About Us | What's New | Calendar | Newsletter | Forum | Members Only | Join | Links | Contact | FAQ | Home Northern California Rover Club - Club Calendar Deer Creek/Slick Rock - July 13-14, Stanislaus National Forest Expedition style run through the northern Stanislaus National Forest - beautiful scenery, excellent trails suitable for all vehicles. Front recovery point a must, a little body armor (diff guards and rock sliders) wouldn't hurt either. This is an excellent introduction to rock crawling. The meeting place on Saturday morning July 13 at 0900 is Hwy. 4 at the Utica Reservoir turnoff (7 miles past Cottage Springs and before Bear Valley). We will run Slickrock trail first which takes about 3 hours, then a quick lunch at Lake Alpine followed by a 45 minute scenic highway drive to the Blue Lakes trailhead which is located at Hermit Valley campground. We will proceed as far as possible Saturday afternoon, probably camping near the river in order to rinse off trail dust. Sunday morning will be about 3 hours trail driving to reach Hwy.88 where a big left turn takes everybody back towards Jackson and points west. Slickrock is rated easy, occasional moderate. Blue Lakes is steady moderate. Some crawling over big granite rocks in places but little chance of sheet metal damage if you watch your spotter. The club has taken brand new, stock trucks through many times in past years without too much drama. Grippy tires help as the soil is loose silt. Plan on getting dusty and dirty. Vehicles must pass the standard NCRC safety inspection...the biggest items are proper front and rear recovery points, and a good parking brake. Brigid and I would like to extend an invitation to all Blue Lakes attendees to drop by our place in Angels Camp on Friday evening prior to Saturday's run. We're about 45 minutes downhill from the Hwy 4 and Utica Res. meeting place so we'll plan on leading a gaggle from our house around 0800 Saturday. Come on by anytime Friday for BBQ, a dip in the pool or just lazing on the deck. If you're a gun enthusiast feel free to bring 'em with you as we have a 100 yard rifle range as well as a sporting clays machine to test your shotgunning skills. There's plenty of Landrover parking space and a shady, green lawn for pitching camp. Here's basic directions: 1. Navigate your way to Hwy 4 in the Stockton area. 2. Take Hwy 4 eastbound. 3. After about 40 minutes driving through lovely cattle country you'll see the turn off for Copperopolis. Keep going straight on Hwy 4 but "zero" your trip meter. 4. At 5.8 miles you'll see on your right white pasture fencing with Appaloosa. Rd. in green (and overhead it says Bear Mtn Ranch). Turn in here and zero your trip meter. 5. At 1.4 miles you'll see our driveway on the right with a covered bridge. Come on in! An RSVP is required for this event so we can gauge the number of vehicles attending and plan accordingly! When: July 13 and 14 (Sat and Sun) Where: Hwy. 4 at the Utica Reservoir turnoff 0900 Sat morn, or 1232 Appaloosa Road, Angels Camp Fri night. Contact: Eric Cope, bwanae@aol.com or 209-736-9279 << back