Mountain Rendezvous 2012, N34º 09.913′ W116º 53.697′

I awoke at o-dark-thirty, pushed myself up and forced my reluctant eyes to focus on the clock. The alarm would be going off in two minutes, lovely… So I dragged my rear out of bed, regretting that I had gone to sleep very late the previous night. Still, it’s always different when you’re getting up early because of something you’re looking forward to. Just ask any kid on Christmas morning.

This time I was excited to be going to Mountain Rendezvous 2012. Like any proper road trip or get-away, I’d been looking forward to this one since the previous trip had ended. It had been a long seven weeks and I was more than ready.

I finished up my last-minute packing, chowed down on a quick bowl of cereal, and said goodbye to my sleepy family, who were still snug in their warm beds. I hit the road and an hour – and one nasty detour – later I was meeting up with Anthony & Astrid as planned, at Casa de Fruita in Hollister. I grabbed a large and much-needed cup of caffeine at the Chevron station and off we went, continuing the long drive south.

Mountain Rendezvous is held each year at the Camp Tahquitz Boy Scout property in the San Bernardino Mountains, northeast of Los Angeles, and just south of Big Bear. It’s not nearly as long a drive to get there as Desert Rendezvous (or Overland Expo!) but it’s still about eight long hours on the road. And since it was mostly on I-5,  it’s a boring road too. Because I could only get away for a three-day weekend, that meant I’d be enjoying exactly one full day at the Rendezvous, sandwiched between two all-day drives. Would it be worth it?

The long drive was quite tedious, but at least we had the anticipation of arriving at MR and having a good time. As we finally approached the base of the mountains, our spirits rose with the terrain. The housing developments and freeways were left behind, and we began the brisk climb to 6,500′. The air became clean and fresh, the temperature dropped pleasantly, and we were treated to wonderful vistas between the pines and boulders. We were immediately rejuvenated, and eager with anticipation of our imminent arrival.

We located the open gate of the camp entrance and drove in. We were greeted by Gordon, our gracious camp host, who took our paperwork and donations, and then we set about looking for a place to  camp. Most of the other attendees were already set up, and the Nomads had a couple of site requirements, so we poked around until we spotted a suitable location back in the woods a bit. We’d be just a bit tucked away from the others, but we’d have the shade Astrid needed, and the ground was pretty flat which would suit their rooftop tent. We squeezed between some trees and declared victory, happy to have officially arrived, and promptly got our tents and other camp gear set up.

We spent the rest of the evening socializing and greeting old friends and meeting new ones. Of course we were already checking out the other rigs too. And the trailers. And tents. And so on. We were parked right behind what appeared to be The 80-Series Village, where my white 80 fit right in with several others like it. In fact, the white 80-series was perhaps the most common of the 70+ vehicles there, which is the first time I’ve ever been able to say that.

There were also a lot of Tacomas, Jeep JKs, Sportsmobiles, 4Runners, FJ Cruisers, and other cool vehicles. Surprisingly, there was only a single XJ and one 60-series Land Cruiser, making them as unique as the Pinzgauer at MR. While there was a Defender 110 and even a pair of Range Rover classics, I was surprised that there was not a single Discovery present.

We took part in the Friday night happy hour event, before retreating to our camp to make dinner. After eating, we joined the group at the main campfire before finally turning in for the night. It was cold, with an overnight low in the mid-30s, but I come prepared with a second sleeping bag to layer as a blanket, and I was warm and comfortable all night. At this point I was also blissfully unaware that some bears had wandered through the camp just the previous night, as they would again the night after we left.

The Nomads and I all slept in the next morning, finally extracting ourselves from our respective tents around 8am. We made breakfast and the all-important coffee. Sometime around nine we heard Mountain Rendezvous honcho “Tacodoc” Dave’s booming voice announcing the imminent departure of a group going on a trail run. We weren’t going to make this one, but saw that another had been scheduled for 1pm. We decided to wait for that one, or perhaps run a long trail I had marked in the guidebook I’d brought with me.

Alas, the first group got sidetracked rescuing what would become infamously referred to as “the 2WD Ford Ranger.” Some kids had taken it on a difficult trail and had become embarrassingly “stuck”. As a result, Dave and the folks with him rescued these “skinny jean” people over the next several hours and didn’t make it back to camp until around 5pm that evening, after some other minor adventures.

Back at camp, the 1pm trail run never materialized, and a close examination of the trail in my book showed that we’d be in for about a 5-hour drive, including the time to and from the trailheads. We weren’t up for that much driving on our one free day, so we promptly decided on Plan B: be lazy, hang out, socialize, and enjoy ourselves. In this we were quite successful.

We made the rounds, stopping to check out vehicles and chat with the owners. There was plenty to look at. Several people I spoke with said they were eagerly checking out the other rigs and setups too, hoping to discover new options and see what worked for other people. Outside of Overland Expo, the Rendezvous events were some of the best events to check out “overlanding” rigs and gear, and a lot of people were taking full advantage.

