I and Chief made a relatively short trip to the Snake Lake trail, in the Gold Lake / Lakes Basin area, north to Tahoe.

First day, we came through the highways 89 and 49 to the Gold Lake. We were going through a moderate/easy trail passing the Gold Lake and the 4x4 camp on its shore. We saw some pretty well modified vehicles, including a lifted 3rd generation Montero with an ARB bumper etc. Some guys had pirate4x4 stickers. They probably were busy socializing because we did not see them on the Snake Lake trail - this is the most difficult trail in the area, and this is were we were going.

We passed the Gold Lake, came over the ridge and descended to the Snake Lake. This is a remote quiet clean mountain lake. The descent looks very steep, but non-locked trucks can make it back without problems, surprisingly.

The lone campsite at the lake was empty, so we decided to take it and stay. We had good meal, good campfire talking and (after appropriate amount of beer) lots of fun shooting at the targets. Bruno (Chief) brought lots of artillery to the camp. He even had a .303 British rifle, Lee-Enfield, I guess, but he refused to shoot the hikers on the other side of the lake - that was his soft side, I suppose. I had some revolvers with me.

After the night, we decided to make the Snake Lake trail, clockwise - this is the difficult direction, the most difficult obstacles are approached from the bottom. The traction is the problem, so we badly needed our lockers. The surface is loose - mostly loose stones with soft dry dirt, with lots of embedded rocks. We made it, but I have a feeling that we barely did it. Had I had only one locker, I doubt that I'd be able to do that. Bruno's vehicle is lighter, with bigger tires and more ground clearance, so he was able to make it with just a rear locker. Watching him beating his vehicle and approaching the same obstacle multiple times was definitely fun for us, although a painful-looking kind of fun.

We did not make many shots because we were very busy, but our friend Kostya made lots of short movies - the trail is very good place for the movies. Here is a short preliminary movie about some moments of my vehicle, Kostya soon will deliver a full movie, with Bruno's adventures included:

http://www.youtube.com/costacontra#p/a/u/0/nNcV1wcA2Ps

Update: this is Bruno's take on the trail:

http://www.youtube.com/costacontra#p/a/u/0/Aet1j0vl7x4


In places, the trail looks damaged, may be in recent years it got more difficult.

I experienced unusually high number of serious damage this time:

1) My alloy wheels are got scratched.
2) My front plastic bumper got scratches.
3) My rear plastic got some scratches, too.
4) The rocksliders are scratched.
5) The skidplates are scratched.
6) My tent pole broke.
7) My sandal broke.
8) Kostya burned plastic cover of my boiling pot.
9) My GPS is dieing.
10) CB radio is barely working.
11) One of my under-the-seat plastic hooks keeping the tire instruments broke.
12) A tire rib got ripped off.
13) Finally, a low-life form of kind stole a manual winch off my rack, in the night, near my condo, when I came back. I've never used that winch, but still ... I hope that winch will not help him to winch himself from the hell.

I'll post later the pictures, and when Kostya finishes the full movie, I'll post the movie.

Here is the map of the Snake Lake trail. The difficult road between Little Deer Lake and Oakland Pond is highlighted. The difficult direction is clockwise.



This is our whole trip map (including the Sierra Buttes trip):

Trail start:



Kostya & Sunny:



Bruno descending to Little Deer Lake:



Downhill road to Little Deer Lake:



Almost there:



Camp at the Little Deer Lake:



Little Deer Lake:



Our camp:



Shooting preparations:



Kostya is shooting from the safe position - they may shoot back (bears, hikers, liberals, whoever is lurking in the woods):



Mario (Chief Jr) with Ruger .22LR:

[img]http://www.olegmoskalenko.com/snakelake2010/IMG_6376.JPG[/img]

Chief is aiming Colt 1873 SAA "Piecemaker" replica .357:

[img]http://www.olegmoskalenko.com/snakelake2010/IMG_6377.JPG[/img]

Group vehicle shot at the Snake Lake, the next day:

[img]http://www.olegmoskalenko.com/snakelake2010/IMG_6378.JPG[/img]

Guys are using momentum hiking to the Sierra Buttes:

[img]http://www.olegmoskalenko.com/snakelake2010/IMG_6379.JPG[/img]

The fire lookout at the top:

[img]http://www.olegmoskalenko.com/snakelake2010/IMG_6381.JPG[/img]

Kostya at the fire lookout:

[img]http://www.olegmoskalenko.com/snakelake2010/IMG_6386.JPG[/img]

Views from Sierra Buttes:

[img]http://www.olegmoskalenko.com/snakelake2010/IMG_6383.JPG[/img]

[img]http://www.olegmoskalenko.com/snakelake2010/IMG_6384.JPG[/img]

[img]http://www.olegmoskalenko.com/snakelake2010/IMG_6385.JPG[/img]

[img]http://www.olegmoskalenko.com/snakelake2010/IMG_6387.JPG[/img]

This is a movie saga documenting how Bruno made it:

http://www.youtube.com/costacontra#p/a/u/0/Aet1j0vl7x4

Oleg, thanks for puting the trip together on such short notice.
Kostya, great camera work.
JUST A GREAT TRIP! enough said. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />
Bruno.

...a few more photos for your viewing pleasure.

Oleg:




Kostya:


Mario:


A couple of my little friends:


Group shot:


The hike up to Sierra Buttes:



[IMG]

OHHH the anguish!:


View form atop Sierra Buttes Lookout:


[img]http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss127/BCekovic/Snake%20Lake%20Sep%204-5%202010/83300b6d.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss127/BCekovic/Snake%20Lake%20Sep%204-5%202010/be704199.jpg[/img]

The way back down:
[img]http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss127/BCekovic/Snake%20Lake%20Sep%204-5%202010/aa2f8f6e.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss127/BCekovic/Snake%20Lake%20Sep%204-5%202010/9c1632bf.jpg[/img]

What a climb. It's a good thing you Guy's are young, if you were my age you'd still be there planted under some rocks. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

Nice picture taking by all, looks like a fun trip, I'll put it on my to do list.

Looks like it was a total blast! Will def have to do that trail some time. Great video of Bruno doing the trail too!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

absolutely beautiful. I like seeing your Axiom kick ass on some terrain. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

thanks <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I wonder why you never come to the 'wheeling events here.

Honestly.....The guys on here usually do trails that my rig isn't built for. The 96 has no sliders nor locker so I would be an anchor to the expedition. I was excited to build up the 96 when I first got it but then the economy tanked and I took a big hit in the pocket book. The truck got me everywhere I needed to go for the most part so I de-prioritized modifications....................Then I crashed the 96 into a tree on two wheels at about 40 MPH. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shiner.gif" alt="" />

I still want to host a meet and greet at our cabin. The Rubicon is about twenty minutes up the western shore of Lake Tahoe so it is a perfect staging area fro either the beginning or end of a Con trip. The cabin sleeps about 24 people so it would be a hell of a party. When it happens, you will definitely be invited but we have to refrain from talking politics. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />