Snow Wheeling At The 25th Winter Fun Festival
Silver Anniversary In The High Sierra
Winter Fun is all about the fun! Seemingly impervious to cold climes and frosty hands, the kids had more fun than anyone, slipping and sliding down a fresh coating of the frosty white stuff.
IF YOU ARE LIKE US, there are certain events that trigger an irresistible urge to take action, somewhere, somehow. The smell of pizza might necessitate an immediate call to Domino's, or the sound of mud terrains howling down the road might send you home to wrench on your rig: spontaneous and uncontrollable, these urges are knee-jerk reactions. For us, snow falling in the high-country brings back memories of early snow treks with an old high school buddy. Come the first storm, no matter what hour of the day or night, we’d get a case of our favorite beverage (non-alcoholic of course!) and make tracks for the Northern Sierra Nevada. Often, we’d end up sleeping upright and half frozen in the front seats of his FJ-40, and usually in some ski resort parking lot.
Floatation is the name of the game when traversing soft snow. While 10-12 lbs is usually the minimum air pressure for an un-beadlocked tire in the rocks, running 5-6 lbs in the snow allows for a much wider footprint. And a wider footprint means better floatation.
It was in those iced over parking lots that we learned much about physics: Newton’s law that things in motion tend to stay in motion, the principals of gravity and drag coefficients, and clarity in something called “freezing point depression.” (These excursions were purely on an educational basis!!) Flash forward 25 years: Our heaters work better, our choice of beverage is Red Bull and our judgment is rarely impaired with nonsensical impulses of days-gone-by... until that first weather report of snow falling hits our ears.
As winter spreads its veil across the western states last January, that uncontrollable urge to hit the snow spread through our heads. It had been two years since we last visited the Winter Fun Festival and 2007 marked its silver anniversary. The timing could not have been better.
The Winter Fun Festival, which is sponsored by the California Association of Four Wheel Drive Clubs (CA4WDC), is the quintessential model of a great family four-wheeling snow run. The three-day event is comprised of trail rides ranging from historic tours of the Gold Country and axle-deep snow treks in the highlands, to home cooked meals, kids games and casino-style evening entertainment. Based in the sleepy berg of Grass Valley, California, the 25th annual Winter Fun attracted almost 600 participants from across northern California and Nevada.
At O’dark-thirty, after a country style breakfast, we jumped a ride with Morris Zimlicka in his vintage ’76 Toyota FJ-40 and headed for the high country with a group heading for the Siberian Express. While snow had fallen during the previous weeks, modest depths and firm conditions would allow us access to higher elevations that are usually inaccessible in mid January.
The sun was cresting the Sierra as we crossed the South Yuba River and headed up the Gaston Grade route. One thing we noticed about the local roads was that back in the day, when there were very few people, a road leading to your ranch carried your surname. Gaston Grade (which apparently went to the Gaston Ranch) rose from the river about a thousand feet and deposited us on Bowman Road, which eventually lead us along the crystal blue waters of Bowman Lake (must have been a Bowmen Ranch here). Ascending above the 6000-foot elevation mark near the Henness Pass Toll Road.
Deeply rooted in the well-chronicled records of California’s Gold Rush and the great migration from the east, the Henness Pass Toll Road was one of the main routes over the Sierras and is said to have been pioneered by Patrick Henness in about 1850. It was an alternate, and safer, low-elevation route through the Sierras as opposed to the ill-fated Donner Pass route to the south.
Staging for the Siberian Express Run, one of the
trail guides prepped participants on the U.S.
Forest Service winter travel rules, suggested air
pressure, and the importance of everyone
checking in before heading back to camp. Get
stuck without help or anyone knowing where you
are, and you’d probably be a permanent part of
the landscape until the spring thaw.
(Right) Dick Shannon wheels the high country in a ’68
Toyota FJ-40.
(Top Left) With an accurate gauge, a light rig and large meats, dropping the air pressure to 5 lbs is possible so long as you avoid heavy lateral loads on the tires. (Bottom Left) We had several examples of Old Iron on our run, including Robert Maclay’s 1970 Kaiser Jeep J- 3000 Gladiator pickup. The light-weight of an empty bed required Maclay to push the Buick 350 hard to get through the light snow drifts. (Right) The raffle dished out loads of cool off-road gear from BFGoodrich, Warn, Tuffy Security, Power Tank and Advanced Adapters.
(Left) When you break down in a snowstorm, you’d better have the right gear, tools, spare parts, a tarp, and a tolerance for some face-to-face time with the snow. (Right) With the sunny Sierra Nevada as a backdrop, several steep hill climbs allowed for some extended late afternoon snow play. Warren Storm’s Rock Dog CJ-5 runs dual hi-pinion Currie 9-inch Ford axles fitted with Detroit lockers and 4:86 ring & pinion gears. A 300hp AMC 304cid V- 8 produces plenty of ponies to keep his 35-inch Super Swamper Boggers churning all day.
Winter Travel Advisory Going snow wheeling is way cool, but when spending the night means bedding down in the front seat of a Jeep... or hacking an igloo out of a snow bank, having the proper gear is essential. Without a well-equipped rig, tools, emergency equipment and above all, experience, a casual day of whooping it up could end up as a nightmarish bad dream. A few tips: #1: Let someone know exactly where you are going and when you’ll be back. #2: Pack extra clothing, a sleeping bag and extra food and water for each occupant. #3: Outfit your rig with the proper emergency equipment: A reliable winch, tow strap, clevis, tarp, tools, fire starter (Presto logs are awesome), a map and compass or GPS, and a CB radio or cell phone. #4: Most importantly, take two rigs and if things get really bad, stay with your rig. When the weather clears in a couple of days, you can dig your way out or burn the spare tire as a smoke signal (start it with part of the presto log).
It was eventually developed into a toll road in 1859 and operated by the Truckee Turnpike Company until the transcontinental railroad was completed in the 1860’s. In later years, only those who could not afford the train would cross the Sierra by wagon.
Our group ranged from stock Toyota FJ Cruisers to rock crawling CJ-5s and fullsized Jeep pickups. The weather had been cold and dry in the high-country, providing us with very soft corn-snow and very little floatation. Tire pressures of 10lbs or less were mandatory, even for the most well equipped rigs. If you got off the main two-track, you would fall right through.
Meanwhile, down in the lower elevations, Winter Fun participants were touring some of the last inhabited outposts of the west. The narrated SUV and historic runs visit lost settlements with colorful names like Rough and Ready, Allegany, French Corral, and Brittany Springs.
Back at the Grass Valley Fairgrounds, the cook crew was whipping up a homestyle roast beef dinner with all the fixin’s. Evenings are all about fun. The raffle crew dished up cool off-road gear and the adults tried their luck at a Las Vegas style casino night. The Winter Fun Festival kicks off the winter wheeling season each January. For information on the 2008 event, go to www.cal4wheel.com or call 800-4x4-FUNN.