Date: Wed, 1 Feb 1995 22:10:58 -0800 From: Granville Pool Subject: Mendo Forest Recon Pt4 Headin' home: I seem to recall Morgan's saying, "Just a straight shot out of here." Or something to that effect. And, indeed, it did seem that nothing could be simpler. In the daylight. Oh, yeah, it was getting pretty dark by now. The weather channel had said sunset at 5:30 but that's in clear weather and not in the mountains. And we had forgotten just how many of those unmapped and unmarked trails there were. Several times, when we came to an intersection, we would have to stop to study it. Morgan, fortunately, had a very powerful plug-in spotlamp to shine up the roads. Even so, they tend to look pretty different in the dark. Thankfully, Holly had an unerring recall of where we were. It took longer than we bargained for to get out but we didn't actually make any wrong turns. Like Morgan said, just a straight shot. Until. Until we came to a rather long hill that we had gone down earlier without a glitch. Morgan, in the lead, got up just fine. Jim was next and got maybe half way before his Rover slid off to the left and would go no more. The rest of us waited with trepidation at the bottom of the hill while he struggled to gain a foothold. No hope. We all got out and ran (well, no, actually you could ba-a-arely walk on this slippery stuff) up and started pushing. How many pushers can get behind a Land-Rover before you have to push on someone else? About five. We pushed, our feet slid, our shoes being sucked off our feet at each step, while Jim finessed the throttle. "Hey, someone yell at him to turn his wheel to the left, he's plowing with his front tyres!" This for about fifty feet until the slope flattened somewhat and he could gain some headway. Who's next? Each of us tried to get up without help and each got to about the same place (now pretty chewed up) where Jim had slid off. More pushing. Last up was Vance and he got about the least far (road getting more chewed up and snotty with each attempt) and slid off to the RIGHT, into a shallow ditch and almost hard against a high, vertical bank. Now, how in the hell do we get out of this one without a winch? Certainly not by having someone who'd already made it up roll back down and give a tow. Leave him? Naahhh, couldn't do that to a swell fellow like Vance. In the early days of automobiles, it was common for teams of horses to pull them out of the mud. Whinny. Just wrap that snatch strap around the front bumper and each of the end loops can serve as a handle for one or two pullers (ersatz equestrians). And the rest in back as pushers, with one or two pushing with the feet against the bank. This actually worked but was scary, I'll tell you. Morgan and I were pulling on one strap end and Walt on the other (as I recall). I say scary because we were in front, rather close, and no telling when he might break free and suddently lurch forward. Come to think of it, under the circumstances, this was probably wishful thinking. But Walt nearly had his feet right under the front tyre and not much room to jump out of the way. Jump? Not unless you wanted to leave your shoes behind (I very nearly did, once). Eventually, though, we all reassembled at the top of the hill and pressed forward. We were definitely still in the woods but out of the worst of the mud. It continued to be pretty slippery but we didn't have any more hills that long and steep to conquer. The worst now seemed to be the downslopes, at least from where I sat, behind Morgan, watching his rear do a little hula down each slope. Perhaps another hour or so got us finally back to the pavement. We come out at the top of a long stretch of tight switchbacks and very dense fog. Other than the stuck-in-the-mud episode, this was the worst of our return trip. I foolishly took the lead because I was the only one with no hubs to unlock (not that I would have even if I'd been in my Land-Rover; I hardly ever unlock mine). I say foolish because my lights could not see around the switchbacks. There was in fact a double-yellow line but it was very worn and didn't help much. Very hard to see the road. Well, enough of that! We rolled back into Upper Lake about 8:30 P.M. I pulled into a parking space in front of the local watering hole. Every yahoo, no doubt including the "hunters" and all their cousins and step-brothers, all yelling about who's ass they wanted to kick, or some such. We assembled down the street away from the bar and agreed on dinner at the pizza place around the corner, on the highway. Good way to finish off the day! A few brews and some munchies later, we went our separate ways, tired and bedraggled but fulfilled and grinning from ear to ear. Must have been good because everyone who came seemed to be eager for Scouting Outing II. I know I am. Because it proved to be not very productive to try to do this in a one-day outing, with most of the participants' having to drive so far before they ever get to lock hubs, we are thinking that Scoutout II will be an overnighter. Probably try to find the quickest route to Letts Lake (obviously not the way we were trying to go!) and camp there. Lots and lots of trails around there that MUST be checked out before April ... Are you ready? Granville Pool, Redwood Valley, CA "Road-I-Land-Rovers"