May 1999
On May 24th the Mountain Toppers four wheel
drive club held its 24th annual poker run located in the beautiful
Proceeds from this rally went to BENEFIT the NANCY HINDS HOSPICE.
We
arrived Friday night to the Bretz Mill Campgrounds which was already bustling
with activity and all of the riverside campgrounds already accounted for.
We settled in near the registration area thanks to the 4x4 In Motion four wheel drive club of Modesto / Turlock who let us intrude into there group campground.
After introductions had been made to the 4x4 In Motion campers we proceeded to setup our camp and prepared for an early start time for Saturday morning. Safety inspections were to be conducted Saturday morning before heading to the trail head and being a group of one we were going to tag along with 4x4 In Motion.
One
unplanned highlight to this year's rally was the National Forest's controlled
burn of certain
This was very noticeable with the gray smoky skies as you drove into camp. This was also somewhat unique to go on a trail run were there was still active flames on both sides of the trail at certain times.
Saturday
morning and the sound of revving engines and fresh coffee started about
After we all successfully passed the safety inspection it was off to the trail head. The trail started with a scenic drive on fire access roads that wandered through towering trees and lush green pathways. As we wandered through this dense greenery we came upon a crystal clear stream running along a granite rock slab that took us to our first check point.
The
first check point (hard way) there were two paths we took the (hard way) which
was very interesting, the drop over a granite ledge had us parking our front
bumper into the granite.
Several
others in our group had the same problem and ended up with bent license plates,
but no major damage. Later that day another jeeper was not so lucky and laid his
rig on its side. Everyone was OK and this event earned the hard luck award.
From checkpoint 1 we proceeded back onto several different
fire access roads and to a large open granite slab that overlooked
As
we left the granite slab area and proceeded into an area where small flames of
burning vegetation could be seen on both sides of the trail we had our first
major unplanned layover.
This actually turned out to be a lunch break for most of us, with the exception of one member of 4x4 In Motion who shall remain nameless. The problem was that a small branch had jumped out and bit his rear tire sidewall. So while a spare tire was installed we munched on our lunches and waved those behind us on.
After lunch we proceeded along with no problem collecting poker chips as we passed through each check point. After a short run back on the pavement we arrived to our next checkpoint.
This
would be the most difficult portion of the trail and was named Suicide Hill. This is a fairly steep
climb with loose rocks and dirt to make the journey a bit more interesting.
After we all had successfully negotiated Suicide Hill it was back to camp to relax and talk about the days journeys.
A barbecue tri-tip dinner was next for that night's
activities to be followed up by a raffle. The Mountain Toppers had filled a
flatbed trailer with raffle prizes. All in all, we had a great time, broke and
damage nothing, (which has been a rare event lately).
We made several new friends who we hope to see at Run A Muck and look forward
to other trail runs in the
