To All, Thanks again to the members of ED4 for another run. It is always a pleasure when I have a chance to meet up with the group for a run. A special thanks to John Ruiz for being the trial boss.
My trip began Friday @ 5:15 when I picked up my Brother-in-law (Brad) in San Jose and joined the rush hour traffic heading out of town. We arrived in Arnold @ 8:45 and luckily the Snowshoe was still open so we could grab a cold beverage and a late dinner. We were staying at a cabin in Blue Lake Springs (just out of Arnold) so we did not join the group at the campsite.
Saturday morning, after strapping down and fueling up we headed the rest of the way up Hwy 4 to Dorrington and Boards Crossing Road. We arrived at the Boards Crossing day use area @ 8:15. After hanging out for a few minutes, we decided to head across the river to the campground to see who was out and about. We ran into Darell, Tom Vella and Mike and Dede. Again, always a pleasure to meet up with the ED4 members. Darell let us know that the trail head was really close so after visiting for a few minutes we went ahead and aired down. As 9:00 arrived we headed back across the river to the day use area where the trail head is for the Pine Needle Flat trail (the sign said - trail to Pine Needle Flat). Joing us for the run were: 1) John Ruiz and kids 2) Brian and wife (McMinn??) 3) Loro Patterson - (and Sierra) 4) Tom Vella 5) John Skier and Joshua (son-in-law to be?)
Shortly after 9:00 we headed out on the trail. It was a fairly mild trail with a couple of decent Rock Gardens and one slightly tricky river crossing. Loro, after going through the rock gardens decided not to complete the trail and rode the rest of the way shotgun with Tom. At the end of the trail (Pine Needle Flat?) there is a large area with decent river access unfortunately it was still a little early for a lunch break, so we just hung out for a few minutes and then headed back. We arrived back at the Day Use area a little before noon and stopped for lunch.
After lunch we hit the forest service and logging roads in search of some early 1900’s era logging cabins. Unfortunately we only found the end of the road a few times and an absolutely unbelieveable amount of dust due to recent logging activities (keeping sight of the member behind you or even in front of you was not an option most of the time.)
We returned to the campground @ 3:00? And a few of us decided to head over to the original Boards Crossing, that was myself and Brad, John Ruiz and kids and Tom. After that it was back to the campground. After a short but nice visit and despite an outpouring of gracious invitations, we headed back to Blue Lake Springs to wash up and have dinner on our own.
Sunday - Unfortunately, I could not find any takers for a Slick Rock run Sunday morning so Brad and I decided to head up on our own (I needed a little bit more 4-low). We left Arnold @7:30, drove into Uttica reservoir, aired down, ran Slick Rock from bottom to top, aired up at the Bear Valley gas station and were back in Arnold by 10:30. Then it was time to head back to San Jose.
Thanks Again ED4!!
Brian Geranen Prospective Member