The First Annual Hollister Hills SVRA Geocache Bash

As five or six thousand pounds of Land Cruiser hurtled backwards down the steep trail towards the abyss – with me strapped into it – I pushed on the brakes as hard as I could and hoped it would stop sliding. The loose soil was the deciding factor now, and the knobby BFG Mud Terrain tires tore long grooves through the brown dirt.

I had just enough time to wonder if it would stop before things turned somewhat disastrous. I was slowing, but was it enough?

My heart sank as I suddenly felt the rear wheels slide over the edge behind me.

This was not good.

———————————————————–

The day had started when the alarm went off at 0645, far too early for a weekend morning. I really wanted more sleep but I got up and got going to the Starbucks in south San Jose where I was meeting some other local geocachers. I had suggested that we convoy down but in typical cat-herding style this didn’t really happen. We had three vehicles in our group, several more in another and some solo drivers as well. I think there were probably about ten vehicles from our local geocaching organization (the GBA), most with multiple passengers.

We were heading to Hollister Hills SVRA for their “1st Annual Hollister Hills SVRA Geocache Bash” with which they hoped to lure more geocachers to the offroad park. In addition to the traditional Upper Ranch 4×4 area, we’d have access to the Hudner expansion property, which was normally only open to paying groups. For twenty years they’ve been putting in trails, post fences, signage and such and I think they are finally close to opening it up to the general public.

After arriving and greeting friends, we filled out our registration forms and received day passes for our windshields, and booklets for the event. Hidden all around the two sections of the park were around 30 new geocaches, most of which contained a unique information card. We were to use the information on these cards to answer questions in our booklet, and for each correct answer we’d receive one ticket for the raffle which would conclude the event.

After a quick opening briefing, off we went. I think most of the attendees – including me – headed off to the Hudner expansion area. We passed through the gate and the convoy of vehicles headed out onto the narrow trail. It was packed pretty tightly at first, but people made individual choices that helped to spread things out. Some stopped for the first geocaches along the way, while others continued on at their own pace.

The Hudner property has the feel of a typical regional cattle ranch. The trails were normal fire/ranch roads that led over and around the rolling hillsides. There were a lot of scenic views and it was a nice area to drive through, and not especially technical. There were some steep hills and some sharp hairpin switchbacks, but little in the way of rocks, ruts, or other obstacles.

After taking my time at the first three geocaches in order to get some breathing room, I settled into a routine for a while with a few other 4x4s and ended up stopping at the same points with them. This worked fine until we got onto a “black diamond” rated trail. It was still pretty easy, but narrow, and it was there along the southeast corner of the park that I had my little excitement.

I’d arrogantly been in high range the entire time, turning on the rear lockers just once for a steep climb. At one point there was a short turn which was very steep, and without enough momentum my forward motion came to a halt about two-thirds of the way up. Dammit!

What I should have done (Hello hindsight! Hey, thanks for eventually showing up! Maybe next time you could be there in the first place?) was to put on the foot and hand brakes, switched to neutral and gone into low range, then powered the rest of the way up the hill. Should have. Instead I tried to back down to make the switch at the bottom of the hill, and then try again with more momentum.

And so it was I found myself as the recipient of a nice adrenaline dump, as the Land Cruiser finally ground to a last-second halt. After a deep breath, I tried to drive myself back onto the trail, but the step the rear wheels had gone over was too steep and loose. Even in low range (better late than never?) and with both lockers activated, it was no go. I was stuck.

I got out the radio to call Sam who was ahead of me in his FJ, who I figured could strap me out. I had a drink of water first though, as my mouth had gone completely dry! When I called on the radio it seemed they’d gone farther ahead than I had thought, but Sam replied that they would come back and help, it might just take a bit.

I had started pulling out my recovery gear when Sam came on the radio and said that they might be delayed longer, because now they were slightly stuck as well. Soon after, he followed up by saying they were now very stuck. I had spotted a good tree uphill from me, so I told them him that I would self-recover and then come and get them out, which they felt was a fine plan.

