The 2004 BBQ at the Hammers took place as scheduled on January 10, 2004 at Means Dry Lake, Johnson Valley, CA. Some folks arrived early on Thursday to pre-run trails. Many four wheelers arrived on Friday to prepare for the Saturday rock fest. By early Saturday morning, we had quite a group gathered around the campfire, making plans and checking tire pressures for the day’s adventure.

By the nine o’clock hour, we had three groups of Jeepers heading out into the wilderness of the Hammers. The first group, lead by Kathy Crook, went out to tackle the Jack Hammer trail. John and Ray Currie, from Currie Enterprises, were leading a second group over the Big Johnson trail. Rick Russell, from Sidekick Maps and Videos, directed the third group toward general exploring, and finding some new obstacles.

As camp host, I elected to stay behind and keep watch over all the delicious BBQ that was being prepared for the afternoon activities. A few stragglers arrived midmorning and were pointed toward the various trails. “What an absolutely beautiful day”, was all that anyone could say to describe the weather and the desert vistas.

Johnson Valley is a Mecca of off-roading adventure. While the majority of our group was out testing tires, axles and lockers on the toughest trails in the west, I decided to take the kids out on a trail ride with the motorbikes. My son Brandon was eager to take his YZ 80 out for a spin. We rode toward the rock garden area, taking a few moments to play on the sand hills along the way. Our computer technician, Art Long, had joined us from the office. He charged the sand dunes with gusto on his CR 500. There was no hill too steep for Artie that day! Brandon’s friend Scott was also charging the trails on his new XR 100. This first visit to Johnson Valley for him will definitely not be his last. As luck would have it we met up with the Big Johnson group as they finished their first trail run of the day. After a quick visit and update with them, we continued down the main road, checking out spur trails and enjoying the desert views. As we cruised back to camp on the long straight sandy wash road, just for a moment, I almost had the inclination to put my feet forward on the highway pegs. Of course, those highway pegs are on my Road King, not on my CR! What a great day of riding with the kids.

Back at camp, we fired up the Q, and started boiling the beans. By 6:00 pm everyone had made it safely off the trail. Some were broken and scratched; all were worn and tired. It felt great to be back at camp. We gathered around the BBQ and campfires and had good old time eating and talking and eating some more. Tales of broken parts and trail fixes could be heard at every group. Some had stories from past years BBQ‘s at the Hammers. All in all, the 3rd annual BBQ at the Hammers had turned out SPECTACULAR!

As night fell, and the temperature dropped, we stoked up the campfire and played a DVD on the projector for an evening movie. There is nothing quite like sitting under a star filled sky in the middle of the desert, next to a roaring fire, with “The Matrix” playing on the big screen with full surround stereo. Pretty Awesome!

At one point during the movie we noticed a Sheriff’s rig out on the edge of the dry lake with lights flashing. I wondered why the Sheriff was out rousting the other campers. They seemed like nice enough folks. We didn’t pay too much attention to it.

The night rolled along. We started the second movie. The crowd thinned, time to stoke the fire again.

The “young, rowdy group” that had come out for the BBQ had set up their own fire adjacent to the main one. The occasional “Mickey bomb” lit up the night sky. Ah, the simple pleasures.

By about 1:00 am it was just Ted and I still hanging out by the fire. Ted, an avid rock crawler and professional spotter on the Walker Evans Rock Crawling team, noticed an empty trailer parked next to his camper. He asked me, “Hey, whose rig is that?” I took a quick look and responded “That’s Larry’s, he and his girl friend showed up late this morning, and went off alone to find the others”. Ted replied, “Where’s his Jeep?” Brad, “Well, it’s got to be there. It’s a green YJ”. Ted answered, “It’s not there!” As my heart began to sink I shouted, “Oh Shi*&*%!”

I decided to take a ride down the main road out of camp. I couldn’t sleep knowing that someone from our group might be out on the trail broken and cold. They had left camp about 10:00 am, some 15 hours earlier. I knew this because Larry had stepped into camp to say hello only for a moment, as they were heading out for the day. I threw my big parka and a bottle of H2O in my TJ and hit the road.

The desert can be awfully quite at night. At several points I stopped and turned off the motor to listen for a distress signal or something. Nothing! I drove all the way out to roads-end; pass the rock garden area. Not knowing what trail they had taken left me at a complete loss of where to search. I headed back and returned to camp just before 3:00 am.

The story does have a happy ending. When I got back to camp they were there safe and sound. Larry had done something I would never recommend; tackling a tough trail solo. He had rolled his Jeep while approaching the summit on Sun Bonnet Pass. Using the hand drawn maps they had made took them away from camp as they hiked nearly 10 hours that day. Finally they discovered a survey marker and with the help of a little cell phone service, they called 911.

The Sheriff vehicles, that had been on the dry lake that evening, had helped setup a search and rescue main pit. The local Search and Rescue had located our lost Jeepers and brought them back to camp - hungry, but safe. A big hearty thank you to Search and Rescue Volunteers all over America!

Sunday morning sunlight broke through the night sky, another beautiful day in the desert. I summoned the help of Rick Russell, Doug Lacrosse and Donnie & Robyn Crome to assist in Larry’s Jeep retrieval. I must commend all these folks; they were about ready to go home Sunday morning, but readily changed their plans to help out a fellow four-wheeler.

We made our way out to the trail and accidentally ran the “Iron Worker” ridge before coming onto Sun Bonnet. I really love four wheeling! We tackled ole’ Sun Bonnet until we reached Larry’s sorry rig, rubber side up, one obstacle from the top. After righting the YJ with Doug’s Warn winch, Rick immediately went to work pulling the plugs and clearing the oil from the cylinders. About an hour after we had arrived on the scene, the 33 shod YJ sputtered to life. Larry would be able to drive off the hill with the Jeep under its own power. I was sure sorry for the trouble Larry had to endure, but thankful for the opportunity to spend another day on the trail.

Back at camp, we relaxed, cleaned up, and readied for the trip home.

I know there is something you won’t want to miss - next years BBQ at the Hammers!

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