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Fort Tule Trail Run
2/21/09 Fort Tule Trip Report
What a great turnout. A large group met for breakfast at
Denny’s and got acquainted with each other over coffee.
The 80 owners had steak and eggs, the 40 owners couldn’t afford
to eat! The rest of the gang met up with us there.
After waiting for Marcel to quit his membership drive by
flagging down Toyotas that were driving down Carefree Hwy. we
had a brief driver’s meeting and were off to the air down area
on Castle Hot Springs Road. After airing down, the
official rig count was 17. My understanding this was the
largest turn out we have had for a trail run.
The first leg of the trip was to Humbug Creek. You
couldn’t beat the weather or the views of Lake Pleasant.
At Humbug Creek we ran into (not literally) several people gold
panning and running their sluice box. The group split up
into several groups exploring the running water, gold panning
and hiking down to view the “Chinese Dam”. This is a
marvel of engineering for its day. Several ventured
through the overflow tunnel next to the dam.
Back on the road… Back tracked a little ways and headed
east to Tule Creek. One of the 40’s is nursing a
overheating problem so we stopped and enjoyed small talk while
we tried to repair a radiator hose. Made it to the Tule
Creek Riparian Habitat area and parked at the entrance. No
vehicles are allowed in this area. After a little
exploring and visiting “Pooches” grave site we walked to a
miner’s old house and sought after some shade and had lunch and
our monthly trail club meeting. Our Club President gave a
masterful speech, while our VP John Bricker was off helping out
on a carburetor issue. After the high pressure club fundraising
presentation by our treasurer Garie Chavez, we were treated to
ice cream sandwiches courtesy of our club secretary Joe Chott.
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Welcome our newest club members: |
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Dave Sims - Flagstaff 78 FJ40 |
Michael Certo - Queen Creek 74 FJ40 |
Ron and Judi Barber – Phoenix FJ CRUISER |
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Participants: (I
know I’m missing someone) |
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Bob Kesslerr - FZJ80 |
John Bricker rode with Bob |
Craig Tellez and kids J**P |
Jiva Devoe and kids UZJ100 |
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Marcel Clement rode with Craig |
Chip and Nancy U’ren FZJ80 |
Joe Chott FZJ80 |
Randy Drwinga LX450 |
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Ron Drwinga 4RUNNER |
Randall Mills FJ40 |
Garie Chavez FZJ80 |
Jeff Swanson rode with Garie |
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Mike and Diane Meister Land Rover LR3 |
Steve and Amy Baum FJ40 |
Dave Glass Toyota P.U. |
Dave Simms Suzuki Samurai |
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Michael Certo FJ40 |
Ron and Judi Barber FJ CRUISER |
Troy Colgrove Tacoma |
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