The modern Dutch Oven (DO) has always intrigued me. A versatile cooking vessel, most often made of cast iron, it is used with hot coals below it, but also on the lid. In this way heat is generated from above as well as below, cooking more evenly.

I should state up front that I’m primarily talking about the outdoor/camping type of DO, not the enameled kitchen style. I’m also most definitely not talking about the silly (although somewhat amusing) slang term. Moving right along…

Last year I got a great deal on a new 12″ DO from Camp Chef. They are probably the most common brand of DO I see around, along with Lodge. There are also aluminum DOs from Snow Peak for example, but these are much less common and I have no firsthand experience using one. In fact, I had never used a DO, and only once had a bite of anything made from one before purchasing this model for myself.

Still, over the years I’d read about them, and seen many associated photos. Friends like Dan Cole (@jeepin_idaho) of The 4×4 Podcast wrote of the wonders they had created with their versatile DOs: stews, breads, cobblers, cakes… Even pizza! I don’t know about you, but I can say without reservation that I like to eat all that stuff. So I think my fascination with these mysterious iron pots was understandable.

I purchased the DO online, along with a “lid lifter” and a padded carrying bag, and they were delivered to my doorstep soon after. I duly unpacked and admired them. And then they sat around for several months before I actually got around to using them.

There was an article on Dutch Ovens in a recent issue of Overland Journal. That got me thinking that I really needed to get off my proverbial rear and try to use mine. There had also been a Dutch Oven cook-off at Desert Rendezvous 2013, and another would be held at Mountain Rendezvous 2013. Cooking up something for the latter seemed infinitely preferable to bringing along a couple of bags of Doritos or something for the Saturday night potluck as well.

I’d read the basics about how DOs worked, and I’d seen numerous tasty-sounding recipes over the years. I had no idea what to try first. There was a simple-looking peach cobbler recipe in the Overland Journal article, and I couldn’t recall a cobbler I hadn’t liked, so I decided to go for it. This would be me first attempt at cooking with my DO, so even in the worst case it would be a good learning experience.

So, it turned out to be a good learning experience.

The recipe was simple: Chuck in some canned peaches, pour in some cake batter mix, top with pads of butter and optionally some cinnamon and sugar.

It wasn’t a total disaster, really. Maybe 90%, but not 100%. And my problems were avoidable, had I known enough to avoid making the mistakes I did. Thus, my learning experiences:

1. I learned that Dutch Ovens are not magically immune to what we refer to in the computer industry as GIGO: Garbage In, Garbage Out. Using canned peaches and cheap store-bought cake mixes (as called for in the recipe) was never going to yield a gourmet or artisanal dessert.

2. There was no direction in the recipe to stir up the powdery cake mix, so we didn’t. I had thought that perhaps the boiling ingredients would take care of that. Nope. Some did absorb fluids or otherwise come out as intended, but there were also many patches of unmixed powder. Nasty.

3. The recipe called for the top of the ingredients to optionally be sprinkled with cinnamon and/or sugar. That ended up leaving a sticky, melted sugar residue on the inside of the top lid of my DO, even though the DO was pre-seasoned. To this day I’ve been unable to get that residue off of the lid, even with soap, boiling water and scrubbing.

4. Most other cobbler recipes for the DO seem to use Bisquick (or something similar) rather than cake mix. I’d agree with that substitution, unless maybe you have a much higher tolerance for sugary sweetness than I do.

5. One thing I did right was based off of other experiences, and that was to try out this new cooking at home and not out in camp somewhere for the first time. If things went badly (which they did), there were plenty of other edible options at hand. Disappointment is doubled in the field, when it comes to food. Also, I purchased two dozen bricks to make a temporary oven base on my back patio, and that worked out quite well.

Getting the coals ready with help from my Snow Peak torch, aka Der Flammenwerfer.

We ate some of the cobbler, which was mostly edible but not great. There was a ton of it, and most of it was discarded. The Dutch Oven, I had learned, was surely not some magical device. It was a versatile and effective cooking device, but it was still very possible to produce poor results, as my first attempt clearly showed.

