LFR had its annual end of Sept into Oct campout at Los Vaqueros Group Camp.  We sold 40 corrals and the parking lot was full.  Weather was wonderful,  great turnout for the Lake Cuyamaca restaurant Friday evening.  Steve Denny cooked up six Tri Tips for a great potluck.  There was a game for members to test their aim tossing bean bags into a box.  There was competition for sure and no lost horses this time.   Deb Merrill submitted great wildlife pictures to the club that she has taken so enjoy.

LFR had its annual campout over Memorial Weekend at Los Vaqueros Group Camp in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park. While camp started out cold where everyone pulled out the blankets for themselves and their horses, the weekend did warm up nicely. At the start of May there was snow (we have pictures) so we had water flowing in creeks that are usually dry, and Lake Cuyamaca had the most water we have seen in awhile. We saw deer, turkeys, bobcats, we had a fox in camp, red-tailed hawks, and a couple of mountain lion sightings at Lake Cuyamaca. One member will never be quite the same after seeing the mountain lion at the lake. New member Deb Merrill submitted great wildlife photos for the club taken with her monster camera and supersized lens. Many of our members slept in their trailers, abut seven members in tents, the rest in LQs, some new campers, and RVs. We had a campfire most every night. About 20 campers had dinner at Lake Cuyamaca restaurant on Friday night. On Sat. evening, members had a great time socializing at the wine tasting. Many thanks to Judy Clark for running the wine tasting, taking over from Joyce. Big thanks to Steve Denny who cooked up five Tri Tips for the potluck attended by 60 members including day riders. Members brought awesome dishes and desserts to share. The leftover Tri Tip was finished off on Sunday evening. Camp was a little more exciting than usual, due to naughty horses! One rider was bucked off, no broken bones but plenty of bruises. Theresa had to break up a love fest as one mare(floozy!) got too cuddly for her own good with a gelding. Our campout also made the news due to Freckles dumping her owner and disappearing into the hills on Sunday. Freckles was found on Wed, May 31st, thanks to spotter Susanne Hoover, an LFR member, sitting on top of Stonewall Peak with her super binoculars who spotted Freckles in the brush. This was the second pass at using Stonewall Peak as a lookout. The mare was not easy to find as she blended well in the brush. Many thanks to the search coordinators Karen, Shawna, Linda, and Carrie, the LFR members who searched for Freckles by mount and bushwhacked on foot and Larry and Racine Poole and Carrie who followed Freckles' tracks, and all the equestrians who joined the search, along with hikers and mountain bikers, rangers, and the MAU. It was a good ending for camp. Many thanks to the members who provided their pictures to share for our FB and Website. We thank everyone for coming to camp.

2017 March Camp Lockett Weekend: 

Camp Lockett was a easy campout for the LFR weekend, an hour away from Lakeside, with great weather, great sites and trails. Four rigs from LFR camped the weekend with eight more members joining the campers on Saturday for a ride and visit. The 12 sites are pull through and each site large enough for an RV and truck & trailer, or dual rigs. Each site has a fire ring, picnic table, and two corrals. Water spigets throughout camp. The camp offers loop trails of various distances, hills to climb, technical trails, immediate access to the PCT, a trail to a river valley, dry creek riding, and a neighboring winery with hitching posts who offers wine tasting for equestrians willing to ride to the winery from Camp Lockett. The Saturday ride was led by Dave Summerville doing a big loop ride riding along the border, passing the winery, riding in a creek bed, while offering great views all the way. Everyone enjoyed lunch after the ride and an afternoon happy hour and campfire at night.

2017 February Stagecoach Campout: 

LFR, PVMR, BCH, and RTA joined together  at Stagecoach RV resort.  Activities included hitting the trails of course,  and meeting in the clubhouse for Game Night, Saturday Potluck with evening entertainment afterwards, and LFR's Pancake Breakfast on Sunday morning.   The band was a trio of talented musicians consisting of a fiddler who played anything except a tuba, accompanied by "keeping the beat" gum chewing guitarist, and a city cowboy on the cello.   It was a great evening of entertainment for the crowd. 

Rides include Plum and Box canyons, the loop trail, Little Blair Valley which was pretty green.  Some campers visited Julian for pie while other campers came back with pies, and some pies never made it to the clubhouse.  A few of the campers camped in their trailers and survived.
Everyone was well prepared for cool rides and the only rain on Friday evening.

While weather forecasts caused 30 corral cancellations, weather predicted west of the mountains did not happen at Stagecoach.  Shelter Valley lived up to its name.  Campers rode every day.  Game night was exciting with dominoes, a card game called Golf, and Yahtzee as members showed humor, calling each other cream puff and cupcake!  About six campers put together a huge jig saw puzzle just for the challenge. The pancake breakfast offered both regular and blueberry pancakes.  Campers had their choice of corrals and no one regretted coming to camp. 

A big Thank You to the volunteers who came into the kitchen to help with the Pancake Breakfast:  Barbara, Howard, Steve the coffee King, the sausage queens Patty and Cheryl, the egg guru Marilyn, pancake queens Cyndi, Denise, Terry J., with Steve, Paul and Howard helping where needed, Servers Judy and Marty J.,  Billi-Jo and Joyce for checking everyone in, Jody H. for the egg donations, & Kammi standing by to assist.   It was a smaller crowd than usual to feed due to the cancellations.   The blueberry pancakes were a big hit thanks to Costco.    
 

Camp Pictures:

Rides and Campers on their horses.

Game Night below:  Dominos, Golf card game, and Yahtzee.  Game players getting called cream puff and cupcake.  You had to be there.  Can you guess who couldn't find their way back in the dark?

The pancake breakfast:  Great help from LFR and BCH.