Very nice and easy run. Lots of wildlife and scenic vistas.

These aren't in order so bare with me.

A couple of pictures in tribute to Ansel Adams of a lone naked (bare) pine looking north from Thomas Mountain.





The woods were full of birds of all sorts.



And cows too.



Come sunset we worked our ways to an overlook for a better view of the colorful sunset. These three happy campers are taunting cows. Thankfully the wind was blowing up hill.

Mark turned out to be quite a colorful addition ot the group.

First he ran out of gas short of the top of Santa Rosa hill. There was plenty of talk of leaving him behind and rescuing his girlfriend and the beef steaks he brought.



While filling up with gas he bonded with nature. Actually nature bonded with him - a handful of nice army ants managed to extract revenge upon him.

Later around the "campfire" (a lantern) a MASSIVE BLOOD THIRST RARE VAMPIRE JUNE BUG flew out of the darkness and nearly had Mark. A quick application of DDT, DEET, Raid, and Off! fended off the attack.

Sunset and sunrise was beautiful. We were up above 6800 feet at the last campsite on the dirt trail over looking both Lake Hemet and Anza below. The weather was a bit humid which makes for good "smokey mountain" pictures and lots of color at sunset.

Come sunrise the wild life was pretty active.

The mountain quail were singing to each other. Randy managed to take a covy of the quail bare handed.



Woodpeckers were busy working on the bark beetles which were busy killing the forest. The trail was dotted with hundreds of logs cut from +100 year old trees now dead from the beetles.



My 15-year old, half blind, nearly deaf dog found the energy of a 1-year old puppy again at that altitude. I have no idea where my dog's back legs are ... not Photoshopped!





Squirels are faster than dogs.

Overall a very nice outing. Thomas Mountain and Santa Rosa mountain are nice little gems sitting about a hour and change from my house. I never knew about them until this weekend.



Thanks to Jason for leading the Xpedition and to Mitch for the Forest Adventure Pass.

Well a few more. Up on Santa Rosa Mountain we climbed up a rope to investigate a dry spring. On the way down I did my best impression of repelling down correctly.



Mitch gave us the most painful super weggie I've seen in a long long time. Smiling through the pain.



A few pictures of the trucks.

Here gassing up in Anza.



And waiting at the trail head.



And this is a puzzle. On the way up to Thomas Mountain we noticed a line of golf tees. Tens of thouands of them put side-by-side along the entire lenght of the trail for about a mile or so. Very odd, even for California.

Great pictures Paul.

Where did you all camp? I didn't get into the area until about 2:00. I first went up and to the end of Santa Rosa Rd. Great area with some nice campsites. Couldn't find any of you and everyone I asked said they hadn't seen you. I finally found some mountain bikers that said they saw you down at the start of Sawmill Rd. They pushed their bikes up Sawmill and told me there was no way you were going to make it up to the top.

I headed back to Sugar Loaf and checked the board but didn't see any note so I started up Sawmill. Jason - Sawmill has MAJOR pucker factor. Is the Sawmill that old rusted iron thing on a trailer just where water starts coming down the trail at the end of the fire road? No one was there so I figured you guys kept going up. The trail kept getting more and more serious. But I never caught up to you guys so I kept saying "If they made it I can." What an idiot!

I got into some serious trouble near the top on a steep off camber right turn between trees. Whoever had gone up the trail before had seriously chewed it up and it was just thick loose sand. I got buried and started to slide. If I tried to back down the road there was no way I would have stayed on the road and the truck would have just slid down and off the road. I would have had to leave the truck and start walking. You could see where two other vehicles slid off the road and sunk. My only option was to start moving rocks and build a platform off the side of the road that would support me. I then purposely backed "very slowly" straight down, off the road and slid the front end down to where I was perpendicular to the fall line. Of course I had to do all of this while not wearing the seat belt because it was locked from the angles.

Now the big issue was trying to get back onto the road. If I wasn't able to get enough of a "launch" I was going to slide right into the spot where someone else had buried off the road and I would have been done. So "When in doubt GAS IT OUT!" When I got back on the road I was so freaked out I didn't feel like camping and just wanted to get off that fuc**ng mountain. I didn't even take any pictues of the tramatic event.

I got down and started driving home. Figured I saved major bucks from not having to leave the truck and search for help or repair body damage from sliding into the trees or from waiting for someone to rescue me while trapped in a rolled truck so I stopped at that dive Cahulla? casino and contributed $100 to the Indians.

I just finished washing the truck and I'm still a little freaked!
Jason - I would very much like to know how far you have made it up that MODERATE hill climb?
Happy to have the truck in the garage.
Tom

Holy crap Tom, we messed up royally. We skipped Santa Rosa and went into Anza for gas. After that we headed up to Thomas Mountain. Dude, I appologize for forgetting to post a note at the cork board. To make it up to you, I'll let you kick Jason in the nuts on the next run.

