Price and Compare Vehicles:  Our informal group called BAHA (Bay Area HUMMER Association) wanted to put on a final trip to the Sierra's before the weather got too bad. Tim was the motivating force and the logistics organizer. Without him we would not have had such a great event. I was drafted to be the trail leader since I had spent the most time up there. Tim and Star + family, 97 TD 4DOT (HD) The first six of us stayed for both days, the second three made it for the first day only. The weather had been foul the days before. The first snow of the season had fallen and there was chain controls on Highway 4. As we drove up on Friday, the weather was still bad. Pouring rain and hail did not bode well for the weekend. However, the weather was supposed to clear by Saturday. We kept our fingers crossed. SaturdayMeeting at 9:00 in Arnold, we were all happy to see that the weather was nice and clear and not too chilly at all. However, Arnold is only at 4000 feet and our planned destination was up around 8000 feet. We headed out at around 9:30 hoping that the weather would hold. As we got higher up, we started to get some ice on the roads. If it has never happened to you, feeling the tail start to slide on a 7000 lbs HUMMER is pretty unique. They are actually very stable but you have to respect the mass. The road was otherwise clear. We decided to take a non-technical trail first to warm up. A few of our gang were inexperienced and this would give them a chance to get a feel for the snow. After that experience, we continued on to the featured trail of the day, Slick Rock. This is one of my personal favorites because it is just so beautiful. It is not very challenging for the vehicles but does teach you alot about wheel placement. After our nice photo stop, I convinced everybody to take a "shortcut". What can I say, I just can't get enough. The trail was virgin with only a few quad tracks. The trail was blocked at one point but we found a way around and got back to the highway. We all met at the Wood's house for dinner. Their hospitality was one of the high points of the trip. They were as brave as some of the drivers by inviting 20 people over for dinner. We had steak, hamburgers, chicken, beans, and pasta salads. We also watched the video from the day's adventure. SundaySix trucks decided to do the second day. We headed back up SR 4 to a slightly lower elevation than the previous day. However, we still had lots of snow. The Mattley Meadow trail is pretty easy when it is dry but was great fun and visually spectacular in the winter. After the first part, we had untracked snow the whole way. We arrived back in Arnold around 2:00 for a lunch to end our great adventure. Lisa and I would like to thank everybody for being such great companions and hope everybody had lots of fun. Special thanks to the weather gods. I wish I had more pictures of everybody but as usual, you get more of the people immediately behind you. If people have more photos, let me know!
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