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Did a day run to Hollister Hills on 28 February 2004. We were about 11 trucks, mostly 4Runners and Taco,s, we also had a Nissan, Isuzu and a GMC joined along the line. We gathered at the Ranger Station at 10 am to air down and meet up. This was my first time doing a trip with the guys from Yotatech, so I am still trying to remember all the names. Hopefully that will improve. I will not include a full list of all the names, as I honestly cant remember all of them. I saw two blue Subarus, actually STi’s that was going to the Upper Ranch.

Please look at thumbnails with links to small pics below, you can also got to the link with a listing of the full size pics and some video clips. Please remember the full size pics and video are large. The trip report is below.

We got to the Vineyard School at a bout 10:40, where we took a few group pics. From there we went to the obstacle course, to play a bit and decide which trails we will do. On the way we saw some Jeeps stuck in a rut. We played around a little bit at the obstacle course. As it was still pretty wet, we decided to take the easy route up to Hector Heights. Big Kahuna led the way. Some guys played around at the obstacle course, and took a more difficult route and only came a bit later. We hit some muddy patches that was very slippery, and some ended up doing sideways drives. We saw the Subi’s coming back before the first real mud or ruts. A pity for us but probably good for them to avoid damage.

It was a great day and the view was amazing from Hector Heights. We had lunch there, as we were finishing lunch a number of trucks came in, finally the Jeep group did as well. The one thing I noticed with the Jeep group was a number of hoods up and one that had to repair a tire. This blocked our exit so we had to wait for a while. We finally got out again to go down to the obstacle course. Along the way we split up in two groups, one that went down West Trail to the Quarry and one that took the easy route to the obstacle course.

The guys taking West Trail got stuck in a traffic jam with the Hummer group that was there, and it took then some time to get to the Quarry. I was with the easy going group, myself (Bulldog-Yota), Big Kahuna. Scottiac and GMC guy. Big Kahuna took the lead again and soon afterwards I nearly slipped off the road on a mud patch. Fortunately Big Kahuna guided me out and at one point yanked the 4Runner on to a different track (easy on the steroids fella ;-). Unfortunately I was too busy to try and stay on the road and didn’t get any pics. We finally made it back to the obstacle course and did the Stairsteps, played in the water hole, etc. Saw a very interesting vehicle doing the Stairsteps with easy (see video).

We then joined the other guys at the Quarry and played around a little bit. There was some interesting obstacles, which showed the advantage of a huge lift, big tires and lockers. We then took some group pictures. I left to go home and air up at the Ranger station, some guys went back to the obstacle course to play some more. It was about 3:45 PM.

Thanks guys it was a great day for me.