South Fork Run 2009

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March 2009 ROC Run

Highway 36/South Fork Mountain

Sunday  March 22, 2008

 

Saturday night was very stormy and I wasn't look forward to loading up my Bronco in the rain.  Fortunately, the rain stopped just long enough on Sunday morning, that I had enough time to load up my rig onto the trailer before it started raining again.  Our meeting place was the Hydesville store at 8:30 a.m.  As I drove south on Route 101, I could see newly fallen snow on Monument Mountain and the surrounding hills.  It looked like there'd be plenty of snow to play around in.  In total six rigs showed up for the run -- all Jeeps, except for me!  Paul Adams, Steve Mello, Tom & Jane Vallee, Dave & Colleen Cole, and Chris Carlotti and his friend Mark Paye. 

There was some discussion on whether I should unload at Hydesville, considering how low the snow was.  I decided to drive out 36 and make a decision at Bridgeville to unload at the overlook or continue out to Dinsmore.  It was an easy decision to unload at Bridgeville because the road was partially covered by snow in places and I did not like the idea of having to come down McCullen Mountain grade with my trailer & Bronco in tow.  The road between Bridgeville and Dinsmore had not been plowed yet, so it was slow going in some spots.  It was snowing pretty heavy and I wondered if my defroster and wipers were going to be able to keep up as the snow begin to build up on my windshield -- they did, but just barely!  At Dinsmore we stopped for a break and watched the first Caltrans truck drive past plowing the road.   We decided to drive up to South Fork Summit and try to make it to Picket's Peak. 

It was an easy drive up to the summit because Caltrans had just plowed the road and it stopped snowing.   There was plenty of snow on the ground, so we aired down just after we turned off Highway 36.   Paul was our trail leader for most of the day and did an excellent job of breaking trail for the rest of us.  I would estimate that the snow was about 2 feet deep, but there were drifts that were quite a bit deeper and presented a challenge to get through at times.  The weather got better as the day progressed, and skies cleared and the sun came out.  It was quite beautiful driving through the fresh fallen snow.  It also made for good traction.   Of course everyone got stuck at least once.  I think I can claim the honor of getting myself the most stuck of any rig.  I tried going around Dave & Colleen which required going through a drift that was about 4 feet deep.  I knew better than to try to blast through it, but I did, and ended up high centered.  I was buried deep enough that I couldn't open my door.  Dave & Colleen tried pulling me out with a strap, but couldn't budge me.  Finally Chris hooked on to Dave with his winch and Steve hooked to Chris (to provide some weight) and they pulled me free.  Everyone seemed to be having a lot of fun, especially Steve who was giving driving instructions to Chris over the CB!

After a while, I took over the task of breaking trail, and finally we came to the turnoff to the lookout.  As we continued on, the road became steeper and one spot in particular was quite challenging.  After negotiating that section, we were less than 2 miles from the lookout and the trail became easier to navigate.  Just as Paul and I were starting to make very good progress, we came around a corner and there was a 30" diameter log fallen across the trail.  That was the end of our progress for the day.  A chainsaw would have been a good item to take.  Just as Paul and I turned around Chris caught up to us.  We told him the bad news and radioed the others that we were headed back to meet them.  By this time it was around 3:30 so we all decided to call it a day.

Overall, I think it was a great run.  The weather turned out to be fantastic, and snow depth made it challenging for all the rigs.  As I said previously, EVERYONE got stuck at some point, but to my knowledge none of the rigs had any mechanical problems.  It was fun to wheel with such a great group of people.  I must say that once we got back to Highway 36, I had difficulty keeping up with the others.  I think they were anxious to be back home after a fun day of wheeling!

 Happy Trails,

Mike Eagan

Pictures of the run below, courtesy of Dave Cole    (click on thumbnail for larger photo)