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Latest Report

Barrett Lake
Sept 11-15

Trip Reports: Swamp Lake 2010

Oct 8-10, 2010
Trip Report by Mick


Who Went (in no particular order):
Mick, Bill and Nancy, Wade, Pat, Doug and Andrew

Friday:
Wade met Robin in Scotts Valley Friday 7:30 am for the First Aid and welder. Wade met me at my place in Capitola about 8 we left shortly after. Met Pat, Bill, and Nancy at Case De Fruta and left about 9am. Got some gas at a Pilot on 99 went up the hill and got some more gas at the top of the hill at Shaver Lake town. We went to the camp spot to find that it had been taken so we went on and found a nicer spot about a mile away and made camp there. There was a big turnout so a couple of RV's could be camped there, we were all tent camping so we made camp a little closer to the creek that was near by. We left a plate at the turn out and about a mile down the road at the agreed upon camp spot and headed to Bald Mtn.

Bill and Nancy had a book that described the trail and gave some real good descriptions of what to expect, it was not the easy forest road that i thought it was it turned out to be quite rocky and you needed a bit more than the family station wagon to make it to the look out. It was a great spot to see a long ways. There was another way back but without the book it would have been hard to find, Thanks to Bill and Nancy for leading us back to camp.

Saturday:
Saturday am we got up soon after it started to get light, some of us slept well and some of us had a long cold night. We left for the trail about 8:45 we were hoping to see Doug's RV in the turnout but it was not there. We went to the trail head and waited around in a sunny spot. I went down to McKinley Grove rd. to see any sign of Doug, after going back to the group at the trail head we decided to go in at 9:30. With me in the lead Wade, next then Pat, then Bill & Nancy we head up the trail.

We were going up and up there were spots of snow here and there when we made it to the top there was more snow. On our way down the shady side, their was allot more snow that made the way down a bit more fun. We got out of the snow, on to the granite, out of the trees we lost the trail. While we were trying to figure out where the trail had gone, we heard a call from Doug on the CB. Doug and Andrew showed up about 30 min later. We moved on again and stopped at the bottom of Roster Rock to talk about our plan of attack. I went up first to make it look easy, the Goodyear MTR did not slip a bit. Wade came up next to make it look real easy no problem at all. Pat came up next making it look like a piece of cake for the last two. Nancy drove up and Bill took some pictures to document the feat. On our way higher we came to a spot where the first 2 rigs made it through no problem but made it hard for the rest, we had to pull Pat back a couple of times so he could make it through. There was another spot that was hard for the last few rigs nothing a good spotter could get you through. Doug made it look real easy when he took an easy line, he wet back to do the harder line and got high centered on his transmission and had to get a tug from his winch.

We climbed on to the top of the next ridge and had more snow on our way down to Swamp lake, Bill checked out the mine on our way down to the Lake. on our way again and came to a tough spot that slowed down the rigs but no winch was needed. we made it to the gate by about 6pm and everyone air up there tires(which was a bit early made for a bumpy ride back to camp, about 9 miles). Doug's Jeep stopped running within eye sight of his RV, it had to be pushed back to his trailer. By the time I made back he was putting his extra gas into his rig. He tried to start it after he put the gas in, Andrew and I watched gas shot onto the ground when Doug turned it over, the gas regulator had come apart!

Doug had it back together in a couple of minutes. A few minutes later Wade was packed and ready to head home, we said our good byes. There was some interest in a night run but the interest faded out after dinner, every one was tired.

Sunday:
Pat was the first one to leave in the Morning, Bill and Nancy were next. Doug and myself went off to do the beginning of the Dusy Trail and Chicken Rock. Doug and I had done the Dusy trail before and knew about this rock. It was a nice way to end a great weekend high above Courtright looking at all the Granite rocks and the hills and was it smog or fog coming up from the Valley. with my fuel lite on we headed back to the RV. I made it to Shaver Lake to get gas but not that much 10 bucks did not turn out the light, at the bottom of the hill where the price was more reasonable I filled my tank up for the ride home. I made it home around 7pm.

Mick

 



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