Sierra Trek....
Posted: August 14th, 2014, 8:30 pm[img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-4zYfICii2BA/U-tvOrCHe5I/AAAAAAAAwvM/n2VvkpYYEIg/w1360-h1016-no/IMG_2502.JPG[/img]
Jackie and I took some time and drove up to run the Sierra Trek @ Fordyce Creek.
[img]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-UGztvD4J-0c/U-ttQe4rPMI/AAAAAAAAwu4/ybu1uy_TP_0/w1360-h1016-no/IMG_2441.JPG[/img]
Weather was crazy... with sunny highs in the upper 80s to wet lows in the low 40s. We even had 1/2" sized hail fall for 30 or so minutes. The trail was really dug out in some spots due to the weather... and Winch Hill 3 was so bad, they routed all participants around the main obstacle and forced everyone to run the bypass line. Luckily for me, one of the rigs further down the trail was broken in my group and they let me play for some time on the hard lines at Winch Hill 3. Apparently they let a small handful of cars run the hard lines... mostly being their own crew. Eight others ran the squeeze line and three others the pillow line before I got there and one on each after I was done... these were the last guys on the trail. One guy made both without needing a winching, but he was a local and I didn't see it. They said the hole was dug out four feet deeper than normal and when I ran it, the mud was up to the middle of my hubs in the bottom of it, making traction very difficult.
[img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-GvZBtaH2LqE/U-2I0RYtrDI/AAAAAAAAwx4/W8J4PEeuKyw/w1409-h793-no/Screenshot%2Bfrom%2BIMGA0210.MP4%2B-%2B3.png[/img]
[img]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-BHn_Z1qYp1o/U-2I7MzlorI/AAAAAAAAwyg/XTQ4fNJIU-w/w1409-h793-no/Screenshot%2Bfrom%2BIMGA0210.MP4%2B-%2B8.png[/img]
[youtube]ajCB0ev9oE0[/youtube]
[youtube]z7FwGHpnTts[/youtube]
Some minor breakage after an hour plus of trying the two lines, I ended up getting a shirt.... little did I know it is apparently the prize of the event given at Winch Hill 3.
[img]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-FRFO6wQcrx0/U-lPPbflj5I/AAAAAAAAwVc/KhRFDXs22JM/w802-h1016-no/IMG_20140811_161603565.jpg[/img]
The rest of the run was great... we kind of did our own thing for most of it, ducking out of the first days run half way through to get the tow rig to camp, camping off the main site at the PG&E lake front site about 1.5 miles from the base camp (peace and quiet!!), forgoing the rain at night at their big bon fire and party for our own smaller version back in our camp where trees and tarps kept us relatively dry... we we going to do the SUV run as well on Saturday, which does a historic tour of the area, but we decided to kick out early for various reasons and ran the 395 back to Yosemite... spent the night in a campground outside of the park, then took a slow drive through, as Jackie's never been, it was a nice way to end the trip. She did comment that she felt that the Tahoe National where the trail is is prettier than Yosemite.
I have to say... the attitude in the air at this event isn't like any other I have seen in the past. The whole thing felt like a family reunion. I know that sounds weird, but it's the feeling I got. People constantly just coming up out of the woodwork introducing themselves. Super friendly.
[img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/gumzu6OI0-D2l5VPmEUnb58oyAJCbKoMrlfj6MnaA2d5=w1360-h1016-no[/img]
Shot taken form the car... this is how close you are to the river for the first half of the trail and not much further for the remainder.
[img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-H2ioagaWdG0/U-ts4TH1gvI/AAAAAAAAwto/eaOuG3PL-DM/w758-h1015-no/IMG_2426.JPG[/img]
View from first nights campsite.
[img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-3bfmXnYS6qs/U-tuuPYt6YI/AAAAAAAAwd4/pjHnVNcbtpM/w1360-h1016-no/IMG_2486.JPG[/img]
View from the camp site for the remainder of the trip, from the side of Meadow Lake.
Now that I've run the trail twice (and have run the Committee bypass), I feel very comfortable with the layout and how the water flows. I was worried about what occurred on last year's trip and that is why I went with the Trek this year... water flow would not be an issue any longer as I know where to enter and exit based upon those flow rates.
