28th Annual High Desert Roundup
Sunday Calico Run
Sunday promised to be another scorcher, but we were prepared with lots of water and sunscreen. Gumby had run flawlessly the day before, so I knew I had fixed my overheating problem for good. The night before, Tom had invited me to head off to Calico with him and Jim, so bright and early we headed off to the line-up for the Doran Canyon run. Al Verret joined the fun, so IE4W was well represented by guests on this run. Chuck from the Victor Valley 4 Wheelers was leading this run.
At around 8:15 AM we all caravanned to Calico up the 15 and met up at the off-ramp. I saw many envious eyes watching us as we drove down the highway. You could tell that this group was out for fun! We got to the entrance to Doran Canyon, where Chuck said we would split into two groups. The double-locked Jeeps would head up Doran, while the rest went up Odessa Canyon. Chuck strongly advised me to not try Doran, but as it turned out, I went up it anyway. When we got to Doran, we found a Toyota Land Cruiser from VV4W stuck in the notch. Seems he zigged when he should have zagged, and fell off a rock, completely high-centering himself, and breaking his front driveshaft and bending a front leaf spring in the process. It looked like he was going to be there a while. We all hung out for about a half hour, and then Chuck decided to take the group up Odessa instead, in the interests of saving time. Tom really wanted to do Doran, and had different ideas. So, while Chuck took the rest of the Jeeps, me and Tom and Jim stayed behind and helped the Toyota out of the canyon. We had him out in about 15 minutes, and then we had the canyon all to ourselves.
Now, I have to admit that I was a little bit nervous about trying this obstacle. It looked harder than anything I had ever done before, and I wasn't all that sure I could make it. Tom, however, never had a doubt, and promised I would make it, one way or another. Jim went first, and made it look easy in his Bronco. Then went Tom, so he could position himself at the top of the obstacle in case I needed the winch. Then I went in. Wow...this is tough! I made it into the first part of the canyon no problem, and then on to the waterfall. I got my front end over the waterfall, and then heard horrible grinding as I planted both rockers on the rocks. I tried several times to move forward, but could only go so far. Then Tom spotted me up a different line, and with a bang and a crunch, I made it! Then I worked my up onto the next set of rocks, and of course dropped down into the hole that seemed to be placed there just to swallow Jeeps. A little bit of work, though, and I was out. On to the next waterfall, and up and over. I did it! No strap, no winch! I was jazzed. we continued on up the trail, passed another couple of waterfalls, and then we were on a steep, rocky trail. Nothing bad, just a lot of small rocks. No sweat...."pssssssst". oops...there goes a tire.
Darn! That's two for the weekend. Oh well, that's what my warranty is for. Tom helped me get my tire changed, and we started off down the trail again. Not 10 feet later..."pssssssst" The OTHER front tire was cut. Good thing I brought 2 spares. We quickly changed the other tire, and continued the rest of the way with no problem.
We caught up to the rest of the group and went off to explore the mines. What a welcome relief. It was at least 30 degrees cooler in the mine, and we all enjoyed a little exploring, and some relief from the 105 degree weather outside. After about an hour in the mine, we came back out and headed off for home. Pulling into camp around 5 PM, we had dinner and relaxed. Everyone else headed off to the raffle, but I decided to stay in camp and just veg out. I was pretty tired, so I kicked back and watched the sunset. Got some great pictures, too.
Monday morning saw me saying my goodbye's to those brave enough to wake up early. Seems a bunch of the group went on another night run, and didn't get back 'till around 4 AM, but that's for another report. I heard it was exciting.