I grabbed my tree strap and the winch cable, which I dragged up the steep, slippery trail. It was hard to walk up it while unspooling the synthetic cable, but I made it to the tree and set up the line. I returned to the Land Cruiser and started to feel better when I took up the slack in the winch line, knowing that the vehicle was now definitely secure.

As I started winching myself out, people started to arrive from both directions on the trail to see what was up. I got the Land Cruiser back on the trail and then up the hill, while now also having to be careful of people meandering around the side of the trail. But it was blessedly uneventful, and I was good to go again. Hot damn! Life is good.

I drove up to where Sam had accidentally backed the two right wheels of his FJ Cruiser “Tidy Tip” off the side of the trail. He’d tried to drive back up onto the trail but the loose dirt edge had crumbled and things only got worse, so he did the right thing and waited for help to arrive.

After examining the situation (and the inevitable “Tidy Tipping” jokes), I consulted with fellow geocacher “4wheeler” John who has been a highly-experienced offroad instructor for many years. He felt that we should pull the FJ backwards using the winch and a tow strap, hooked to a hitch-mounted recovery receiver he had with him. We set everything up properly, and got ourselves in synch with FRS radios. Sam would be in the FJ (lucky him), John would coordinate, and I’d winch from the cab of the Land Cruiser.

It was a hard pull to overcome the resistance of the rear wheel on the edge, and I had to be on the brakes full in the Land Cruiser so it didn’t move instead of the FJ. I bet it felt much more exciting for Sam inside his FJ though! Happily, he was soon back onto the trail proper and a cheer went up from the gathered crowd, followed by a round of applause. Relieved, we quickly stowed our recovery gear and were more than happy to return to our regularly scheduled fun.

From that point we hunted a few more geocaches before riding some fun trails out of the Hudner area and making our way to Area 5 for a free lunch of hot dogs, chips and cookies. After lunch, we resumed the search for geocaches for about another hour and a half before we had to get back to Area 5 and turn in our booklets before the raffle.

We drove around the Upper Ranch area, mostly on trails I was familiar with but we did get into a narrow area where I had to squeak between trees again. There was a ton of poison oak in some of the areas too, and it was probably all over the outside of the Land Cruiser by the time we were done.

We got to one very rutted hill climb and Sam was ahead of me, and I heard his editorial opinion of it come over the radio as “Uh… No.” Quickly after that our friend Matt was in the awkward position of backing his Grand Cherokee down the hill after his left-side wheels had slid into a huge rut. We spotted him down safely, his diffs dragging a path through the soil at one point.

Finishing up, we returned to Area 5 and handed in our booklets and traded stories. My friend Bill had gotten tippy in his Discovery and then also had to back down a hill. To add to the fun, his seat belts had both locked up, so he had the uncomfortable experience of not wearing any restraints until they decided to work again: at the bottom of the hill, of course. Also Rick got high-centered in his vehicle at one point but was quickly strapped free.

The event concluded with a generous raffle with some great prizes, including tow straps, t-shirts, hats, an annual state OHV day pass, a nice dirt bike helmet, riding gloves, and a special state park pass that was good for entry, parking, and even camping for a year, something you can’t even purchase. I was lucky enough to win two different sizes of tow straps and a tire pressure gauge.

The raffle took place at the same stage that was used for the slide shows and other presentations at the Overland Rally & Workshop last year, so that also brought back good memories for me. As the event wrapped up, we enthusiastically thanked the Hollister Hills staff for a wonderful event and a job well done, and the attendees broke up to head their individual ways. For me it was time to head home to spend time with the family.

I felt especially fortunate to have dodged a figurative bullet this time out, and on the spur of the moment I stopped at our neighborhood grocery store and picked up a bottle of champagne. I was reminded that Life is Good and should be celebrated every now and again. I think it was Jeff Cooper who said that the best feeling in the world was being shot at – and missed. After a dangerous moment passes, the air seems fresher, the skies are bluer, and there was even more appreciation than usual when I walked into the house and hugged my wife and daughter.

It had been a fun and memorable day, and conking out for a late afternoon nap on my couch never felt so good.

Cheers, everyone.