Dawn broke as we headed east on the 10 Freeway to our meeting location (Denny's on the 215.) We arrived around 7:00 and found that Walt had preceded us. We said our hello’s and went in and had breakfast while more members of the club arrived. At about 8:00 am, after eating breakfast, we all headed out to the trail head up off hwy. 38. When we arrived at the trail head, David Elliott (a.k.a. Tin man) was already aired down and waiting for us. All told, we had 10 vehicles; a nice turnout indeed! On the way to the start of the Riverside 4 Wheeler's adopt-a-trail, we came upon a trail that went directly up a mountain and then ended - one way up and one way down. This trail was mostly loose rock and shale!! I asked if anyone wanted to try it. I got two takers. David and Quinn both had just gotten new tires and were eager for a good place to try them out. Both were happy with the results. I rode with Quinn on the way up and his Jeep with the new Mickey Thompson "Claws" walked right up that loose hill.

After we got done with the hill, we continued on but shortly thereafter, one of Walt’s passengers was not feeling well. As it turns out, this gentleman had had 7 heart attacks in the past and thought that he may be feeling the symptoms of another one!! Walt decided that he should turn around and head back to civilization just to be safe.

At about 11:00 am, we reached the start of the adopt-a-trail. We started up the trail and shortly thereafter I took the group to a historical site and a camping area that is near the trail. After this short break, we continued on. After passing an abandoned Oldsmobile convertible, we came to small sluice. Some of the areas have chicken routes, but to my surprise, everyone followed me through the toughest sections!! A group was coming down the narrow trail and pulled all their vehicles around one of the "chicken routes" (that meant that we had to run the challenging route with an audience). Talk about putting everyone on the spot!! Everyone made it up - the shorter vehicles (CJ5, YJ and TJ) had a tougher time. Quinn, I think you tried every line on that one. Quinn finally took the direct approach and just about stood that CJ5 on the rear bumper!, but he made it of course!! The audience loved it. On the way back down, a group was coming up and they parked on the chicken route, so we had to go down this part with an audience as well. At the top of the trail there is an abandoned mine, so we took a few minutes to explore and throw rocks into the shaft.

We finished the trail about 4:30 and then headed out to hwy. 38 to air up our tires. Everyone seemed to like this trail - I think it was challenging enough for just about everyone. Mike, you didn’t get into too much trouble when your wife found out about that little dent, did you??