Influencer II
On Sunday despite the torrential down pour we were getting here in the Bay Area the MET mission was still a go. We had 5 rigs with us by the time we all caught up with each other on the freeway. David, myself and my friend Dave met in Fairfield and then like a Airforce mid air re-fueler we met up with two more friends from my Land Rover club on Highway 50. We had A Range Rover Classc, two LR3's A LR4 and A new Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk. We got to the trail about 11am and got a little worried when we didn't see snow, but we kept heading up the trail and it started getting deep. There were already some some tracks in the snow but we quickly caught up to the culprits. There was a Land Cruiser and a Jeep Wrangler that had gotten a jump start on us but they were stuck already. we passed them and started blazing trail. It wasn't long after like a few seconds later that we came to a unplanned stop. Our Jeep Cherokee got stuck and then I got stuck yanking him out with the ARB Snatch Strap. I then got pulled out and headed up the hill while everyone else got unstuck, Including the Land Cruiser and Wrangler. We then broke for lunch and I tried to get some snowboarding in. After everyone got to the top we then started blazing trail again. I got stuck in a snow bank on the side of the road and it was so deep that I had to climb out the window Dukes of Hazard style. At this point I was proper stuck. Nick in his Range Rover eventualy had to winch me out. I learned a great recovery tip that day. When your wheels are spinning in the snow your rig will just want to slide to the side. I had to let the winch pull me up and out of the snow bank. We then turned around and headed back. The trail quickly turned into something out of Mad Max. All different kinds of makes, models and years of vehicles were coming up the trail, including a Army Duce and half (2.5 ton) 6x6 truck. I guess the owner has plans of mounting a living quarters box on the back. We eventually navigated through the maze of vehicles. I had a close encounter with a Ford Diesel. Some of their group had to push on my hood so I could slide passed them. We then found a place to air up and let the kids play in the snow/ slush again. We had a great day. It snowed the whole time and everything was so clean, crisp and beautiful. On our way home it poured rain the whole way.
