Outdoor Adventure USA

I had the day off yesterday and decided to do a little wheeling. I called up an unemployed buddy (Chris) to see if he wanted to show me some of the spur trails off of Otay Truck Trail and he was free for they day. We met up at the General Store at 10:00, chatted a few minuets then headed up the trail.

I am not very familiar with this trial by the way. I took the Rubicon about half way up the main trail a couple of years ago, but since it was pretty much paved I turned back. On this day, I was introduced to a nice net work of fun rocky, muddy, sticky trails. As we made our way up the mountain we took a few short breaks to take pictures and enjoy the views. We even made a stop near the water tower to check out some old bunkers. Pretty creepy places. If anyone knows about these buildings and what they were used for I would like know myself. One looked like a jail, the other was more like a torture chamber. Not the case I'm sure, but it was pretty strange and with no information about them our imaginations were left free to run wild.

After we left the torture chamber we planed to run one more trail that turned south east by the water tower and dead ended then come home. This is the trial that got interesting. Getting down the trail was no problem, but I noticed my rear end shifting a lot. I just took that movement as my wheels shifting off the small rocks. At the end of the trial I got hung a set of small boulders. I had no traction due to the new mud slicks I had acquired traversing the trails saddle. 30 minuets of changing lines and try try again's.... I broke out the tow strap for a little assistance from Chris' XJ. No problem, obstacle cleared. The following 30 minuets were spent listening to smack being talked on the radio about being recovered by a Jeep. Chris really should have saved it till we were back on pavement! Back to steep decline that was now 200m of hard climbing in loose rocks and sticky clay. I waited at the bottom till Chris cleared the climb... he didn't. All of his traction was lost about 50m from the crest, at the steepest part of the hill. His forward movement was now, sideways and back down the hill! Great... he has no winch, no traction, and I gotta get home and clean the house before the wife gets home!

What to do... CALL RALPHIE! Here is a true friend. WIth no hesitation he said we could come down and help with recovery if we could not get out. We traded numbers and with a little help from Google earth, Motion X, and Topo he was able to pin point where we were on the trail. We confermed radio channels and he was off. We were on .510 simplex, and I was monitoring the Otay Repeater so we knew were could talk.

With help on the way, and not wanting to accept defeat I climbed in the FJ and started up the hill with my mud slicks. After a lot of spotting, rock stacking, slipping sliding, banging, and pounding on the skinny peddle I made it out! By this time Ralphie was in simplex range so I relayed the situation to him. Now, lets see if we can get Chris out. He has managed to slide to left side of the trail where there not rocks for traction, and the sticky clay that was bout 3 inches deep. Back to moving rocks and hammering the gas. 45min later he too was at the top. Ralphie was pretty much at the trail head by this time, but he decided to stay there and just wait for us.

On the way out we chatted with a CBP agent to conferm our direction since niether of had been on the side of the trail. Turns out Border Patrol got a nice entertaining show of our recovery Always happy to brighten up some ones day, specially when they are on the job.

20 min later Chris and I were back on pavement. It was great day of wheeling and I have a new respect and out look on the Otay Truck Trail. Lessons learned... No matter how easy the trial was the day before, if the elements have changed CHECK THE TRAIL. What was nice solid dirt then, could be life sucking clay that will rob you of tread and traction and really make your day interseting.

"Otay is supposed to be easy... unless it's wet" -Ralphie

Great report, with some important points:

1) Don't go out alone. You didn't, and that made the difference.

2) Have good communications. You did, and were able to summon help when you needed it, as well as locate and transmit your position.

3) Trails are dynamic. You discovered this quickly - Weather conditions, past and present, can play havoc with an easy, familiar trail. Never assume the trail will be as it was, and be prepared for a worst case scenario.

4) Make sure someone knows where you were going and how long you expect to be there. I'm not sure if you did, but you had #1 and #2 in your favor. However, even on a day trip, I leave a note for my wife with information on the location of my adventure, who I'll be with, and how long I should be gone.

Glad you had a good time, and were able to all get out safely.

We were on point with #4 as well, both Chris and my wife knew where we were going, so that was covered as well.

Another lesson learned was carry 2 tow straps. I only had one, and Chris had none eliminating redundant recovery gear. I will be add another to my chest next week. Even though we only strapped once, if by chance we needed more pulling and my line failed we would have been in a world of hurt.

The only pain now is getting all the CLAY off the FJ! F mud...

Nice trip you had there. The rain can really change things up on the trail. Glad you guys got out okay.

I believe those old buildings are WWII gun bunkers, in case there was ever an invasion along our southern border.

I hate clay!

After the rains there are really nice waterfalls that develop from all the water collecting up there. From the Marron Valley access to the first round bunker 3-5 there are two that you have to stop and listen for, nice little hike to get to them. The new road on the southern side that was recently built has some there as well. That side is a little unpredictable in the rain due to its recent construction.



Denis

Willie,
Although we often see it as and refer to it as Otay Mountain, it is actually San Ysidro Mountain. Most of the history of the bunkers up there has been lost. Those bunkers were formally called Camp San Ysidro. They are believed to have been put in place prior to the first World War for Border Patrol operations. The were then reactivated after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor for fear of an invasion of the main land via Mexico. They were an extension of the California National Guard base Camp Weber and occupied troops of that base. The former location of Camp Weber is on the northeast corner of the intersection of Main Street and Albany Avenue is now occupied by Otay Elementary School, the Otay Community Center, Otay Park, a San Diego Gas & Electric Co. substation, and a small vacant lot.

If you are ever having trouble on Otay don't be afraid to give me a ring. I live very close by. I could land a potato from a potato gun into Otay Lakes from my patio if I tried hard enough. I'm surprised you actually had cell service up there. It is usually sparse at best.

There are several other challenging sections on that trail as well. That hill you got hung up on is deceiving. I've seen it grab people when it's dry. People drop over the top and then on the way back they see what they've gotten themselves into and crap their pants. Of the trails up there I would rank it number 4 on a scale of 1 to 10 for the hardest trails up there with 1 being the hardest. The trail I rank number 1 is no longer legal to go on.