Supposedly, the flow is kept low through September. There's still time this year to get the entire trail in... but the good (wheeling) parts are always accessible!
Jackie and I took some time and drove up to run the Sierra Trek @ Fordyce Creek.
[img]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-UGztvD4J-0c/U-ttQe4rPMI/AAAAAAAAwu4/ybu1uy_TP_0/w1360-h1016-no/IMG_2441.JPG[/img]
Weather was crazy... with sunny highs in the upper 80s to wet lows in the low 40s. We even had 1/2" sized hail fall for 30 or so minutes. The trail was really dug out in some spots due to the weather... and Winch Hill 3 was so bad, they routed all participants around the main obstacle and forced everyone to run the bypass line. Luckily for me, one of the rigs further down the trail was broken in my group and they let me play for some time on the hard lines at Winch Hill 3. Apparently they let a small handful of cars run the hard lines... mostly being their own crew. Eight others ran the squeeze line and three others the pillow line before I got there and one on each after I was done... these were the last guys on the trail. One guy made both without needing a winching, but he was a local and I didn't see it. They said the hole was dug out four feet deeper than normal and when I ran it, the mud was up to the middle of my hubs in the bottom of it, making traction very difficult.
[img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-GvZBtaH2LqE/U-2I0RYtrDI/AAAAAAAAwx4/W8J4PEeuKyw/w1409-h793-no/Screenshot%2Bfrom%2BIMGA0210.MP4%2B-%2B3.png[/img]
[img]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-BHn_Z1qYp1o/U-2I7MzlorI/AAAAAAAAwyg/XTQ4fNJIU-w/w1409-h793-no/Screenshot%2Bfrom%2BIMGA0210.MP4%2B-%2B8.png[/img]
[youtube]ajCB0ev9oE0[/youtube]
[youtube]z7FwGHpnTts[/youtube]
Some minor breakage after an hour plus of trying the two lines, I ended up getting a shirt.... little did I know it is apparently the prize of the event given at Winch Hill 3.
[img]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-FRFO6wQcrx0/U-lPPbflj5I/AAAAAAAAwVc/KhRFDXs22JM/w802-h1016-no/IMG_20140811_161603565.jpg[/img]
The rest of the run was great... we kind of did our own thing for most of it, ducking out of the first days run half way through to get the tow rig to camp, camping off the main site at the PG&E lake front site about 1.5 miles from the base camp (peace and quiet!!), forgoing the rain at night at their big bon fire and party for our own smaller version back in our camp where trees and tarps kept us relatively dry... we we going to do the SUV run as well on Saturday, which does a historic tour of the area, but we decided to kick out early for various reasons and ran the 395 back to Yosemite... spent the night in a campground outside of the park, then took a slow drive through, as Jackie's never been, it was a nice way to end the trip. She did comment that she felt that the Tahoe National where the trail is is prettier than Yosemite.
I have to say... the attitude in the air at this event isn't like any other I have seen in the past. The whole thing felt like a family reunion. I know that sounds weird, but it's the feeling I got. People constantly just coming up out of the woodwork introducing themselves. Super friendly.
[img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/gumzu6OI0-D2l5VPmEUnb58oyAJCbKoMrlfj6MnaA2d5=w1360-h1016-no[/img]
Shot taken form the car... this is how close you are to the river for the first half of the trail and not much further for the remainder.
[img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-H2ioagaWdG0/U-ts4TH1gvI/AAAAAAAAwto/eaOuG3PL-DM/w758-h1015-no/IMG_2426.JPG[/img]
View from first nights campsite.
[img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-3bfmXnYS6qs/U-tuuPYt6YI/AAAAAAAAwd4/pjHnVNcbtpM/w1360-h1016-no/IMG_2486.JPG[/img]
View from the camp site for the remainder of the trip, from the side of Meadow Lake.
Now that I've run the trail twice (and have run the Committee bypass), I feel very comfortable with the layout and how the water flows. I was worried about what occurred on last year's trip and that is why I went with the Trek this year... water flow would not be an issue any longer as I know where to enter and exit based upon those flow rates.
Supposedly, the flow is kept low through September. There's still time this year to get the entire trail in... but the good (wheeling) parts are always accessible!