Sierra Trek, Winch Hill 5
August 7-10, 2008
Written By Keane
The Gold Hill’s Posse volunteered
to help the
California Association of 4WD Clubs 2008 Sierra Trek by staffing Winch
Hill 5 and making sure all the participants finished the trail safely.
Larry, Sonia, and Cole headed in Wednesday night to grab the club a
camp site at Meadow Lake. Fred, Teddi, Kelly, and Keane met in Truckee
on Thursday morning and Brad, Kathleen and Lee caught up on the way
into the lake. Peggy and Vernon joined us a short time later. The group
was on the hill and ready for the action at around 1:00.
Jim joined in somewhere along the way. On the CB we could hear the
group approaching, but no one arrived until around 5:00. Fortunately,
once the action started we got quite a few vehicles through in no time
and we were pretty well wrapped up by 7:30.
The group headed back to camp for dinner, a few frosty beverages and an
all around good time. John joined us while we were relaxing. Highlights
of the night include discussion about the ring toss, Uncle Willy,
John’s emergency tent (pray you don’t get caught in
the rain) and our
expectations for the next day’s run. Between the rock
stacking and
laughing until our stomachs hurt, the group was ready for bed.
Friday morning we were on the hill and setup around 8:30.
Our first vehicle showed up around quarter to 10. By then we had a
system worked out. Larry, Vernon, and Brad manned the lower section.
John, Jim, Fred, and Keane worked the top and Teddi handed out licorice
at the end. Cole headed down toward the old mining equipment and helped
people through a tough spot. Kelly, Kathleen, Peggy, and Sonia made
sure that everything ran like clockwork. Bill outsmarted us all by
joining the Trek at the committee trail and taking the fun way to Winch
Hill 5 where he pitched in and gave us a hand.
Around the middle of the day we started hearing about breakage. There
was a red Rubicon TJ with a broken rear end and a tie rod problem, and
a bronco with two broken drivelines. Larry, Brad, and Cole walked down
to about Winch Hill 3 to see if they could help the Rubicon.
Fortunately, Fred had the parts they needed and Keane ran them down. On
the way he came across a Suzuki (who just happened to pick a terrible
weekend to run the trail) with a broken Toyota front end. Once the
parts were delivered, Keane and Brad walked back up to help the Suzuki.
In the end they were unsuccessful and the Suzuki spent the night on the
trail. We didn’t get off the trail until around 7:30.
We headed back to camp and everyone decided that a potluck BBQ was a
must for next year.
Saturday was smooth sailing. This group was much faster and we had
traffic around 9:00. We were done before 1:00. I think we were all
pretty glad to be done and I think this picture sums up how we were all
feeling.
Thanks to everyone that helped! This was truly a great event and made
me proud to be a part of the Posse.
2008 Sierra Trek Winch Hill 5 Group Picture (minus Lee)
Fred and Teddi's pictures are here: http://posse4x4.org/gallery/2008-08-10-Sierra-Trek%2C-WH5-Teddis-Pictures
Keane and Kelly's pictures are here: http://posse4x4.org/gallery/2008-08-10-Sierra-Trek-Keanes-Pics