Short Cuts
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By: Rick Esterly - 2/2001

Tall Pines and White Snow...That's Winter Fun Fest!

Staging Area for the Blizzard Brigade Trail

We arrived at the Nevada County Fairgrounds in Grass Valley Saturday morning at 7:00. After we found a parking spot, we wondered around looking at the different vehicles that would join us for the days runs into the Sierra. One could find stock rigs to full blown rock crawlers. We had a fun time looking at all the modifications done to the rigs.

We warmed up with some coffee and registered for our run. After picking up a trail lunch and trail rules/directions we met with fellow 4x4wire Staff members. Then we headed out to meet up with others on our trail run. We left the Fairgrounds with several other rigs and headed up Highway 20 out of Nevada City to our staging area. The increase in elevation brought us into tall dense pines and snow.  Mother Nature had been good to us. Just a week earlier there was little snow to be found. We took the road off Highway 20 to the small town of Washington and found our staging area. 32 vehicles were to join us for the day. Everyone had to go through a vehicle safety inspection (required in all CA4WDC sponsored events). After the drivers meeting, we were on our way.   

Stopping for pictures and snowball fights

The trailhead for the Blizzard Brigade trail was located just after Washington on Glaston Rd. (18N21). We all aired down our tires here anticipating the snow to come. Visiting and hissing sounds filled the air. Mel and Helen were our trail leaders for the day. They drove slow enough for all of us to stay together, yet fast enough so that we didn't look like a holiday parade. We headed up the twisty road through the mud and snow into the higher elevations. Several stops were made on our way to the lunch spot for people to take pictures and throw snowballs. We were sharing the road with snowmobiles, so we had to keep a look out for them at all times. The trail at this point was getting very snowy and we finally had to use 4 wheel drive. Now things were getting fun! We were continuing up Glaston Rd. to the intersection of Meadow Lake Rd. (19N14) and the designated lunch spot. To the right would take you to up Bowman Lake, a left turn down to Graniteville.

When we got to the intersection, it was time for people to play in the deep snow if they wished. We were given one hour to report back to the intersection. Vehicles took off in four different directions looking for the deep stuff to play in. The group we were in found an unbroken trail in less than 10 minutes. Before we left, Helen warned us not to get stuck like the guys the evening before. Maybe we should have listened. We proceeded to find snow we couldn't get through. So we decided to back up and let another rig try. Nope, we're stuck! Ok, no biggie, there are rigs behind us to yank us out with a strap. To make a long, but fun story shorter, four rigs got stuck trying to free us. This was a downhill and side hill we were stuck on. The packed snow and angles kept us all sliding around. Three Toyotas later and the Jeep was free, just in time to meet up with rest of the group for lunch. Talk about fun, thanks guys! 

Eliot stuck in his Jeep	Out comes the strap	The rigs

While having lunch back at the intersection, we heard of a orange CJ stuck up on another trail. Some of the guys took off to rescue the guy (good thing for CB's). We all talked about the rigs that had gotten stuck and enjoyed lunch waiting for the entire group to reassemble. After we all were accounted for we headed down the road to Graniteville. Chris in her 1999 TJ (doing 180's), and Kevin (with fuel problems on his '69 Bronco) slowed things down a bit so some played, while we waited. The wide road and all that snow was fun. Throughout the day, I kept hearing people talking about what a beautiful time of year this is up in the Sierra.

Eliot and Scott Playing when things got slow

The rest of the trail back to Graniteville was nice and smooth allowing us to make up some time safely in the snow. We ran across a stuck Ranger in the road trying to head up to Graniteville, he had another truck with him so we moved on. He had it all covered he said, just waiting for 'traffic' to clear. As we got closer to Graniteville, we had to slow down because of less snow and our low tire pressure (4 lbs). We caught up with the rest of the rigs that were ahead of us. You could hear the sounds of compressors filling the air as we all returned to street pressure. Kevin in his Bronco finally was spotted on the horizon, at the end of a tow strap. He got back at least, with the nice help of others. Teamwork on the trail is always fantastic.         

We left Graniteville on North Bloomfield Road and headed down the hill. We passed scenic Malakoff Diggings State Historic Park on our way down. The small towns of North Bloomfield and Lake City were alive with activity as we passed. The windy road brought us back to Nevada City where we jumped back on Hwy 20 to  Grass Valley and the fairgrounds.  

Airing up in Graniteville	Trail on the way out	Sunset on the way home

The Winter Fun Fest as always was a success. If you want to join in the fun next year, be sure to register early. All of the trail runs filled up early this year. There are many trails from exciting to extreme, something for everyone. Hope to see you up there next year!