Our low desert welcomed record breaking amounts of rainfall in the days prior to the event... But, the 44th Treasure Trails was held during glorious weather on Presidents Day weekend. Trailmasters had repeatedly gone out to verify that all 400 tiny hidden chests were still in place after each session of rain, and did a lot of Caltrans work to reopen trails; filling in ditches, and rolling boulders so trails would be passable. Two new trails had to be developed, due in part to flooding in the intended trails. So that made for new adventures for participants. Only 31 of the tiny chests remained unclaimed at the end of the event.

Trailmasters have now been back out to pick up all the unfound chests, ties and flags. 19 of those unfound 31 were exactly where they had been in the clues... folks just didn’t always read their clues well. The remaining 12 may have been stolen by those clueless few individuals who cannot win even this simple game without cheating. This year there were 112 sponsored trail prizes with a combined worth of $4,300.00 hidden on the trails, or on the way to the trails. Sadly, a few greedy individuals went out prior to the 9 AM start time to find some of those prizes. They will NEVER be able to do that again. Once again, the bad behavior of a few, have altered our event forever. We will still have sponsored prizes, but they will never be stolen from our family oriented event again. What a sorry lesson the cheaters have taught their children.

Saturday’s orientation meeting included the drawings for 2 free registrations for kids 18 or under, winners were: Payton Olsen and Jake Matula. A ticket was drawn for a $100.00 cash prize for 1 lucky participant who had preregistered. Our PA system was working fine on Friday, but failed to cooperate on Saturday morning. Deputy Lowenthal of Explorer Post 4500 graciously offered us the use of his loud speaker on his Mule. We thank him for that, as well as the assistance of the Explorers to help line up participants.

Rangers Collins, and Adams from Ocotillo Wells State Park were on hand to speak to the crowd and give out information on upcoming events at the State Park. Their office told them they needed to provide an hour long speech... they seemed rather relieved to discover we expected no more than 5-10 minutes instead. Thanks to all of these gentlemen for being on hand to help us welcome, and send off our event participants. Immediately after the orientation meeting it was determined that the PA system would need to be replaced before the Sunday awards. Treasure Trails greatly thanks the following sponsors for paying for the new PA: Phil Radmer and Danny Hensley of High Grade Forms; Jenny Sifton; Bob & Della Butler; Amis & Jan Gilson; Jack & Margaret Fifield; and Travertine Seniors. Special thanks also to James Gundlach for driving in to town to get the PA, and driving in a second time to get a larger one! He had already made other trips to town for us. Treasure Trails has the best of the best Sponsors and volunteers!

Friday night the crowds danced to the music of the Sand Blasters, and Saturday night we were all entertained by the music from the Ghost Riders. Both are lively and humorous groups much enjoyed by all. Saturday morning the SSB POA served up breakfast burritos “On the Run” and Johnson’s Landing dished up a very tasty BBQ for the afternoon and evening.

On Saturday morning the “Best Appearing Vehicles” were judged in the line up. The same judges also judged the Loot Contest on Sunday morning. Winners for the Best Appearing Vehicles were:

Motorcycle: Mark & Faith Kelsey
Bathtub: Tony & Peggy Jimenez
Baja: Barry Smith
Rail: Mike Miller
Jeep: Janet Ruiz
4X4: Marilyn Feldmeier
UTV: Ken & Lisa Miles
ATV: Emmett Durham
Hummer: Thomas Bingham
SUV: Joey Ruiz
Most Unique: Phillip Meryl

Congratulations to all for having such pretty or unique rides!

The first tiny chest came in to be checked off the board by 10:15 AM Saturday. From that point on Sherri & Howard Smotherman provided hourly computer printouts of the prizes that were turned in. This was a huge help to everyone for the second year in a row. Saturday night Trailmasters set up photos of all 400 tiny chest locations, and all 112 sponsored trail prizes along with
written information on exact locations for those who were still hunting. Many participants went back out to find the elusive treasures in the dark and came back triumphant!

From 9 AM to Noon on Sunday morning Rangers from the Ocotillo State Park were on hand at the Hut with their wildlife presentations and answered questions for all who stopped to visit with them. We very much appreciate their time and effort on our behalf.

At noon on Sunday the crowd fell silent and stood for our National Anthem... beautifully sung by “Buster”, a local West Shores resident. The new PA worked perfectly and awards, prizes and trophies were handed out by Bob Butler as our MC, with help from Shawna Dungey and Carlene & Dean Ness on stage, and our hard working “trailer crew”. In 2-1/2 hours a total of $12,300.00 in cash, prizes or Casino Play was

awarded for the 512 trail prizes. Thanks to still more generous Sponsors even more cash and prizes were up for grabs then with the raffle prizes. Everything from turquoise jewelry to cash and hand made quilts were raffled, and then there was the lucky young man who danced his way up to the stage to collect the Wii he had won! Hearty congratulations to all those winners!