After the cobbler disaster, it was time to step back and regroup. I considered making a chili of some sort, but eventually I had a better idea: bread. My wife Carrie makes great bread, in several varieties. By starting with a known good recipe, and something simple, we’d have a better chance of success. We just needed to guess the correct amount of coals to use (every online resource disagrees with the others!) and cross our fingers.

As it turned out, we ended up baking the French bread for an extra 5 minutes (beyond the original 30) and it came out great! What a relief. We also were able to bake it on a sheet of parchment paper which all but eliminated the need for any cleanup. It was simple, easy to cook, reasonably quick, and the bread tasted great. We had a winner.

Fantastic enties in the Dutch Oven cook-off at MR13.

Since then I’ve cooked the same French bread recipe a couple of more times, including at Mountain Rendezvous where I actually cooked two loaves back-to-back for the first time. We didn’t win any of the prizes (nor were we going to with the top 3 going to much more involved dishes that really deserved it) but I was flooded with compliments anyway.

One other adjustment I made along the way was to the lid lifter I’d purchased. Frustratingly, it was just a bit too wide to fit inside my Dutch Oven when transporting it. A few careful love taps from my 3lb sledge corrected that. Why they didn’t make it just a touch narrower in the first place is beyond me.

So I’m just starting down the road with my Dutch Oven experiences. I’d like to try making pizza, and a chili too. Those first learning experiences will be important as I move forward. I think the key thing I learned was the mental adjustments I needed to make regarding the DO. I need to trust my own cooking instincts there, and understand the DO for what it is, as well as what it is not. And it’s not a magical pot that you can just dump bad ingredients into and have them come out as some wonder dessert.

And if you have a favforite recipe, I’d love to hear about it.

Big Pine Flat Trail

Date Driven: 10/24-25/13

Length: 26.6 miles

My drive time: 3 hours

Start: intersection of Green Valley Lake Road and Crab Flats Road, N34º 14.013′ W117º 05.364′

End: At pavement at Holcomb Valley Road, N34º 18.214′ W116º 49.355′

GPS Track: GPX or KMZ format. (right click -> Save As)

Source(s): Trail “South Coast #13” in Backcountry Adventures: Southern California (Massey) was my primary source for this drive. Different segments of this trail are listed under several drives in Area 6 (Big Bear, Lake Arrowhead) in the Guide to Northern California Backroads & 4-Wheel Drive Trails (Wells). An excellent paper map, Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) Guide, San Bernadino National Forest 2012 is also available.

Summary: This drive is a very scenic and generally very easy trail that runs through the Holcomb Valley north of Big Bear Lake. I drove it from west to east. Elevation runs from roughly 5,500′ to 7,600′.

Description: Beginning at its western end, the trail starts off pretty smooth and winds among the hills down to the Crab Creek crossing which was a lot of fun for us. A few miles later the terrain opens up and includes boulder-topped hills and pine forests. It’s very pretty and if I lived closer I’d surely come here often. There are several marked scenic and historic sites as you near the eastern side, including wonderful sweeping views at the old Lucky Baldwin gold mine site.

Full details of my visit to this trail, and a large photo gallery, can be found in my blog post Mountain Rendezvous 2013 – Part Two.

I had AT&T cell coverage on the western and eastern ends of the drive where I was at higher, unobstructed terrain. I didn’t keep close track other than that.

I’ve cleaned up and combined my two original tracks for this drive as usual. Remember to use it as a general guide, not as a perfect and exact resource.

There are several camping options along the trail or nearby. There are full campsites, although only two were still open for the season when I was there – Holcomb Valley, and Serrano which is on the north shore of Big Bear Lake. There are also “yellow post” primitive sites, as well as dispersed camping options. For availability, fees (if any) and regulations, Adventure Passes (if needed) and general info, check with the SBNF Discovery Center at 40971 North Shore Drive, Highway 38, in Fawnskin. Be aware that (as of this writing) they are closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Their phone number is (909) 382-2790.

Disclaimer – This information is provided from the best of my recollection and is necessarily subjective. GPS data is from a personal device inside my vehicle, so coordinates will not be exact. Use of any of this information is at your own risk and responsibility – period. Conditions change (especially in winter), vehicles and driver skills vary, etc. and I have no control over these things. Don’t let anything written here override your own personal common sense or safety.

