High Desert Round-Up '99

Located each year in Stoddard Valley, outside of Barstow, California,  HDR is one of the California Association of 4 Wheel Drive Clubs premier events. This year we tagged along with one of two groups on the Empire Strikes Back!, with trail-leader, Larry "Rockwalker" McRae and the Inland Empire 4WD Club.
 If you have attended an event of significant size, you know that waiting for fifty or more vehicles to clear an obstacle can be both tiring and frustrating.  The Inland Empire Club seems to have resolved this problem both by limiting the number of rigs on the run, and then splitting them into two groups.  These two groups run three separate canyons in opposite order to avoid any major pile-ups.
 Even though the run is posted on the sign-up board as one of the most challenging in the Stoddard area, each year there are a few participants who must redefine their view of "most difficult."

 Within one hundred yards of the entrance to Dinero Canyon, drivers become acutely aware of both their rig's limitations and their own. Yes, the aroma of a burning clutch does blend well with the sound of bursting sidewalls (as long as it's not your's.)  Even though a positive attitude definitely helps, those without low gears, lockers and strong sidewalls are destined to be well entertained spectators.

 Dinero starts out with some good warm-up rockcrawling followed by a steep, slippery hillclimb. This year the hillclimb only claimed one victim, but thanks to an experienced group of hecklers (friends), the CJ-5 was quickly winched out of harm's way.
 The second canyon is respectfully referred to as T/A Tearer.  T/A starts out with a tight squeeze between a large, jagged boulder and an even larger, jagged rock wall.  The most unusual aspect of this canyon is that although it looks relatively easy, all of the rocks seem to have a mind of their own and a knack for finding their way to the most vulnerable spot on each rig!  If you are at the tail-end of the group, the trail you see barely resembles the trail that the leaders traversed.
 Visible beyond the present exit to T/A is a section that will definitely have to be explored (most likely with a winch.)

 The last section for the Empire run is the infamous Pucker Canyon.

To complete Pucker in one piece, you had better show up with both barrels loaded.  If two hundred yards in four hours sounds like fun to you, then you have come to the right place!  A broken axle here, a blown u-joint there, all par for the course.
 The Inland Empire Club provides spotters at all of the major obstacles and since this was the second group through the jaws of Pucker, they were plenty tired.  Kudos to the spotters for hangin' in there!

 In Pucker's final act of defiance, the last waterfall turned into a winch-fest.  Rocks rolled and tires clawed at the air, but in the end all returned to camp to lick their wounds and get ready for the next day's adventure, or the long journey home.
 Many thanks go out to the Inland Gang for letting us tag along.