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Archived Newsletter |
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April 2006
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PINYON MOUNTAIN RUN We all met at Scissor Crossing at 9am as planned. The Rices, Kellys & Schaffers came from Agua Caliente C. G. The Sullivans and Viques were camped at Borrego Palm Canyon. in Borrego Springs. Dave Trice, Paul Coursey and Tom Moore (with John Gibbons as co-pilot) came from home. Dave and Paul came in via Julian with snow. Those of us who camped at Agua Caliente had rain all the way in on Friday night. However the sun was out for the run. Scattered clouds and a cold wind coming off the mountains kept us in long sleeves. It was a busy day for the trail as the San Diego 4 Wheelers, with about 7 rigs, were just finishing airing down as we drove up to the trailhead. From them we heard that another group had just left ahead of them. So we began airing down and gave them plenty of head start, after which we started out slowly about 10:00. Nobody had any problems as we picked our way along the trail. We made the section of rock climbs before the "Squeeze" in good time. I hear from the tail end that Andy took the wrong line and had to readjust as did the Kellys, but no one needed any assistance. As we approached the Squeeze, we caught up with the San Diego club and had the opportunity to watch a few of them go through. Then we made our way through as well. Suzy did her usual good job of spotting, however many wouldn’t follow directions as they worried about their right hand mirror hitting the rocks. They kept trying to steer left only to continue to tilt closer on the right side. Finally they took direction, turned slightly right, allowing the left side to slip down and clear the rocks. Mike "Tail-End" Kelly recently put on new tires and 10" rims making him somewhat wider than the rest of us. It was a real tight squeeze for him, but he made it. We all ribbed him for having "no-name" tires because the names got scraped off through the squeeze. We caught up with San Diego again at the drop off. That gave us another break and we watched them for awhile. The deep left side hole as you drop off the hill is what gives you that feeling of going over. It lifts the right rear really high as you slide off the hill because it’s so steep. Staying in low-2nd kept you under control the rest of the way down. Those with automatics got a little more thrill. After we all got down, we stopped for lunch and let the folks ahead of us get a little more distance. Continuing on down into Fish Creek, we came upon them again. They had just come out of Sandstone Canyon and suggested we take a look. So we did, and drove through tall shear walls so narrow you could barely get through in some spots. We then went on to Diablo Drop off. All made it up with no problem. Recent rains had the sand moist and traction was great. Some of us had missed Bob & Sallys' run to the mud caves, so we elected to divert from our route and search the crossover trail to Tapiado Canyon. and try to find them. That turned out successful and we found them easily, as some on this trip had been on Bob & Sallys trip and recognized the spots. From there, the Sullivans, Viques, Moore, Trice and Coursey took off for home while the Kellys, Rices and Suzy & I explored the mud caves. Really cool! We continued on our way to Canyon Sin Nombre, but instead of going on there to the highway, we tried a short cut on the old Overland Stage route and came out to the highway a few miles closer to camp. We’ll find out at the meeting how the Sullivan group did. I expect they had no problems getting out as they have GPS.
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