Fourth Saturday Hunt

27 January 2001

Hiders: WA6TQQ, KC6TNJ, AF6O

We headed out for the T hide on Friday morning, a major storm was moving through Southern California so we surmised we could be in for trouble when we encountered snow at 2700ft in the Cajon Pass. As usual we hid a couple of easy Ts to find on the way home, one near the outlet mall at Lenwood and the other near the café at Ludlow. These Ts were programmed to turn on at 1800 on Saturday so that the hunters would not find them on the way out.

Upon arrival at our hiding area we checked in at a motel which was at the 3000ft level. I woke up at 2:30 on Saturday morning, I don't know why but something told me to look out of the window. What I saw was the cars all covered with snow which was getting worse, if it was like this at such a low altitude there could be real problems at the hiding spot. I kept an eye on the weather for another hour but conditions continued to deteriorate. I woke my fellow hiders and we decided we would have to abandon our planned hide and come up with an alternate. We ate breakfast at a truck stop and at 4:15 headed out to the Mojave scenic area.

The Mojave National Preserve, as it is now called, appeared to be in reasonable shape and the storm seemed to be leaving the area. We had in mind a location at the 4500ft level, shouldn't be too bad at that elevation but a check on the LA repeaters revealed propagation to be abysmal. Running out of time we decided to go up to the 5700ft level where we knew for sure we would be able to get a signal back to the start point. There was plenty of snow there and it was still snowing quite hard. We set up redundant transmitters to guard against possible problems due to the low temperatures.

With the signal heard at the start point we set off to hide the next transmitter. On the T1 sign in sheet we had directed the hunters to continue hunting on 147.585 so as to give ourselves maximum flexibility in designing a hide "on the fly." We situated the next T on the road that leads up to Foshay Pass, to make things easier we picked a spot that was just below the current snow level. (Foshay Pass is a difficult road at the best of times but during snow conditions it is likely to be much worse). We decided to hide one more transmitter on 147.585 on the other side of the pass, we chose the microwave site on Kelbaker Road, the idea being to give the hunters a tough decision - take the low mileage route through the pass or drive the long way round and avoid the difficulty. As it happens, I think two hunters went through the pass and two chose the long route.

Well the storm did not leave the area but apparently stalled as it continued to snow all day and into the night making conditions pretty interesting at the main T. This proved to be quite an adventure for hunters and hiders alike. We had a rule that the two "on the way home" Ts would not count if you had not found the T at the Microwave site and this is reflected in the scores above.

A couple of hunters put their elapsed mileage on the sign in sheet. Please don't do this guys, not only does it confuse the hiders (the column is clearly titled ODOMETER) but it gives the other hunters information that they shouldn't have.

The Yucca Valley mystery team came out on yet another all-day, I would like to get in touch with those guys, if anybody has an email address for them please let me know.

AF6O

Hunters Comments

"Wow how beautiful with snow"

"Not your picture spot"

"If we had gotten there an hour sooner, we probably could have reached T1"

"Great hunt"

"It's too treacherous up there"

"It will be some time before we forget this hunt"

"Cold"

"Frozen"

"Frozen butt"

"Frozen stiff"

"Wet & cold"

"When I got out of the truck, I immediately fell flat on my butt because of the ice"

"It stopped snowing"

"Oh! I did enjoy the adventure"

"Find us a room"

"Sliding down, those hills on the gas pipe line at midnight was soooo much fun"