Trail Report: 11/12/2012 - Annual Honor the Veteran's Veteran's Day Run!

[Roger]

Thank you for those who braved the cold this morning to attend this run! We had great weather mid day as long as you were in the sun!

Attendees:
Nick & Barb (USMC 0369)
Rich (Ol Man)
Mike (Deepwater)
Rick (RDOGG) & his guest Bruce
Roger (Roger)

We all met at the Valero Station in Lucerne Vallely with the exception of Mike who met us at the trail head at Hwy 38 & 1N01.

The weather was crystal clear and cool.

Our first stop was Onyx Peak. We discussed some of the facts about the peak and enjoyed the panoramic views of the desert & Mountains.

Next it was on to the Onyx mine site and explored the area.

From there our next stop was the Pipes Campground. It is probably the least used campground in the SBNF. It is very remote and is not very well maintained. I do hope the FS never closes it. We had lunch at the campground and basked in the sun! It felt great.

Just past the campground the road has been closed my the Conservatory group that owns the property there. 1N01 used to go all the way to Pioneer town but, sadly, no more...

As we headed out, we stopped at two vehicles in the wash partly submerged in rock and sand. One appears to be an early 50's GMC or Chev pickup with the 5 windows.

The other appears to be a late 40's sedan of unknown make or model. It has oval tail lights, four doors, and had inverted transverse front and rear springs. I sure am curious as to what it is.

We got back to the pavement about 1505 hrs, aired up, said our goodbyes, and headed home.

I have some pictures to post which I will do tomorrow. Hopefully the others who took photos will post them also. Don't wait for me!

Thank you everyone who attended today and especially thank you to our MJR Vets. You guys rule!

[Ol Man]

Roger, thanks for organizing this run. It was a beautiful day, with great company.

[USMC 0369]

[COLOR="#800000"]Roger, another great day in the Forest. I forgot to stop at that illegal fire pit at the PCT crossing on the way out!!

Barb has all the pictures, I will try to pull some of them off and post them after work today.

Thanks to everyone who came out on the run. It was great wheeling with you and meeting everyone. Mike it was great to see you again.

Roger I think Rick's friend was "Bruce". (It was on his jacket.) [/COLOR]

[Deepwater]

Another great Veterans Day run Roger. Thanks for organizing it. Awesome views from on top of Onyx Peak and great weather.
That was an interesting windlass at the mine site. I went to Google Earth to try and see the actual mine on top of the mountain. Couldn't see much except for some possible quarrying. Onyx is a type of agate, black or black with white bands. Possibly that is what they were pulling out of a volcanic seam up there. It was in demand for jewelry.

I enjoyed riding with you all.

Mike

[RAT]

Roger, I missed the run but I was there in spirit. Looks like it was awesome day! That is a real honor to fly Nick's American Flag. That is freakin awesome, he would never let ME do that... He doesn't like me very much.

[RDOGG]

Roger thanks for setting the run up had a good time .Im sure Bruce has been bitten by the jeep bug he's already talking about one .Good group to hang with and I felt so safe with the VETS Hope to do more runs with you

[Roger]

I got a notice from wild blue that I've been a bad boy using my access too much. I'm being punished by an extremely slow connection for a few days. Hopefully I can post some photos Wednesday AM.

[Roger]

Parked at Onyx Summit:

The flag on my Jeep is the flag that Nick had on his Humvee when in Iraq. What an honor to fly it for him. He flew the USMC flag on his Jeep.

MJR's Top Marine and his lovely bride:


Old house at Onyx mine:


Windless that ran a cable to the top of the ridge above where the mine is:


The ruins of the equipment shed adjacent to the windless above:


I know others took photos way better than mine, post them up!!