Friday

After completing Big Pine Flat Trail, it was a short drive into Big Bear City where we planned to refuel and pick up some food. Despite its name, it more like a mountain town than a city, with a population of about 12,000. Driving down what seemed to be the main drag looking for a gas station, it appeared that every other business was either a thrift store or a Mexican joint.

We found a gas station, and I was pleased to discover that fuel prices were reasonable. After filling up we located a small market where we purchased cold drinks, some fresh fruit and assorted other things to round out our supplies for the rest of the weekend.

We departed Big Bear City and took Highway 38 – one of the highest in southern California – up to 8,436′ elevation before dropping down again, coasting along at the 50mph speed limit for what seemed like several miles. A half hour later at around 1:15, we arrived at our destination: Mountain Rendezvous 2013 at Camp Tahquitz.

While checking in at the entrance and receiving my paperwork, raffle and t-shirt tickets, I had this amusing exchange with the guy who was signing me in:

Guy: Oh, and one last thing. Don’t worry if you hear shots. There’s a war reenactment going on nearby. So please don’t return fire. (grin)

Me: Awwwwww……..

Guy: Hahahaha! Everyone I talk to has that same response!

Sign-in complete, we drove around the camp a bit before selecting a place to park and set up for the weekend. We found a wide-open spot between other folks, but little did we know that one group near us was waiting for several friends to arrive. By the time those folks arrived later on and wedged themselves in, they were practically parked on my front bumper. Lesson learned. Next year I’ll definitely stake out someplace along the edges of camp. But – more importantly – we’d finally made it to Mountain Rendezvous 2013!

We set up camp and made lunch, and the socializing began in earnest as other overlanders rolled in. With an RSVP list of over a hundred vehicles, there were people from all over southern California and well beyond. We recognized an overlander from Alaska, another from Arizona, and soon the German overlanding couple Bente and Hans (http://www.offroad-travel.net/, who we’d met on the trail the previous day) arrived for the weekend. There were many ExPo and American Adventurist regulars, and also vendors like Mario from AT Overland Equipment, Paul May from Equipt Expedition Outfitters, and Jerry from Tembo Tusk. The two annual Rendezvous events (Desert and Mountain) show all the signs of remaining popular for many years to come.

My interpretation of the schedule for Friday schedule was very simple: show up, set up, hang out. That night I chatted with as many people as I could: Mitch & Apryl (@lyrpa), Robert, Dave, my old pal Bryon Dorr (@ExplorElements), Mario, Jerry, Cris Mateski, Ross and Karen, and god knows who else. There were some people I only managed to say a few words to throughout the weekend, and others where I couldn’t even manage that! It was quite the social whirlwind.

It got quite cold that night – mid-thirties I think – and I actually went to bed early, a bit after 9pm. I was pretty beat from the last couple of days of driving and running on sleep deficit from the week leading up to MR. So I crawled into my sleeping bag and spent a little time zipping through Instagram and Facebook, and checking texts from the family before I pulled the sleeping bag over my head and promptly conked out.

Saturday

I was awoken promptly at 0700 the next morning by two of my camp neighbors who were having a conversation at full volume about 20 feet from me. I cursed a bit under my breath but hey, what are you gonna do? I got up, got changed and made myself ready for the new day. Breakfast was scrambled eggs, toasted sourdough bread with butter, a banana, coffee and orange juice.

Today’s schedule was a bit busier. Folks who were so inclined were going out to do group trail runs, although many of us were just going to hang out at camp. Late in the afternoon the event t-shirts would be handed out, followed by a Dutch Oven cook-off that I had signed up for, in addition to a general pot-luck dinner for all. The annual group photo would then be taken by Brent Haywood, and finally there would be a large raffle to conclude the planned activities. Naturally, there would be more socializing after that.

As planned, I made my rounds of camp beginning that morning, snapping photos, chatting with the vehicle owners, and checking things out. Socializing, meeting people, and looking over vehicles is a big part of the Rendezvous events. In that way they’re bit like smaller, regional versions of Overland Expo, minus the training and other presentations. Of course, they’re either free or almost-free as well, thanks to the event sponsors and volunteers. Mountain Rendezvous also generates donations for the Boy Scouts of America, who let us use Camp Tahquitz for the event.

