It started off as the perfect day, we all met at the doughnut shop located in the south west corner of Springdale and Westminster blvd. After some introductions and decisions on radio channels we started our convoy to the wild outdoors of the Las Padres forest.

Once at the Flying-J truck stop we gassed up and purchased some Subway sandwiches. Andy made a quick stop at the auto parts store and we were off to the Lockwood Creek trail. This time I found the turn off with no problem and we were finally off the pavement on our way to the staging area. I was getting excited, there was dirt under my wheels and I didn’t get lost, nothing could stop me now! Then as I rounded the next bend, BAM a locked gate. Well, talk about being bummed out, and to make things worse the realization of having to tell all the people behind me that I once again screwed up was something I did not want to do.

Well I bit the bullet and we decided to go back to the ranger station to see what could be done.  They were very nice but there was no way the gates would be opened for us since there was still ice and snow up on the trail.  Then a nice ranger suggested we try some other trails, which were not as changeling, but one of which was posted as a black diamond. Well we jumped on his suggestion and within minuets we were off to explore new territory. 

The new trail (Pleito Creek) was about 4 miles from the ranger station and we found the staging area with no problems. We aired down and started the trail. It turned out to be a beautiful trail with some interesting obstacles. There were lots of trees, some good hills with ditches and rocks and a little ice here and there. There were also some logs we had to go over which made it even more fun. The trail is about 4 miles long with one way in and one way out. At the end we stopped and had an early lunch and took some nice group pictures. Everyone got to know each other and we all looked at each other’s rigs and compared notes. On the ay back out we hit a few areas that were changeling but everyone made it out just fine. We took pictures and movies of the best parts. I also had an interesting moment when I parked on an ice slab, stepped out of my jeep and landed on my but, it still hurts. Oh, on! e last thing about this trail was that on the way out I made a wrong turn and we got to explore some more new territory.

When we got back to the trailhead, Andy informed us that his transmission was making some noise and he thought he should head back home. The rest of us headed over to Hungry Valley to try some hill climbs and a few of their black diamond trails. We started out playing follow the leader on some pretty steep hill climbs, round and round, up and down we went. I was actually looking for the Freeman Overlook trailhead but they didn’t know that. Once I found it we took it to the Vics Cat trail which had some awesome switch backs down a very steep hill into Freeman canyon. This lead into West Freeman trail, which is a sandy wash. From there we turned onto Flat Fanny trail and next to East Freeman trail. Finally we moved onto Quail Pass trail, which is a black diamond run.  We had fun with its steep hills and tight turns. Next we moved onto Pronghorn trail w! here we Mike left us to travel on home via Quail Canyon road (Mike had to be home by 6:00pm). The rest of us proceeded on Pronghorn trail to Pipline road and then Hungry Valley road over to the 4wd practice area.

The practice area is a good place to try out different kinds of obstacles. If fact as Effrain found out you can actually get stuck on them. This is how it happened, Effrain and Collin were showing off their articulation on the stone steps, we took some pictures and then Effrain disappeared. We started getting concerned since it was getting dark and we were hungry and wanted to go. I called him on the radio to see if he was ready and he said yes as soon as he got un-stuck. We looked at each other wondering where he could possibly be stuck and went for a ride to find him. Well a quick trip around the mud pit and over to the hill climb we found him bottomed out on some huge rocks the likes of which I have not seen since the Dusy trip. After some snickers, we latched a strap on him and soon we were on our way to air back up.

We ended the trip with a plan to eat at Carls Junior’s but again I messed up and the exit I choose did not have one. Instead we went to Jack in the Box, had a great dinner. Said our good bye’s and all went home tires and happy.

I want to thank everyone who made the trip a fun time and I hope we can do it again real soon.

George