Hollister ATV / 4X4 run on March 7 - 9, 2008

Friday:  After relieving Matthew of his school duties around noon, we were off to meet Gary and Carol for the trip to Hollister. We met them at Red Corral, Gary had his motor home with Jeep in tow and we drove our Jeep with our two quads tagging along. We made real good time down to Hollister and arrived at the State Vehicle Recreation Area (SVRA) around 4:30 pm. It took a little looking but eventually we found Ron, Melissa and Kylie comfortably tucked away in the back camping area.

After getting Gary parked and our quads unloaded, Ron, Melissa, Kylie, Matthew and myself set out for a quick ATV ride before sunset.  The first stop was the Quad track where Kylie, Matthew and I dropped in and tore up a little dirt. This is a really nice one-way track that snakes around and finishes with 4 pretty good size jumps. After taking 3-4 trips around the track it was time to hit a small trail. The trails in this park are really family friendly as they are all marked with direction of travel and difficulty. The trail that Ron picked was intermediate in difficulty and took us to the top of one of the foothills. This time of year is really beautiful because all the flowers are blooming and the hillsides are covered with green grass. At the top we were overlooking the valley where Hollister lies, what a beautiful sight. The sun was getting ready to set for the evening so it was time to get back to camp. April, Matthew and I still have not replaced our tow vehicle so bringing our camping trailer was out of the question. We ended up staying with some family friends that live in Hollister. That being said we were not able to partake or comment on all the wild evolutions that the nights brought to the campsite.

Saturday:  April, Matthew and I arrived in camp around 10:00 am. Everybody was up and about, in fact we were happy to see that Mark and Emily had come up for the day. Mark's new Outlaw Quad is a scary looking ride to say the least! Being that we only have two quads at the present time and there are three of us it was decision time. Rather than play Rock, Paper, Scissors for the quads, Matthew and I thought it would be nice to let April do some trail riding with the group wile we went 4-Wheeling with Gary and his grandson Mike.

As I looked down the side of Gary's motor home at his Jeep it was obvious that somebody had already been out playing in the mud. Apparently Gary and Mike got up early and went to the 4X4 section to see what kind of trouble they could get into. They must of found the only mud hole in the park (actually Gary states that there were three in succession that he couldn't resist). At any rate he did the club proud by not getting stuck and having to be pulled out buy one of the many Toyotas and other non-Jeeps that were prowling the area.

Gary and I set out for the 4X4 section of the park and found it to be as challenging as a driver wanted it to be. As with the ATV/Motorcycle section, most trails are rated on difficulty. We stayed on mostly intermediate trails but did find some good hills to climb and some great high level views. On the way back out we stumbled on a 4X4 obstacle course that had a club of about 10 full blown Rock Crawlers from San Jose that were enjoying some fun club competition. It was allot of fun watching them go from section to section. I had a heck of a time keeping Gary from showing them all up but he did manage to sneak my son Matthew in his jeep and find the mud pit. He made the pit look easy, hardly spun a tire.

Everybody else from our group hit the Quad trails and although I did not hear of any specific trail stories, there were no break downs and everybody seemed to have a great time.

For dinner we all cooked up something and had a potluck inside of Ron & Melissa's toy hauler (Thanks for extending the hospitality). A great time was had by all!!

In closing I would like to say what a great place Hollister is for family fun. In my opinion it is the safest place to ride especially for younger and less experienced riders because of the trail rating and directional system in place. The other aspect I really liked is that it is against park rules for any riding between sunset and sunrise so you don't have to listen to loud obnoxious motorcycles all night long and you can actually enjoy the evening conversation or outdoor nightlife. The park is very clean and well maintained complete with water trucks that come by and keep the dust down around the camping areas and tracks.

I would like to thank Ron & Melissa for setting this event up. I know we really enjoyed ourselves and hope more people opt to go if another trip is planned.