Latest ReportBarrett Lake
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Trip Report: Twain Harte Snow RunFeb 15-18, 2013
We headed out from the gas station in Twain Harte shortly after 10;00 am on Saturday around 15 rigs toward Tuolumne Rd. About half way up the hill we ran into our first patch of snow on the shady side of the mountain and everyone stopped for a chance to play in the snow. Proceeding on just around the corner lay asphalt, pretty much all the way to Cherry lake it was like that pavement then patches of snow, A few more miles up the road the Big Red Chevy suffered a broken outer stub shaft, yes spinning 47s at a high rate of speed in the snow then hitting asphalt does that. Some duct tape to keep the mud out and we were on our way, The next obstacle was a 2-wheel drive PU (with chains ) towing a boat, (yes there are witnesses) he stopped and said there was another PU truck stuck in the snow and he could not get around them to get to Cherry Lake so he was going to drive all the way around and enter from HWY 120. A couple more corners and there was the truck in the middle of the snow covered road with 4 tired men with smiles. It looked like they had been there for hours digging , and placing tree limbs under the their tires for traction. That’s when the winching started, I was first with Ron helping me out and Marc helping him then the PU, The two new 4 door JKs Mike, Brandy and their friends took turns pulling each other out, they had a great time keeping score don’t know who won. We finally arrived at the top a playground we have stopped at before the snow was about 3-4 feet deep and the winching started again with Ron’s winch getting a work-out, It was getting late so we decided to drive to Cherry lake , stopping at the intersection of Cottonwood rd. and Cherry lake road we decided to head to HWY 120 via Cherry lake rd. only 24 miles. A very long 24 miles we arrived at Hwy 120 and a sign that said 46 miles to Sonora! Yea I don’t think we will do that again. Despite the long ride home it was a very fun day with no major issues. Sunday was a short day with a short turn-out just 4 rigs Jeff and Camille, Dustin and Jen, and a new couple in a Grand Cherokee , After attempting to find roads with snow we decided to drive down to Beardsley Lake. The lake level was very low allowing us to drive along the shoreline and exposed rocks until the local Ranger very politely asked us to leave. We drove over the dam and checked out the camp grounds, maybe a 4 on a scale of 1-10. On our way back over the spillway we were treated to a Bald eagle flying low working the up draft from the dam quite the sight. After that we decided to call it a day and drive back.
By Brad Dixon: |
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