September 1999

The Labor Day weekend started with very heavy rains, so heavy that you wondered if the Gold Lake Crawdad run would actually occur. Gold Lake is located about 30 miles above Truckee, CA. We arrived late Friday night and setup camp at the "day use / horse stable center," as the primary campgrounds were already full. There are several campground facilities and a tent camping area accessible to trucks and 4x4's only.

Saturday morning the skies were clear and it turned out to be a picture perfect day. The run started above Gold Lake and was to proceed along the backside of the hills overlooking Gold Lake. We arrived at the trail head about 9:00am and most of the rigs were already on the trail.

Hot beverages and muffins were available as we checked in and completed the safety inspection. This is a very scenic trail with several lakes scattered along our trail route.

Although most of today's trail would be rated 2-3, there were several challenging sections where being locked was helpful.

During the more difficult sections of the trail members of Toys on the Rocks were on hand to lend assistance.

Two of these sections were the exit paths, where winching rigs were available to assist those (mostly) stock vehicles.

Exit #1 was a very steep, rocky path that had a fair amount of loose dirt but with very few attempting the climb out. The majority including us, toke exit #2. With only minor clutch problems (nearing its end of life) we had completed the run by noon.

With half of the day remaining before the Crawdad feast and raffle we decide to wander up to a local lookout tower.

The main trail is a gravel road that led us up to the top. The lookout tower was in fairly good shape. From the lookout tower we wander over to a very nice waterfall that is only accessible via a short hike.

Later that evening we made our way back to the Toys on the Rocks main campground for dinner and a raffle. A good time was had by all.

There are many trails in this very scenic area, and hopefully we will return for further explorations of the surrounding area.