Archived Newsletter

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	Pinyon Mountain
	Run Safety Requirements

PINYON MOUNTAIN
By Rick Schaffer

Although it rained on us Friday night while driving to camp at Agua Caliente, it wasn't as cold as the year before. Saturday was bright and sunny as we arrived at our meeting place at 9am. Just Suzy and I and the Kellys camped, and arrived from the south while the Rices, Courseys and Dave Trice drove from home. When we got to the trailhead to air down, the Courseys made the mistake of stopping a little off of the designated staging area. Just so happens, a (friendly) park ranger drove up and reminded us not to do that because the enviro's get all up tight about killing off plant life, even though the grasses already looked dead. He promptly took out a rake and eliminated Paul's tracks. Paul parked off the area to avoid a bunch of horse manure left behind. Nice way to start the day.

Nobody else was out there this time, so we pretty much had the trail to ourselves. I told them I'd like to explore some side trails that I'd made note of last time out. Turns out, they only go a few hundred yards to campsites.

We got to the Squeeze and someone had left rocks piled in the low spots, so we all got through without a spotter, without incident. Jon took pictures of Dale coming through. Next up, we arrived at the rocky part of the trail with the large overhanging rock. I drove right up with no problem. Paul was behind me and I guess he just had a temporary lapse in concentration. He took the wrong line and rolled a large rock under the left front, raising the wheel, while setting the rear differential in place preventing him from backing up. Several attempts with the hi-lift later, we picked the front tire up and Dave and Paul muscled the rock out from beneath the front end. Still unable to move, we attached a strap and I tugged him off.

Arriving at the drop-off, we all got out and surveyed the situation. It seemed a bit deeper in the hole at the top, but we all did just fine getting down. Lunch was at the bottom like last time. We all took off just as more people were arriving. The rest of the trail was pretty much 2WD as the dirt was hard packed from recent rains. At least there wasn't a dust problem. We made it to the turnoff for the sand hill and sent Paul in to scout for oncoming vehicles. Several vehicles were parked on the hill so we proceeded on up. Again, both Arroyo Seco del Diablo and Canyon sin Nombre were 2WD , so we made good time getting to the highway.

After airing up, everyone but the Rices decided to go to Julian for dinner. Being so close to Ocotillo and Highway 8, I convinced the rest to go that way and connect with S-1 (Sunshine Highway), then Highway 78 to Julian. It was a pretty drive but the long way around! Bet they never listen to me again! "Hay guys, I know this great short-cut."

We, along with Dennis and Casey Sullivan, just got back from our annual trek to beautiful Quartzsite, Arizona for it's annual week-long swap meet and general get together. The Rices had to miss it this year due to motor home problems. It's always impressive to see thousands of RV's camped in the desert starting about 5 miles from Quartzsite. Once you get there it's a bit overwhelming, RV's as far as the eye can see in all directions from town.

The big draw is the swap meet. Actually, there are swap meets all over town, something like 10 different ones. We managed to hit about 4 of them, doing the swap meet in the morning and off road geocaching in the afternoon. There are a lot of trails to explore around Quartzsite with a lot of old mines in the area. The geocaching was good too. We found about 25, some taking us to some pretty interesting areas and presenting a bit of a challenge as to which trail to take to get to them. We got to within 1/2 mile of a couple of them only to find that they were on the other side of the hill from where we were, and necessitating a drive of several miles to pick up the right trail. I would highly recommend adding Quartzsite in January to your list of things to do in the future.

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RUN SAFETY REQUIREMENTS

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