OTR Cougar Buttes New Years Run

3rd Annual New Year's Club Run at Cougar Buttes
December 27 - January 1, 2013
Attendees:
Jerome Blunck
Mike Sullivan
Bob Boltner
DuWayne and Tina Larson
John and Amy Corneau and extended family
John and Wendy Cary
Rich and Corkey Wohlers
Norm and Pat Taylor
Mike and Laura Whittington

This was the 3rd annual New Year's Club Run at Cougar Buttes and the weather couldn't have been nicer. Days were in the 60's and nights in the high 30's and low 40's and no wind to speak of. Every day was spent doing different trails and at night we sat around the campfire enjoyed each other's company, drinking our favorite beverages and munching on whatever folks brought out to share.
John Cary and Rich arrived on Friday and did a quick trip down Hammer Down Trail. Whittington's arrived on Friday night and the three of us spent Saturday on Crowbar.
By 9:00 on Sunday morning the rest of the group had arrived and we all made the trip up Rattlesnake Canyon and Matino Wash Trail.
On Monday we split up with some of the group spending the day exploring Cake Walk and Bullfrog Trails and the hardcore guys headed for Riffel Canyon. This was our third attempt in as many years to complete this very challenging trail. With one "minor" mishap, we finally made it! The "minor" mishap occurred when Mike W. got hung up on an unassuming squeeze and promptly destroyed a rear axle ring and pinion. There was not enough time left in the day to tow the broken Jeep out of the canyon; we decided to return the next day (New Years Eve) to perform the extraction.
On Tuesday, New Year's Eve, we headed out early to get Mike's Jeep back to camp. This required going up Crowbar trail and back tracking down Riffel to where the Jeep was left overnight. With excellent teamwork by all involved and a broken drivers side hub (thankfully Mike had a spare) we got out of Riffel and down Crowbar and back to camp in plenty of time for our New Year's Eve hors de voires mega feed. Kind of a pot luck, everything you can imagine type of thing. I think we all got enough to eat.
I don't think anyone actually stayed up until midnight but we could hear lots of fireworks going off until well into the night.
Wednesday, New Years Day saw the group get together as we have done every year for a big pot luck brunch. Fantastic!
After brunch, some of us prepared for departure while a few others headed off to do Keith's Trail.
I think this was the best Cougar Buttes New Year's Club Run we have done so far. We had a great group this year and hope to see more next.
Thanks to all who attended for making this a great event.