2009 Sierra Trek
From Gold Hills Posse 4x4 Club
The Gold Hills Posse volunteered to help the California Association of 4wd Club’ 2009 Sierra Trek by staffing Winch Hill 5 and making sure all the participants finished the trail safely.
This year’s Trek started with rain followed by rain followed by hail and topped off with rain. Larry, Sonia, and Cole headed up Wednesday and scored the same camp site as last year. Brad, Kathleen, Don, Teddi, Fred, Lee, Joe, Sue, Pat, Carrie (and family), John, and Keane showed up at various times and all spent time helping on the hill.
On Thursday, Keane spent the entire afternoon under the 4Runner fixing a u-bolt that mysteriously broke either on the way in or on some previous trip. Traffic moved pretty smoothly, but things got more and more interesting as the rocks got wetter. Once again, Uncle Willy proved to be a problem, but he left quickly after Larry made it very clear how much his help was needed. After we got everyone through, we headed back to camp got a roaring fire going and managed to stay warm and dry out. The weather reports said that there was a chance of snow, but fortunately we dodged that bullet.
Friday’s weather was a bit warmer and drier. Some of us headed down to check in with the Winch Hill 4 group and wait for traffic. The first rig showed up at Winch Hill 5 before noon. Once again we managed to keep things moving and got everyone through.
The group headed back to camp for our first attempt at a Sierra Trek potluck. Larry cooked up 6 racks of ribs and we had ribs, corn, bean salad, popcorn (rumored to taste like soap), chips and salsa, bread, and dessert. Most agreed that this should be an annual tradition.
Saturday had great weather and everybody was finally able to dry out a bit. We heard rumors that traffic was early so we flew out to the hill around 9:00 but nobody arrived for a while. Some folks had to head home early, but the skeleton crew that remained managed to get everyone out safe. It turned into a long day on the trail as a CJ5 managed to go through a few fuel pumps slowing everyone down.
Thanks to everyone that helped! This was truly a great event and made me proud to be a part of the Posse.