Date: Mon, 30 Jan 1995 07:28:29 -0800
From: Granville Pool
Subject: Mendo. Forest Recon, Pt. 1
Fellow Netters,

As you may know, Morgan Hannaford and I have been planning a gathering and
winnowing of Net-Rovers in Mendocino National Forest of Northwestern
California. The outing is planned for the weekend of the 29th of April of
1995.  Why then?  Well, we want to get out there before the dust and heat
and Motorhomes.  And we want to dare the elements.  At that time of year,
the weather may be warm and sunny, mild and rainy, cold and snowy, sometimes
all in the same day.  The roads and trails may be relative superhighways or
reminiscent of the Darien Gap.  All part of the alure.

How did this all start?  Well, Morgan snivelled [Br. sp.] about damaging his
Land-Rover in pursuit of the rather contrived challenges of a commercial
off-road park south of the Bay Area.  I asked, why pay for such when a great
wealth of more natural and inspiring challenges are to be had for the
asking, up my way, with vast stretches of BLM and USFS lands easily and
freely accessable.

Well, Morgan was intrigued.  You mean there's a better way to bend a fender
or to snap the odd axle?  Indeed.  Well, the discussion was net-public and
piqued the interest of more than a few.  So begins the planning of Mendocino
Forest Rallye II.  II?  Yes.  For those who are avid readers of the
_Alumin[i]um_Workhorse_, the term "Snivelers" [U.S. sp.] is most associated
with the writings of Gordon (Captain Camo) Kallio and John (Bugman) Kirn and
tales of conquering the deserts of Utah, Nevada, Alta California, and Baja
California.

But it goes back before all that.  Cap'n Camo (in those days, just plain
Gordon) and I put together a little four-day, three-night run in the
Mendocino National Forest on Memorial Day weekend.  I no longer remember
what year but somewhere around 1985 or so.  We had a great time with some
real aficionados, including John Kirn, Domingos Dias, Lynn Helm, Dick
Hamilton, and Don Brittingham (who went as a passenger and, smitten, later
bought a Land-Rover).  And of course, Gordy and Granny.  The original
Snivelers.  We experienced the full spectrum of what weather at the end of
May can be, including several inches of snow.  I was delighted, less so some
of the desert rats of the group.

And lots of driving, too much driving.  What was lacking was off-roading.
We did next to none.

So Morgan and I have been discussing how to put together a run which would
be less ambitious in terms of seeing the whole Forest (its unbelievably
huge) and yet more accessible to more participants.  So we started to study
the potential of the southern reaches, readily accessible from State Route
20 in several places.  As we studied our maps and discussed the
possbilities, Morgan suggested maybe the two of us should go soon (this was
back in November, I think) to scout some of the routes, camp sites, and
off-roading areas.  Before we could both find time to get out there the
incessant deluges set in.  We have been planning the "scouting outing" for
"next" weekend, ever since the first of the year.

And as we planned, somehow a number of other netters got wind of our plans
and wanted to come along.  And what started as a simple little reconnaisance
for the April trip took on a life of its own, becoming a quasi-event, so to
speak.  Tired of putting it off, and with the promise (as of last Monday) of
clear, dry weather on Friday and Saturday (27 & 28 January), we said, "It's
time."  So began a surprising amount of effort to coordinate the logistics
of getting a number of participants to Upper Lake at the same time to head
off into the great unknown.

Thursday night I discussed our plans with Mike Woll, a local jeeper who
knows all the trails backward and forward.  And our plans immediately
changed.  Route M10 that we had planned to take would be impassible, due to
high water in Bear Creek.  But Mike had other suggestions for good routes.
Friday, I drove to the ranger station at Upper Lake to get a new map and the
latest poop on any road closures.

Some who were going fell away, alas, before it began.  Don Brittingham
simply changed his mind.  Gerry and Lilly Mugele headed out but had to turn
back before they got far from home, due to a recalcitrant alternator
(Genuine Joe, of course).  Walt Swain turned up, with John Hess in tow, but
surprisingly in Walt's Toy pickemup, not in their illustrious 109s.  I
should talk; with five Land-Rovers to my name, I didn't have one that was up
to the trip and had to resort to my DOdGe.  But, bless 'em, Morgan, Vance
Chin, Jory Bell, and Jim Russell made us proud with four outstanding
examples of Solihull's finest.  And they all made it home, as far as I know,
despite veiled threats to the contrary from a couple of them (the Rovers,
that is).

Despite our promises to meet at Upper Lake by about 9:30 A.M., it was about
11:00 before we actually turned off the pavement and started to embellish
our flanks with tasteful increments of mud spatters and brush stripes.  We
had all assembled at the OHV trailhead camp at Middle Creek.  We saw that it
did not suit our image of a camp for Net-Rovers.  So we moved on.
Eventually, we headed off the tarmac on Lower Deer Valley Road.  Our first
order of business was to check out the Deer Valley Campground.  It is a very
nice spot which should quite comfortably accommodate all who may come along
in April.

And so began our scouting outing.  Stay tooned for all the juicy details.

Granville