Red Earths’ Ray Childs, Shawna Dungey and Kimberly Pedroza took over the MC job to hand out all of the Red Earth Sponsored prizes: $2,500.00 in cash, or Casino Slot Play. Then they tossed Red Earth coasters and windshield protectors into the crowd for even more prizes. On behalf of Red Earth we remind you that the Casino Slot Play certificates many of you won, will be good until May 12, 2010. Be sure to come back and play at Red Earth! Thank you Red Earth Casino... We appreciate all you do to support our events! On each of the trails there was a “License to Play” prize, each worth $50.00 in Casino Slot Play. The story behind those prizes... These were actual 1932-34 California black on yellow license plates that had never been issued. In 1930 or so, a train carrying a shipment of the plates derailed in the area of Fresno, CA. Thousands of plates were spilled. A Lemon Cove resident watched for a long while, but no one ever came to pick up the spilled plates. Eventually he began to pick them up and attached them to the sides of his garage, and then to his house. For over 60 years the plates remained attached to his home until a Three Rivers resident by
the name of Lee Kirk asked if he could have some of the plates for a friend for bird house roofs. Lee carefully removed hundreds of the plates for his friend in San Bernardino. In 1995 Lee began giving the plates to his friend each time they visited, until she had several hundred. She in turn shipped some to WA. where her Dad was making bird houses too. In 2003 Lee’s friend’s home burned to the ground in the “Old Fire” in San Bernardino. Only 15 of the hundreds of license plates could be salvaged... the best 10 became the License to Play prizes for this event... and now you know.

Loot Contest...
1st Place Loot was a refrigerator; Carolyn Bruhanski.
2nd Place Loot was a toilet; Lyle & Wade Downey.
3rd Place Loot was an old suitcase: Michael Kissick.

All of these items clearly had been in the desert and had been hauled in to be disposed of after the contest. Treasure Trails thanks all of you for helping clean up our desert! Only man made trash was eligible for this contest. Thanks to: Vern Jaksch, Richard Boisclair, Phil Sleet and John Bartley for helping us with the judging of both the Vehicle and Loot contests!

Other Contests...
The “Largest Family in Attendance” (verifiable family members) was again the Schnekenburger clan with 67 in attendance. “Youngest Girl on the trail” was 4 month old Shelby Ganter. “Youngest Boy” was a mere 7 weeks, named Cole Cook. Our own sweet Gloria Lewis (87) and our very own Glen Carver (85) won for the “Most Well Seasoned on the trail”. Both the youngest and oldest on the trails received quilts made by Loretta Boyer to keep each of them warm. We always know who will win “Who has Attended the Most T T Events”... Larry Bridgewater has never missed a single event. We always hold registration #1 for Larry, and we always will. “Who Came the Greatest Distance”... by unanimous crowd vote, and overwhelming applause... Winners were the 2 Marines with multiple tours in Afghanistan; Robbie Clausson and Mark Filipak currently stationed at Camp Pendleton. We also had 1 Coast Guard; Noland Priester, all are Active Military. It was a very special Honor to have these young men attend our event!

This years shirt design was made to look somewhat like mud... as that was what the Trailmasters were riding in every time they went out to set up the trails. Everyone must have liked the concept, as all but a few shirts were sold.

Treasure Trails welcomes Volunteers for every event. We were very glad to have two Trailmasters in training: 2 year old Cameron and 5 year old brother Sebastian helping us set up the trails... we are starting them young! We were also very glad to have the help of our Salton Sea Beach Volunteer Fire Dept. on hand as Security for the event, and the handing out of clues, along with all the rest that they do for us... All this while they remain on standby for emergencies.

Treasure Trails is getting ready now for our HWY 86 clean up on March 13, 2010. We will meet at Lorenzo’s gas station at 7 AM to clean the East side of the HWY from Desert Shores to Salton Sea Beach. Please come help us if you can! We never know what we may find!

We are also preparing for our Sponsor/Volunteer Luncheon on March 27. If you Sponsored or Volunteered at either our October 2009 event, or our February 2010 event you will soon be receiving an invitation. Please be sure to RSVP, this lunch will be catered by Johnson’s Landing and we will need to know how many to expect. No Treasure Trails event would be possible without the help and support of all of our wonderful Volunteers and Sponsors... this lunch is our way of saying... Thank You All Very Much!!

Be sure to visit see our Photo Album for lots of new photos from our event, and be sure to hurry back to the West Shores area to see the desert in full bloom from all the rain!

Amy Hayword worked hard all weekend taking pictures of our event.  Even going out with one trailmaster following the event to see what we do when we clean up our trail.  Click here to view her slideshow on www.youtube.com.

   Mark your calendar now for our next event

             Spooktacular Treasure Trails...

                   October 22, 23, 24, 2010.