Trails: Barrett lake

Barrett lake (8/01)

Amy and I ran Barrett Lake with Richar Gauthier and a group of at least a dozen other Cherokees and one Comanche the same week we did the Rubicon. Barrett is about half the distance of the Rubicon, but very tough for its 4 miles. Unlike the Con, there are very few stretches where you can relax, and the trail is extremely tight most of the way up. A new forest service gate at the bottom limits entry to small vehicles--our Cherokee fit through with about 10" to spare, but there were plenty of spots on the trail where we barely squaeked through. There are lots of trees lining the trail (to take out a side mirror or fender), and plenty of off camber sections around big rocks that could easily mash in a door or two.

A group of 12 or so Cherokees met up at Ice House early in the morning before driving the 20 or so miles up to the trailhead near Wright's Lake. I had not done any serious driving since Fordyce last year, so I figured it would take a while to get back in the groove. Well, I got back in the groove quick, because the trail got nasty almost immediately!

Richard airing down

Eric looks on as Goatman navigates over a rough spot

Richard always takes the "fun" line

Keven coming down

Me taking the "easy" way down

The trail works its way up through the trees to a section called the rock garden. About here we had our first of what would be many breakdowns. Keven's crossmember bolts came out and Richard did a little impromptu welding job while "Sideshow Eric" got good and high-centered on two big rocks and entertained everyone trying to get down. He finally got winched off with Paul's help and we were back on the trail after an hour or two.

While we were waiting around we got passed by a couple of serious rock buggies including the Killer Bee. These guys had so much flex and such huge tires they made it look like easy. They had apparently driven up to the lake in 2 hours the night before--it only took our group about 10 in broad daylight.

Another angle

Me coming over a big boulder in the rock garden

Ned Bacon pilots the Killer Bee past our group

The rock garden

Richard in the rock garden

After winding out way up through the rock garden, and with only about a mile to go, we heard on the radio that somebody toward the back of the group had rolled over. We stopped and ran back down the trail to the spot where Chuck Loop was--his XJ was lying on its side, passenger side in the air, rear window popped out, and Chuck with blood all over his face and hands. His portable receiver-mount winch had been sitting loose on the floor of the passenger front seat, and whe the Jeep rolled the winch hit him in the head. This was scary--nobody was sure how bad the gash in his scalp was, and he could have easily been killed. While a few people helped him to sit down and worked on stopping the bleeding, the rest of us went to work getting Eric's Jeep into position to winch Loop's Jeep back into its original upright position.

Loop's Jeep, rubber side up

Paul helps Loop

Another shot of the accident

Getting ready to flip the Jeep back over

Barrett Lake right after our swim

Using a snatch block, we got a big strap hooked around Chuck's rock rails and hooked that to Eric's winch cable. Getting the Jeep upright was surprisingly easy and didn't cause any further damage. Finally, Chuck started it up and eased it off the rock it was sitting up against. The Jeep was belching a lot of white smoke, but seemed to be driveable. Total damage--some dents in the roof, driver side door, a shattered rear side window, rear window glass popped out (but was later reinstalled by Mike when we got to camp) and a big bloody laceration in Chuck's skull. The wound got cleaned up and stopped bleeding by dinner time. Amy and I made him dinner as he had plenty to worry about besides cooking!

Barrett lake itself is really gorgeous--remided me a lot of Grouse lake as it is situated at the base of big granite cliffs and surrounded by big pine trees. Amy and I wasted no time in setting up camp and heading over to the lake for a swim to get cleaned up. After dinner everybody hung out for a while around the fire before crawling off to bed. Great place to camp--would make a nice backpacking weekend, since you could probably hike up to the lake in about 1/4 of the time it takes to drive.

Barrett in the morning

Richard helps Dave fix his busted track bar

Keven's cordless drill came in handy

Richard shows off his welding skills, again!

Another shot

Goatman and his Dad

Eric coming down

A great view of the high Sierras on the way out

The trip back down the next day took about half as long as getting up to the lake. Dave's RE trackbar busted around the weld near the frame mount and was quickly re-welded. Except for Dan getting his MJ hung up on a big rock, going down was pretty uneventful. Amy and I were glad to get back on the pavement with no damage except for some severely scraped rocker skids and scraped bumpers! We aired up in the parking lot and decided to drive out to Kyburz for gas and ice, then made the long drive back to meet up with everyone at the Loon Lake campground and another evening swim.

All in all, Barrett is probably the toughest trail I've driven so far for it's size. The Rubicon has tougher sections, but most can be bypassed like the True Sluice and Little Sluice, where Barrett has no bypasses. Without good rock rails, you are guaranteed major body damage! This trail is tough enough with 33's, front and rear lockers, and low gears. Kudos to Mike and the others who ran this trail with 31's, and thanks again to Richard for his leadership and ability to fix just about anything on the trail. Great trip, great trail, and a really great group of people!