Pumpkin Run I

19 October 1996
By Scott Dickenson
Edited By Chris Dow
Originally posted to the Mendo Recce mailing list
 
The Pumpkin Run I was a success as far as a Mendo Recce day of 4-wheel play, but a tragic ending made for a depressing  drive home.
 

Attendees

 

Description of Events

Dave and Scott got to the Hollister Hills Ranger station at 11:00 am.  No one else was there... Scott thought they either had gone ahead,  or noone else had shown up. The Ranger said that another  Rover guy had called, and was coming up from Hollister. So we  waited and Daniel came in his car. He had missed meeting with  Walt in Berkeley. They waited 'til 11:45, went through the lower camps to look around, and went to the Upper Ranch. They rolled  around a few roads and passed the mud-hole, where a Chevy Blazer was waist-deep stuck in mud. 3 gys were trying to get it out.  They did not have a winch, and drove on.
 
They did a few roads and behing them came 2 Rovers, a  white Rangie and a green Disco. It turned out to be Nigel and  Chris. With 3 Rovers they drove around Bonanza Gulch and up to  the base of 5-Fingers. Chris decided to have a go at it, and  did manage it after airing down and taking his son and Daniel  for a ride up. They had a near collison with a VW dune buggy  on the way down (the buggy was roaring up the hill fast from  a speedy start at the base). We rode around and found Walt  at the top of McCray Road and drove back to the base of the  Hill Climb. There we met up with Tom Walsh. Chris and Tom  wanted to try the Hill Climb, but Tom's locker compressor had an air leak. So no lockers, we watched as the Dune buggy  tried the Truck Hill many times from a roaring fast start.  They did not make it, so we moved up to the obsticle course.  We lost Nigel about then and never saw him after that.
 
At the obsticle course Tom showed off his skills and  rig in the course. We all drove around and had fun and then stopped for a bit to eat, while Chris tried to run an obsticle.  We rocked Chris through, and chatted about the merrits of  lift kits and rock sliders. Then the 4 rigs went up to do the Tank Trap. Tom says it is harder this year than last, and it was a challange to get Charlotte through. We managed to bend his resonator and I came to an abrupt halt using the brush  bar when I lost control in a slide. Rock sliders would have  been nice for the huge berms that we had to go over.
 
Anyway, at the end of the trap Walt took off with  Daniel and Mehdi. Chris had lost his front license plate at or near the base of the Truck Hill, so we went back to look  for it. On the way we were passed by the sirens of the Ranger speeding to the base of the Truck Hill. When we got there  we saw that the Chevy Blazer that was stuck in the mud pit earlier had rolled, and a guy was pinned under it. Tom helped hi-lift the Blazer and winch it for slippage, but the efforts were (sadly) of no help. Evidently he had lost his brakes  when his engine stalled, and he wend off an embankment from the road above. By the time the Blazer was winched over, the CHP and CDF arrived, and a helicopter circling above, the  guy was determined to have died. We collected Tom's gear and  were asked to leave the scene by the Rangers, so they could  interview the witnesses. We then rode down to the Ranger Station and aired up there, and mused over what had happened. By  then it was dusk, and we said our goodbyes and rode home.
 

Email Addresses of Those Attending

 
Scott Dickenson
Scott_Dickenson@engr.Sun.com
 Dave Townsend
dtownsen@ingr.com 
Chris Dow 
dow@thelen.org 
 Daniel Oppenheim
daniel@mgmtconsult.com 
Tom Walsh
tomw@netcom.com
Walt Swain
wcswain@dcn.davis.ca.us
Mehdi Saghafi
msandcdg@pacbell.com
Nigel Cornwall
cornwall@loopback.apple.com
 
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