Stoddard Valley

Stoddard Valley Club Run 2012
February 17-20, 2012
Report prepared by Mike Whittington

Attendees:
Mike, Laura and son Chris W.
Bill C.
Mike B.
Broughton and daughter Samantha O.
Ric F. and Lisa
Steve and Judy S.
Rich and Corky W.
John and Wendy C.
Randy M.
Jed C.
Russ M.
Bob and Corey B. and Bob's Nephew

Maybe a better name for this event would be "Hey, isn't that our camp over there?".
Most of the group arrived on Friday morning with plans of departing at 1:00 for Empire Strikes Back. The departure time went off without a hitch, the rest of the day was a bit different. Mike had his trusty GPS with the coordinates entered for what he thought would be the trail head. Wrong! Then Ric thought he had the correct coordinates from a previous Hi Desert Round-Up. Wrong again! Oh well, we still had a lot of fun cow trailing all over Stoddard Valley finding out that one mountain looks just like the last one we went by. To be honest, this was the clubs first (but definitely not the last) OTR Club run to Stoddard Valley. As the so called Trail Leader, I thought I had it all figured out. Wrong again, again! We never did find Empire Strikes Back on Friday but we did see our camp a few times...from the South, East and North. Rich and Corky arrived sometime during the afternoon while the rest of us were who knows where. When we got back to camp, a few of us accompanied Rich out to a high point so he (and the rest of us), could get his/our (pick one) bearings. Yep, ESB should be right over there. Friday night was beautiful with clear skies and a warm campfire.

Jed and Russ arrived for the day on Saturday and shortly thereafter we headed out again. First stop...Empire Strikes Back. We went the long way with Daniel Boone (Mike) in the lead around Stoddard Mountain and finally found ESB! It doesn't matter how many times I run ESB, I enjoy it. It looked like nobody had been on it for a while and it had rained/ snowed a few days before we hit the trail. All made it without incident to the top. At that point, we all looked back to the North and said "Hey, isn't that our camp over there?". Yep, sure was. After looking at Ric's Knob and the wash out just past it we made the decision to turn around and head back down the canyon.
After lunch at Slash X Cafe, we headed over to Achy Breaky. I found the trail head with no problem but from then on my coordinates might as well have been on the moon even though I had loaded them off my Southern California Trail Guide. Enough is enough, I had never been on Achy Breaky and I am leading??? Thankfully, Rich agreed to take the lead from then on. Rather than continue around the mountain on Achy Breaky, when we came upon Pumpkin Eater, we decided that would be more fun. Some of the group made the trip up the canyon and the rest watched. Always fun and challenging.
Then it was back to camp where we met up in Rich's Man Cave (his enclosed trailer) for way too many munchies, and Ric's famous Margaritas. Thanks Ric!!! So much for dinner. The BS piled up as we all verbally abused each other (most of it directed towards Daniel Boone).
Sunday morning after Bob, Corey and Bob's Nephew arrived, we all headed out again with no particular agenda. Rich led (thanks again Rich!) as we headed for the back side of Stoddard Mountain for a trip up Pucker Canyon (what an intense rush the final climb up was) and then on to Richie's Crack (named by Rich for... well, ask Rich), where we got to play on the rocks as Corey B, took a bunch of video (thanks Corey...well done). After Richie's Crack, while cow trailing, Rich spotted the makings of a new trail of which we all did. When we got to the top I looked out at the surrounding landscape and said "Hey, isn't that our camp over there?" Sure enough there it was...again. Samantha, Broughton's Daughter was given the honor of naming our new trail which will now be called On The Rocks.
Most of the folks headed home on Sunday evening. The remainder, Rich, Corky, John, Wendy, Mike and Laura headed for the house on Monday morning.
We had no incidents over the weekend with the exception of a couple flat tires and a slightly faulty battery lead on Steve's YJ... no big deal.
I'm not sure if it will help but I did create at least one way point for every trail we did over the three days. Next year this should (I said should) make it much easier to find where we want to go. It really didn't matter though, we all had a great time whether we knew where we were going or not. We had a great group as always. Thanks to everybody for making it a trip to remember.
Mike