the passenger side rear. After the rock fell off Tom’s Bronco, and onto the trail, we all got out of our vehicles to decide how to drive around this very large rock. Jason & Tom decided to winch the fallen rock off the trail, along with some grooming to make this hill passable. The hill was a mess, but with lots of help, winching and rock tossing all 3-of us made it up Winch Hill One. (only 4 more Winch Hills to go.)

What a trail, it took us 11 hours to make it to Meadow Lakes. All weekend we heard that Winch Hill One had been closed, and being by-passed.

I wish to end this report by “Thanking” Jason Green and Tom, for all of their help in getting me and my Jeep through the Fordyce Creek Trail. Sherry Stortroen