Mingling and taking photos took up my afternoon until I had to start working on my Dutch oven contribution, in the form of two loaves of French bread I’d be baking up. Usually during this time when everyone is gathered around the main fire ring I’m circulating with my camera, but this time I had to concentrate on the baking. So while MR is normally a big whirlwind for me, now there was one more thing for me to deal with, and it was tricky to manage everything. At one point, Brent zipped past me, tapping me quickly on the shoulder with a “Hey Dave!” before vanishing into the crowd again… But it worked out. I got my loaves baked without any disasters (and many compliments, thanks everyone!), I got my shirt, eventually managed to get some dinner, and then I got skunked in the raffle for the second year in a row. Which is a bummer as there were some really nice prizes… Thanks anyway, sponsors and donors!

The Dutch oven offerings were exceptional. Besides the basic French bread I made, there was also sourdough bread, pulled pork with Guiness, chocolate cake with mint chips, white beans with chicken, pear cobbler, tomatillo salsa verde, chili and cornbread, casserole, and more. I was very impressed with the cooks, and grateful that they were willing to put in the effort to share their creations.

After the raffle it was well past dark, and time again to get the base layers on, bundle up, slap on a headlamp, and pour some bourbon into my titanium mug for the evening socializing. We had a circle of camp chairs behind Gianni and Raquel’s (@tadgear) Jeep and again a good time was had by all, talking and sharing news and ideas. And as always, I really enjoyed myself. I went to bed later this time, and it was also the coldest night yet, getting down to around freezing overnight. When I got back to my sleeping bag after answering the call of nature at 3am, I didn’t even bother taking off my lightweight down jacket.

Sunday

It’s another chilly morning, and my head still contains the faint reverberations of the prior evening’s bourbon. Scrambled eggs, orange juice and the precious, precious coffee made up brekkie, before packing up the camp kitchen, table and chairs in preparation for moving out. Where had the long weekend gone so quickly? It seems like we just got here.

Saying goodbyes took close to two hours. Vehicles are pulling out of camp here and there. I finally made my exit just past 10am, ahead of the official MR closing time at noon. I have a lot further to drive than most of the attendees though. After driving down out of the beautiful mountains, I hit the LA basin and I’m in travel hell for the next several hours. It’s very warm and I have a long drive on Highway 210, a soul-damaging sty of a road that is so utterly awful that it actually makes me look forward to reaching the infamous I-5.

I-5 is mostly a snooze-fest, so I feel fortunate that there’s a a show and a concert on Sirius XM radio that I like, which helps me pass a couple of the long hours. Because both my fuel tanks were filled up in Big Bear City, I have more than enough to make it home without stopping. However at some point around 2pm I need a break and stop to grab lunch (to go), take a quick bladder break, and pick up an inexpensive souvenir for the kid. After that, it’s drive, drive, drive until I am mercifully home again.

Conclusion

It was a fun, whirlwind road trip as always. Making it a four-day journey instead of three was definitely a good idea, given the lengthy drives to and from the event. The Rendezvous events are a lot of fun and are very well-attended, and I always look forward to seeing many friends again, as well as making new ones. They’re events where “like-minded” people can come and be surrounded by others who share their passions. And there are so many flavors of the overlanding community – big luxury campers, minimalist dual-sport motorcyclists, rock-crawler types, VW dirtbaggers, families in simple SUVs, and every conceivable combination and variation between. If offroading and travel and camping are things that interest you, they all come together in their many forms at the Rendezvous events.

As always I want to thank Dave Bennett for leading the Rendezvous events. Signups to attend are now done in one of the forums of his American Adventurist site. Go check them out, sign up, and maybe join us next spring for Desert Rendezvous 2014. Thanks also to the event sponsors, raffle donors, the volunteers who organize and work the events, the talented Dutch oven cooks and potluck contributors, and of course the many attendees that make these events what they are. Lastly, thanks to my friends – old and new – with whom I am so fortunate to be able to share these events and good times with. You guys and gals are amazing, special people.