Hey all of you guys ! Chris and I had a Really Great time on Saturday and this was one of those Great Spots, where we wish we had stayed over.
None the Less, it was a Super time !
Thank You Jason, Thank You Mitch ! Paul,, nice Pics!
We haven't downloaded yet But, You can be sure we have pics of Mark and Maria, Great Meeting both of you guys, Thanks for the steak invite, hopefully we can do this again !
Soon !
JimB

Thanks for the offer. I imagine Jason may counter though! But it's all good - truck is in the garage and a few cocktails have helped to stop the shakes.

Good trip everyone. Thanks for leading Jason.
Tom, You're crazy.

Dude!!

I messed up big time. I thought Randy was the one who needed the note for some reason, and we caught eachother on the HAM radios. I deeply deeply apologize.

For the record.. you went up the LOOP OF DOOM (I rated it a solid 6+ on the post)

You have permission to kick Mitch in the nuts.

Argh, please let me buy you a drink the next time I see you.

Well.. besides Tom's troubles, and Mark "I'm gonna gun it on fumes" driving, the trip went well.

I forgot my CAMERA!!! But I did have my little Olympus underwater camera, and I took a few shots.

Heading up through the clouds on sawmill road


The view down from Sawmill canyon looking down Deep Canyon.


Heading back down sawmill road.


The campsite on Thomas Mt. Near sunset and after some awesome grub!! Thanks paul and mark for the fixins!


The sunset.


Randy taunting the cows.


I don't know WHAT the heck happened here. It looks like somebody spraypainted the tree and the back of Dan's son?? Just an odd picture.


Too many margaritas!


More on the next one.

Randy and I were the only ones left on Sunday. We hit a TON of trails. From the campsite, we went down Bautista Canyon, took a side trip to Tripp flats to scare quail, then down to Hemet through the hidden citrus groves.

We ate at In and Out, then decided to explore up Indian Springs canyon. We got trapped by burn gates after some pretty good wheeling. We then went up Bee Canyon, stopped at the creek and scared some fish. All the way up to Idyllwild, and back down another trail to "fishermans point" which was really "fishermans missing trail off the side of the cliff of DOOOM!"

Pucker factor! But we did find some pretty great trails.

We ran in to the Native Tree dwelling Budweiser can.


And the "legless buzzlizzard" as Randy put it.


The way up from the fishermans death trail.

Yep, a legless buzzlizard....a diamondack no less!

Ahhh buzzlizard, I knew you said something like that!

looks like yet another good trip. and to think, we were just in Anza the week before..

LOL... Hollywood ran out of GAS!!!!

Nice pics!!

He lived up to his previous “fumes” nickname.

Tom…lets make another run up there in the fall and finish that loop of doom and hit those other spots Jason and Randy found. Finally got my truck put back together late last night, heading up to the sierra’s this weekend to see if I can put another hurt on it

BTW did mitch get or give the rope burns? what's up with Paul the red nose wino picture

No rope burns, just an atomic weggey. I was scooting down the rock face and my fat butt was going faster than my shorts. Everything was fine though. Paul used his new winch to dislodge my shorts and we were back on the road.

Everyone,

Maria and I are having a great time laughing (Now) looking at the pictures. I promise if Maria hadnt gotten us lost, on the way to meet you guys, I wouldnt have ran out of gas. Just kidding, I should have gotten gas earlier. You know the 2nd Gen Xterras have faulty Fuel gages!!!

We promise to bring more steaks & more breakfast foods next time for everyone!

We had a great time! Ok now to thank my sponsors:

1. Jim & Kris thank you for the gas . I know I paid you but next fill up or dinner is on us.

2. Paul thank you for the steak kabobs - Awesome .

3. Dan thank you for the air mattress electric fan.

4. Randy thank you for the help with coleman stove .

5. Paul thank you for the help with Lantern.

6. Randy tahnk you for the celestial education you gave everyone .

7. Last but not least Jason & Randy thank you for the Jump Start. We shouldnt have been watching movies all night with out charging the battery.
Maria is very thankful we didnt get stranded.

Nice pics everyone. Looks like you had a good time.

Great pics guys. Oh and i love you camp circle shot with your truck Jason. Great picture. Oh and nice Speckled rattlesnake. Was that the only snake seen??

Great pics guys. My buddies and i had yet another great time. Sorry for falling behind in the beginning of the trip. Thanks Jason and mitch for leading the way in and out. We look forward to the next run!! Ill post up some of the pics i have tonight.