I don't know if anyone would be interested in making the drive north but here is a long term notification of a trailrun that we have done the last three years. Most people that participated would tell you it was an absolute blast but by far the best time is when it snowed. So here's how it works. The date below is tentative based on snow fall. We start looking at the forecast 10 days out, if by 4 days out no snow is in the forecast it gets postponed to the following weekend, and so on and so on. Patients is a must on this run for maximum enjoyment!
When: 10-11 February 07 (Saturday & Sunday) your choice whether it becomes an overnighter for you. We will, barring anything bad occurring, be off the trail on Saturday. Most folks stay overnight in Wendover.
Meeting Time: 8:00 AM
Meeting Place: Smith's grocery Store @ crossroads of Rt 68 & Rt 73 in Saratoga Springs, Utah.
Trail: Pony Express
Total trip distance from Start at Saratoga Springs to end Wendover Nevada is 207 miles (can take 5 to 11 hours)
Rating: Easy to difficult (depends on the weather)
Recommended equipment: Any tire other than street tires, if it snows...there will be mud.....lots of mud. No tire will really help you, but street tires will definitely cause you a night of sleeping on the trail. Also recommended would be mounted tow hooks (front & rear), CB, Fire Extinguisher. Chains would be highly recommended for Dugway Pass. It can get a bit dicey. Three day supply of cold weather gear, due to the remoteness of the trail. If it runs long, as it tends to do in snow, you will need extra gas. Please ensure that it is secured on the OUTSIDE of your vehicle. Winch is not mandatory but absolutely a huge plus. Two years ago all but two folks required a hook and some more than one simotaniously.
Special Notes: Expect snow (deep) If you are going make reservations don't expect that they will have vacancies on a moments notice.
PS: I'll BTT this post on occasion to keep it fresh in folks mind, but that's it. Be there or be square.
here's your motivation to attend;
Pictured club members Brooke in his Trooper with club member Adem in his Rodeo attempting to yank him out. Doesn't look complicated but it ended up taking two winches to get him out and when it was all said and done, all but two folks winded up getting winched on this section. It took us a few hours to get about a mile right here, which just happened to be the flattest part of the trail (graded road in summer time),
A Enterprise Rental Van full of 11 illegals on street tires at least 3 hours in good weather from anything remotely close to civlization. It took Brookes 12,500 lbs, my 8,000 winch, and a full size old school cherokee chief to anchor Brooke and I down so that we could yank them out. No doubt they would have become the modern day Donner party had we not showed up when we did.
This is your's truely in my old Passport, now my daughters. This is what happens when you help stranded motorists then go to turn around. Yep, you guessed it, out came the winch cable.
This is how quickly the conditions can change out there. The picture was taken the same day in the poligymist colony of Calleo.
Then within less than an hour we were back in really deep stuff in the almost abandoned town of Gold Hill.
So all that being said, this is why it's so important to have patients on the scheduling of this event and the fact that they dates can change as noted in the original message. Now the trail can be run without snow, but it will basically be a graded road 3/4 the way and paved the other portion. I'm OK with that but generally when we make the run in those conditions the more extreme guys are bored out of their minds. I myself have no problem checking out all the Pronghorn's, Mines, and wild Mustang's.
I am going to keep my eyes on this one and try to go.
