springfling2010page2

Day 7 (Thursday) This morning was an exciting one. Today Doug and I would be flying with Tim in his plane. The mission was to recon the area of Cerro Gordo and the Inyo Crest Trail. Friday's big trail run was to be to the old Ghost Town of Cerro Gordo. We wanted to see what kind of snow load was still on the trail. Our primary goal was to get Friday's group up to Cerro Gordo. The secondary trip would be to drive the Inyo Crest trail and down Swansea Rd if snow would permit it. Cerro Gordo Rd was clear and the Crest Trail had snow but it was hard to tell just how deep is was in some spots. No worries, we would find out on Friday.

When we landed back at PSR, Tim told me to grab my Boys. Dakota and Austin were totally excited when they found out they would get to fly around The Panamint Valley. Tim even showed Dakota how to work the controls and let him help with the takeoff and the flight around the valley.. koda's a smart Boy and turned down Tim's offer to let him also land the plane.

Day 8 (Friday) Wow! where did all these people come from? We had somewhere around 18 rigs lined up in front of PSR waiting to drive to Cerro Gordo. Who was there? Who wasn't? Not to be an annoying name dropper but we had folks like B-Spec, Badtux, Dezdan, The Gossets, Snow Nymph, Old and younger fossil, Randy P, The Woodser (and his nuts), TheFreqofnature, David and Noah Bricker, Rubiblue, Wheezer, AndyR, Modfan(Jay, Mira, and Logan), Kris, Slacker, Beatty Lady and Ryan, Desert4wd (Doug), Candance, and a few other freinds who were riding shotgun.

We all made it to Cerro Gordo where we spent some time checking out the town. later, some went back down the Yellow Grade while the rest of us continued along the Inyo Crest trail. We made it just past Boiler Canyon before the snow got to deep. We turned around and spent some rather comical time watching as each driver made their way back out of boiler Canyon. A few needed a friendly pull with the tow strap.

After making it back to Cerro Gordo, it was decided that we would all drive out the back way to Lee Flats. From there some went back to PSR while other went to the Bonham Talc Mine. Those folks finally made it back to PSR well after dark. It was an awesome day. One for the record books.

Day 9 (Saturday) A few more folks like Norman Johnson and Death Valley Bill showed up. Many little groups splintered off and went on varying runs. I decided to catch up with Kris, B-Spec, Kelly and Dezdan to go check out Barker Ranch. I went to Barker Ranch at last years Spring Fling. Little did I know that the Ranch would burn down a few weeks later.

After that, we went back to PSR and got ready for the big pot-luck and Sobe fed campfire. You'll have to check the message board for more photos of the pot-luck and fire. I didn't have the camera with most of the night.

Day 10 (Sunday) No photos for today. We don't want to, but we have to go home. Thanks to all who helped make the Fling another great experience. We'll be back next year. Be sure to go to the PanamintValley.com Message board and read all the other trip reports.