Black Powder Rendezvous

[Red-Handed Jill]

For those of you who expressed an interest in the black powder rendezvous that I mentioned at Ojai:

Like the title says, you spend the weekend immersing yourself in black powder. There are two camps: the primitive pre-1840 area (which we camp in) and the "tin tipi" area for more modern camps. They have a trail walk with targets as well as a shooting range. And for those of you who enjoy throwing sharp objects, a tomahawk/knife throwing area. And since this land is privately owned by a cannon enthusiast, we always bring wee Babbette to sound the wake-up call - although folks are pretty much up by then and yelling "WOO HOO!" after each cannon fire.

Railroad Flats is in Calaveras County, northeast of the Stockton area.

Our camp (before Patt arrived):

No fairy wings or polyester pirate flags at these sutlers!

[Red-Handed Jill]

Just a reminder in case you are interested in stopping by. You don't have to camp overnight - if you just want to hang out for the day and shoot your blackpowder implementia you will be most welcome.

[Red-Handed Jill]

The black powder rendezvous was a blast - figuratively AND literally - as usual. We got there early Friday afternoon and met with the event managers. They asked us if we had brought a cannon - of course we did (one of them anyway...) They were happy to hear that because the owner of the land on which the event was held was away, so our cannon was it for the morning salute.

We were also told that the primitive camping area had been moved due to crowding at the Spring rendezvous (it's always busier during the Spring one.) The old camping area was still available, so we headed down the hill to scout out a place to set up camp. Happily, there were only two camps in that area and our favourite camping spot was available. It's a small clearing, hidden away from the other camping areas and reached by a narrow, winding trail amidst manzanita bushes.

After setting up our camp and signing up for events, we spent some quality time in the tomahawk and knife throwing area. Once I got warmed up, I was able to stick all of my tomahawk throws within a six inch radius. Then I started thinking too much and my throwing got really crappy. It took awhile, but I was able to get back into my groove and did pretty well for my last few throws. Then it was time for dinner.

We departed from the more period cuisine that evening - soft tacos were on the menu. But they were pretty darn tasty. After relaxing a bit, we found it getting a bit chilly so we retreated to our tent.

(I should mention that after a couple of miserable nights during our first trips to this rendezvous, we have made a number of improvements to our camp setup. We have an extra layer on our tent, flaps that extend underneath and beds so that we're not lying on the ground. And I've been buying up heavy wool blankets from military surplus stores so we were pretty set for inclement weather.)

It was UBER cold. At one point we had to get up to use the "facilities", a chore that involved getting bundled up and walking about a third of a mile in total darkness to the closest porta-potty (they frown on the attendees digging pits - the primitive camping only goes so far...) It was bitter cold outside and we moved as quickly as possible to get back to our relatively warm tent.

The next morning, Jack got up to fire the morning salute and I started a fire in one of the braziers for breakfast and washing up. The leftover water in one of my pots had frozen over and a cloth I had set out to dry was frozen stiff. So, it was definitely below freezing. (I later found out that when the folks went over to the registry tent that morning the thermometer read 29 degrees! Did I mention how happy I was with our camp improvements?) I listened as Wee Babbette performed wonderfully, her voice echoing throughout the valley.

After breakfast, cleanup and a morning hike, we headed over to do our rifle trail walk. Apparently a lot of other people got the same idea when we did so we ended up waiting in line, where we were joined by a young lady I had talked to earlier. Eventually we made it to the front of the line and set up our first shot. We had brought a friend's gun to try out so I took it along rather than use mine - and discovered that it's pretty darn accurate once it was sighted in. It shoots a bit to the left so my first shot was a couple of inches from the bulls-eye. For my second shot, the target was a crossed line - I concentrated on the right/left rather than up or down sighting and I hit the target line exactly in the middle. WOO HOO! We continued on and I hit the target on every shot.

However, the gun became harder and harder to load. It had been fired a lot without being cleaned and than spent uncountable amounts of time in storage. We had cleaned it, but it would require a lot more firing and cleaning before it was back to its old self. Eventually, I couldn't get the ball all the way down and needed assistance from Jack (I know there's a joke in there somewhere...) So we continued on, me starting the loading sequence, forcing the ball halfway down the muzzle and Jack muscling the ball the rest of the way, firing, hearing a satisfying "ping!" that indicated that I had hit the target and then starting all over again.

Then the unthinkable happened. I was muscling the ball down the muzzle and snapped my short-starter (I'm sure there's a joke in there too...) So that was it for me - the gun had a smaller bore size than Jack's so his short starter wouldn't have worked. Jack barely managed to get the ball the rest of the way down the muzzle and I fired my last round. We had already been shooting all afternoon so we decided to call it a day. Even with the loading difficulties, I was pretty satisfied with that gun's performance. My next stop was to one of the sutlers to pick up a new short starter.

Since Jack had business travel the next day, we had to cut our adventure short. So we packed up our camp, said goodbye to our fellow adventurers and made our way home.

If you are interested in getting away from it all and if black powder implementia interests you, I really recommend going to one of these. You don't need to camp - if you just want to walk a trail and fire your gun you can visit for the day.