For me, the snow run starts Saturday morning at the Village Grill. I was with
Iceman and Ice-Chick. We got there in time to have breakfast with the group,
but I guess nobody was hungry, only Busstop and Mushroom were there. Chevy
John joined us a little later. So we sat and ate and discussed where the most
likely place for snow was. Now I don't want to disparage our Wagonmaster, but
there was just the slightest "doubt" that we'd find
any snow. Well, with maps
and food spread over the table, we ate and prognosticated about the likelihood
of snow on our trail.
After a good hot meal, we were joined out front by the rest of the group. There
was Fearless and Pitstop, Rooster, Snoopy and Snoopette, Uncle Mushroom,
Lion, Casper and Scarecrow, Santa Fe and guests Don and Penny. Boot and
Bootette (Pump? Hi Heel? Stiletto!?) were suppose to be there but had the
decency to breakdown at the Hughes' house. Last I heard, they were going
home on a flatbed truck with a torn up water pump.
New this year, we were going to tackle the trail from the other side. Instead of
going in through Jawbone Canyon, we went down through Caliente and up to
Piute Mountain road from there. But this was merely a formality because there
was certainly NO SNOW! Funny thing though, after climbing up to about 6500
feet, there was a patch of the white stuff off by the side of the road. Optical
illusion? Must be... But wait, a little higher up, it was getting a little slippery
and the mud was turning a funny shade of white. In fact it wasn't too long
before Snoopy was stuck in the stuff. So even though some may have doubted
the Wagon Master (including himself?), he pulled it off.
So much so that Snoopy was really stuck. First Fearless tried pulling him out and seemed to get
stuck too, attached to the strap. So I think Scarecrow pulled on Fearless, which
didn't work. And then Busstop pulled Scarecrow, or something like that.
Anyway, I was at the end of the line and didn't see it all.
I do know that they were there long enough for a sled to come out and Santa Fe, Pitstop, Iceman,
Mushroom and Snoopette all took turns. Sometimes two at a time. Well the line
started to move and I pulled my Jeep up only to find that Snoopy was still there,
stuck in the snow.
The others had just given up? So Rooster flexed a little
muscle and did what three others couldn't and this time we were ALL on the
trail again.
But now we were getting into some real snow. We were making good progress,
but the Wagonmaster's winch was now out and being used a lot. We made it
over the pass and were going down the other side, but this really meant that if
the leader got stuck, it was harder to back out. So Busstop's winch was really
burning up the cable now. I watched as he sort of tobogganed behind the winch
cable, four wheels spinning. He was plowing up a bow wake about five feet in
front of the Wrangler. The winch would hunker down and pull hard and the
Jeep would leap forward about four feet. This process repeated for about 150
feet at one point.
The GPS geaks claimed that we were getting close to where we had ALWAYS
turned around the last three years. I guess this is just a tough piece of trail in
the snow. So the same thing happened this year that happens every year, it got
late. With the Wagonmaster stuck about 150 feet in front of the next closest
vehicle, and the next few vehicles all stuck or nearly stuck, we turned around. I
had been running tail-end, so up till now the 4-wheeling for me had consisted
of going through snow already plowed by 11 other vehicles. But with everybody
stuck and a few others struggling to get back up a couple hills, it was starting to
get fun. I helped Don and Penny get their Wrangler through a tough spot and
then back-tracked to the front of the group (?) and pulled Uncle Mushroom out
of a pretty good stuck and then pulled him through the spot that had given grief
to Santa Fe and Don and Penny. But we still had to retrieve the Wagonmaster.
Earlier Rooster had noted that most of the "Meat" of the club was running near
the back, so now it was time for the Roughwheelers to bring out
"THE MEAT!"
(lower your voice a couple octaves and say it out load). The Rooster-Mobile was
aimed towards our stuck hero (you don't just drive the Rooster's rig, you point
it,
cock the hammer and unload!!!) I followed along because I was just starting
to have some fun. By now Busstop's winch was history, but Rooster backed
down to within double-strap range, hooked up. and showed us
THE MEAT!.
Busstop popped right out and all I could do was get out of the way as fast as
possible. We joined back up with the group about the time we got back to where
Snoopy had been stuck earlier in the day.
I guess Fearless was just starting to have fun too, because he was circling around the area looking for trouble,
which through persistent effort, he found. In a true case of what goes around
comes around, Snoopy whipped out his strap and pull Fearless free.
With the end of our daylight coming, we double timed it back down the hill and
into town for a hot dinner. I was feeling my girlfriend jerking my leash, so I
said my good-byes and headed for home post-haste. As usual, the
Roughwheelers Snow Run was outstanding, but the trail still owns us and tells
the other trails the Roughwheelers are it's bitch. Maybe next year we'll make it
through that damn pass.