This run brought back a past tradition of NM4W hitting the trails together to welcome a New Year. Many thanks to Frank Whiston for stepping in to lead this run, after I rolled my Jeep back in November and was unable to lead it. After meeting in Lemitar and then airing down out at the Gordy's Hill kiosk, Frank led a fabulous exploration of Lower Amado, Upper Amado, and Granite Canyon. Jeff Boggs needed some support with a tire change in the morning, and Cliff Meier scored a 10/10 getting himself stuck in the afternoon. As always, NM4Wers stepped up to the plate and got it all done. The morning started out cold and a little windy, but Mother Nature came through and gave us a spectacularly warm and sunny day in the desert. After most rigs left for the day a few folks went over to check out the waterfall on Hidden Valley, to help Jeff B. prep for his Gordy's run in a couple of weeks. The Dickey's buggy went up and came back down without breaking a sweat, LOL. I can't imagine a better way to bring in a New Year than with the amazing people in NM4W!
:-)Mary Turpin, Trip Chair
It has been years since I had been on the first trails that were chosen and I also decided to run one that I had never been on. We started our day on Lower Amado running it all the way up to Pucker Falls. Then we utilized The Great Escape to climb up to The Causeway (Trail that lies between Lower Amado and Hidden Valley). From there, we continued on Upper Amado until we found a nice smooth section of arroyo to have lunch. Then we climbed out of the Amado valley via Granite Canyon, the new-to-me trail. Some of our buggy folks had run it in the opposite direction before Christmas, so I was not venturing into something with zero knowledge. This is a good connector over to Squeeze Canyon (Extreme). Most of the group was airing up at 3PM according to trip leader plans. Jeff, Mary, and the Dickey's stayed to check out Hidden Valley. Such a great way to start off 2025!
Frank, Trip Leader and NM4W Historian
