Cougar Buttes End O Year Blast

Rich said it very well. A great week.

I did not take notes, so there may be a few errors in the report.

12/26 - I, John L. Dwayne and Jed arrived early afternoon and secured the camping area.

12/27 – Rich arrived early morning and we planned on driving Crowbar. It was short lived as Jed toasted his rear drive shaft on the first waterfall. We turned around and after arriving at camp Jed headed to High Desert Driveline for an overnight repair. Early afternoon the Sullivan’s, Ric and Lisa, DuWayne and Tina, Joe and Orit arrived. A great evening around the fire with no wind and nice temps.

12/28 – We ran Keith’s trail in the morning. The trail was a definite challenge for some as there was a lot of spotting and radio calls stating you are hung up on the pumpkin. The rains last year moved a lot of rocks. Ric managed to pull out one of the Ram hoses on the big waterfall. We were able to cap the outlets on the steering box and plug the inlet holes on the ram allowing Ric to finish the trail. We had lunch at the top. Usually the wind is blowing on the ridges, but for this week is was low. Nice view from the top. In the afternoon we ran Hammerdown. Rich and I managed to get hung up on the entrance side trail and had to be winched. Another great evening around the fire.
In the afternoon, Bob and Kathy Besch, Mike W, and Laura arrived. Also, Jed’s friends from SLO, Brandon and G arrived. If my dates are correct Mike S and Terry arrived. However they had a slight problem coming in and lost the passenger mirror along with the front passenger window of the motor home. The window was duct taped in place. Everyone was safe, but it made for an interesting trip on their part. Not sure that qualifies for the break award, but it did occur on a dirt road.

12/29 – Rich, I, DuWayne and Jed ran Riffel with no problems. The rest of the group ran Crowbar. Chad, Joanna and Nash arrived that evening. Another great evening around the fire.

12/30 - Rich’s son, Erick arrived with Reid and Scharlette. Rich and I drove Prybar while the rest ran Mottino. Chad and Nash rode their motorcycles to meet up with the Mottino wash group. Another great evening around the fire. Jed and his friends left that afternoon.

12/31 – We spend the morning and early afternoon playing Follow The Leader around Crowbar, Cakewalk and Splitfinger. The hors d’ oeuvres were excellent with plenty to go around. The Sullivans, Labettes and Dwayne left for finer places everywhere. The fireworks were plenty that evening. Thanks to Corkey we had several candle lights floating in the sky.

1/1 – Our usual phenomenal New Years breakfast started at nine. This year was no exception with an abundance of great food and company.

After breakfast we started cleaning up, packing and heading for home.

Another great Cougar Buttes Extravaganza.

May you all have a great 2018.

See you on the trail.