Mountain Rendezvous 2013 – photo gallery 2

Friday morning, I grudgingly awoke and climbed out of my warm, cozy sleeping bag in the back of the Land Cruiser. The fall temperature had dropped into the upper 30s overnight and we were camped at about 6,500′ elevation. As always – but especially when it was cold like this – coffee was the absolute first order of business this morning after brushing my teeth. Everywhere around us were bright orange, yellow, and red autumn leaves. The small hillside next to me was topped with very Sierra-like granite boulders. Not bad for a random campsite.

After the coffee (Starbucks Via) I heated up my trusty and simple breakfast of Mountain House blueberry oatmeal, appreciating the warm food as I also heated my hands around the stove. My plan for the first camping spot here was to minimize the cooking effort and cleanup, so I was eating backpacking food out of the bags, and just heating up water via my pack stove. The rest of the weekend I’d set up and use my chuck box and proper camp kitchen. And the Dutch Oven.

After breakfast we again said goodbye to Bente and Hans and drove down to check on the water crossing where I’d turned around the previous evening. This time there was no one else there. Also the tree had been cleared and fresh tire tracks led into and out of the water crossing, all from the ranger pickup we’d seen drive through a short time earlier that morning. It was a beautiful spot and we scouted around, checking our options.

I decided to drive straight through. Gianni, however, had several inconvenient openings in his Jeep TJ which was still very much a work in progress. The missing transfer case breather was one of the more glaring issues. Rather than risk sucking in water, he opted to take the alternate route, skirting the water, going up the rocky surface on the other side before swinging 90-degrees left around a large boulder, then quickly negotiating a pit before reaching the easy trail again. In any case, we each made it through without any drama, and had a lot of fun in the process!

Beyond the water crossing the trail was pretty straightforward, aside from a few mildly technical rocky areas. Like many dirt roads, we mostly had to watch for the occasional dips and whoop-de-doos. As we progressed eastward, the terrain widened up and we enjoyed the pine forests and boulder-covered hilltops. We drove through one area that had been burned by an older fire where there were stark white trees. Passing through the Holcomb Valley we stopped to check out several sights I had marked with waypoints, including a mysterious grave, some alleged saloon remnants, the pygmy cabin, and a (also alleged) hanging tree.

The trail was pretty well signed throughout, which was helpful as confirmation of my route. It was good that – prior to the trip – I had laid out the route fully in my handheld GPS, as none of the topo or road maps in my iPad’s MotionX apps were entirely complete. Sometimes the forest road names also conflicted between my electronic maps and my Massey guide book, adding more potential for confusion, but as it was we navigated through without incident. It helped that when in doubt, we could simply follow the “main” trail, for the most part.

We really enjoyed this scenic dirt trail, which lasted over 26 miles. The weather had warmed up and was perfect for t-shirts, and the fresh mountain air was a real treat. Our elevation along the trail varied from roughly 5,500′ to 7,600′. We passed a few vehicles along the way but most of the time had the place to ourselves. I was hoping to see more wildlife, but other than a large deer zipping in front of me at one point, the critters were scarce… Probably because it was also hunting season!

Near the end, the trail became rockier and tightened up, contouring along hillsides on shelf roads, but still generally wide enough for two vehicles to squeak past each other. We reached the old Lucky Baldwin gold mining site and were treated to wonderful panoramic views of Baldwin Lake, and the Johnson Valley to the northeast, in addition to the wooden remnants of a large ore bin at the mine. After taking photos and enjoying the views, it was less than a mile of downhill descent before we’d reached pavement again, next to a very large landfill site.

From there it was a short drive into Big Bear City where we topped-up our fuel tanks (I was now good to get home!) and picked up some food from a small market. Then we had a half-hour drive up and down Highway 38, which peaked at 8,436′ on my GPS, making it one of the highest highways in southern California. The fall colors continued to put on a real show for us, and that crisp mountain air was always a treat for me.

We arrived at Camp Tahquitz for Mountain Rendezvous 2013 at around 1:15 that afternoon, and that’s where I will pick up on the next post.

Mountain Rendezvous Part Two – Big Pine Flat Trail photo gallery