HDR - High Desert Roundup

HDR 2011

HDR was held at Anderson Dry Lake in Johnson Valley this year. This had to be the windiest HDR ever; the wind was blowing constantly from our arrival Thursday evening until the drawing Sunday night.
Rich and Corkey arrived before sundown Thursday evening and picked a spot a bit east of the HDR main camp. Ric and Lisa arrived around 10. The camp got larger with the arrival of Robb and Shirley and then Rick Fisher. John Cary got there Friday night and the camp was filled up by Richard Hunt, with one of the GenRight guys and his dad.
There was a GenRight camp setup in the main area with Keith, Damien and Tony Fiori. They came in on Friday. Richie and Kristen camped with the Big Ugly crew.
On Saturday the majority of the group joined the Victor Valley run up Crowbar. Crowbar has two entrances. The first is up Ballerina Rock and the second would be the by-pass. We all took the by-pass. The bottom of Ballerina Rock was really dug out from rigs going up. It looked like a moat. The most entertaining at the by-pass was John Cary. He balanced himself on a good sized boulder and put a pretty good dent in his oil pan, but did not cause a leak. We had to strap/winch him out, but his winch would only work in the OUT position…..so made it work IN.
Crowbar is a trail that you go from obstacle to obstacle and is not constant like the Hammer trails. There are optional lines for those who like that sort of thing. On the last waterfall Ric had some serious damage. First we heard the rear end go and shortly thereafter the front. We think the rear was the ring and pinion and the front a stub shaft, but guess we will know better when it comes apart. So now Ric only had drive on the right front tire. OTR to the rescue. Keith hooked up and drug Ric the rest of the way. There was one steep section where Tony Fiori hooked up to Keith and the two rigs got him up. The last obstacle on the trail was a steep and loose downhill. We thought it best that we hook up three rigs to Ric to control his descent. It worked very well.
Robb and Shirley joined the Roger Peterson (of MJR) for his tour of the Fry Mountains. Robb said it was the best guided run he had ever been on. Roger had a great pre-run meeting and a post-run also. Roger took them to see some of the mines in the area and they got to see a rattler and desert tortoise.
On Sunday OTR was scheduled to do the Teeter Totter, as we have for about the last ten years. I checked with the organizers and they had not contacted Ray Leuschner to get it out. So, we had a free day on Sunday. In a way I was glad. Sunday was really windy and really cold. Can you believe that?
John, Rick, Cork and I took a run over to Cougar Buttes and messed around on Bullfrog and Cake Walk. We had a great time and found a neat rock cave that protected us from the wind as we had lunch.
Some of the others ran Riffle Canyon on Sunday and from what I read on Facebook, they had a great time.
On Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening we used our enclosed trailer for those who wished to join in for Happy Hour; the wind was just relentless. It was nice visiting and Ric sure enjoys supplying dips and margaritas.
Richard Hunt and his group and Rick Fisher left on Sunday afternoon and the rest of us left on Monday. Even with all the wind, I think a good time was had by all.