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Pine Mountain 2002

The SLO Four Wheelers trail run to Pine Mountain, February 10, 2002. It was a beautiful Sunday. Warm and clear. Twelve rigs met in Santa Margarita for the easy drive to the Pine Mountain ridge trail.

Mark Booker, Joe and Joanna, and I had a little excitement at the Stair Steps after everyone else had left.

Mark was coming down the Steps, just before the really hard part, and tipped the Jeep on its side. He got too far to the right, the right tire climbed a ledge, and the left front slipped into a rut. Sloooooly, he tipped onto the driver's side. The Jeep had stalled, and Mark couldn't get it started again in time. Joe almost saved it, but he was too far away. By the time he got his hands on the Jeep it was too far over. You can see the damage to the front and the windscreen in the picture (link below).

The only winch was on Mark's rig, but we couldn't get to his recovery gear. I hauled my chain, straps, etc. back up the hill and hooked onto a big rock (very fortunate placement of that rock, let me tell you). Without much water, his battery was smoking like crazy. We would wait for it to cool, then winch some more. After a few tries, and some help from a couple of non-club Scout drivers, we got the CJ back on its feet. It started fine after some cranking.

There's more to the story, but that's a start.

Oh yea, Mark got his fingers caught in the winch cable. (Sorry, dude, they're going to find out anyway.) It still makes me shiver to think about that, but he's fine. Thank you God for your mercy.

The trip was fun... a great turnout. Thanks also to those who shared their food with me and little Berkeley. I left our lunch at home... I'm a disaster without Jacquie!

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