We spent time visiting what I called the “man cave” FJ Cruiser, the one beautiful 60-series Land Cruiser, and then stopped in to chat some more with Zach from Overland Gourmet, who would be providing the Saturday night dinner. Then we had to thoroughly check out the two 80-series brought by “YodaTEQ” Frank and his friend, before moving on and examining the adjacent Pinzgauer. We had a great time chatting with the vehicle owners and seeing how they had customized the vehicles to suit their needs. The shared enthusiasm was infectious and these interactions were the highlight of the MR event for me.

After the Ranger Rescue, Dave, Mark and the others rolled into camp and Zach – who already had the food prep volunteers slaving away – kicked his dinner prep into high gear. Dave meanwhile cleared out the melted tangle of electrical wiring that had nearly burned up his Taco, patched up a Snow Peak-sliced finger (not his own at least), and then wrangled up the attendees for the big event raffle.

The raffle was well-stocked with what must have been 50 or 60 prizes, mostly donations from the Mountain Rendezvous sponsors. Somehow, Dave managed to avoid pulling my raffle ticket number this time, which was my only complaint for the entire event. He did however surprise me by giving a big shout-out to this very blog, which was unexpected and very nice of him. He also recommended the Overland Nomads blog and thanked us for providing him and others with inspiration to get out and have some adventures.

After the raffle, the Overland Gourmet dinner of burgers, potatoes and veggies was a big hit with the attendees, and included Zach’s secret BBQ sauce and the artery-clogging bacon butter. I was able to assist the best way I knew how, by bringing Zach a couple of beers and a big slug of bourbon at strategic intervals. It’s always good to keep the chef calm, but not get him completely tanked until the dinner is done.

After dinner was more time spent around the main campfire. I found myself having a Dragnet-like rapid-fire conversation about old military and historic sites with another attendee. It was no wonder that it turned out to be “TEOTWAWKI” Jim, whose Sun to the North blog had always paralleled my own interests. It was great to finally meet him in person & again share mutual enthusiasms. Eventually I was pulled away to a side group with the Nomads, Gianni and Raquel from Triple Aught Design, Nathan “nwoods” and Erik “SSSSTFIRE”. And a couple of well-behaved dogs too! We happily chatted until we were all cold and ready for bed, and then some, before finally turning in.

It was colder that night, down into the 20s, but again I was warm & cozy, and my tent remained pleasingly bear-free. For me, there’s nothing much better than cold, fresh air with the scent of surrounding pine trees to help me sleep well, despite a nagging sore shoulder. Ah, sweet camping bliss! I was also pleased with my new Marmot tent on its first two nights of use. The vestibules were a particularly welcome addition.

We had a groggy breakfast in the morning, before regretfully packing up our camps. Astrid declared that they would be buying their own REI French press carafe like mine, since they could no longer contemplate not having a vast quantity of good coffee on hand for these chilly mornings. We then spent the last few hours with still more socializing and the long process of saying goodbye before hitting the road once more. It was all over much too quickly.

We headed out and back down the mountain, and I stopped to find a geocache so that I could drop off a travel bug I’d brought with me from San Jose. The Nomads had another day or two free and planned to head up 395 towards Mammoth, but I had to get home that evening and that meant another long, dull 8-hour drive. There was traffic here & there and it was dark when I finally pulled into my driveway around 7:30 that night. I was bummed that Mountain Rendezvous was already over, but I was still buzzing with the usual post-trip excitement and I was happy to be home with my family again.

While dwarfed in size compared to Overland Expo, the Rendezvous Conspiracy events (Mountain Rendezvous in October and Desert Rendezvous in March) are still two of the largest overland gatherings in the country, if not the world. They are free events, thanks to the generosity of the sponsors and the hard work of the organizers and volunteers. With the demise of the short-lived Overland Rallies & Workshops event at Hollister Hills SVRA, we’re grateful to still have these two events to enjoy here in California, even if they are far from the SF Bay Area. They’re a great opportunity to connect with other overlanders and Expedition Portal members, trade stories and information, and to spend some wonderful evenings around the campfire.

In addition to Dave and his wife Nori and the many volunteers that make these events happen, I’d like to thank the Mountain Rendezvous 2012 sponsors:

• Triple Aught Design
• Bundu Gear
• Overland Gourmet
• AT Overland Equipment
• All-Pro Off-Road
• Snow Peak
• Viking Off-Road
• Iron Pig Offroad
• Tembo Tusk
• Ursa Minor Vehicles
• Overland Journal
• Expedition Portal
• Sportsmobile
• TacoDoc.com

You can find the Rendezvous Conspiracy on Facebook.

Of course, I have a MR2012 photo gallery. Check it out, and I hope to see you at Desert Rendezvous 2013!

My travel buds, Anthony and Astrid (@OverlandNomads)