PARTICIPANTS GET IN CHARACTER AT VALLECITOS DAYS: ANNUAL EVENT CONTINUES SUNDAY

By Miriam Raftery

View videos:   Soldier, sea captain, mountain man’s "Rendevous tale

March 16, 2013 (Vallecitos) -- A soldier, a sailor, and a mountain man—all bringing to life tales from the 1850 and '60s, shared their stories at Vallecitos Days.  The two-day event continues Sunday morning (ending at 2 p.m.)  at the Vallecitos Stage Station in the Anza-Borrego Desert .

 For details see http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/node/12586.  To get there, take I-8 east to S-2 at Ocotillo and continue north until you reach the Vallecitos Stage Station on your left.

As we arrived, a soldier in a Union Army uniform offers visitors bread cooked over a campfire. It resembles s’mores, baked long and narrow to fit on a soldier’s gunstock to be carried on the trail.  Another Army man launches into a story of how he wound up  at this outpost, while nearby, a woman in a hoopskirt shades herself with a parasol.

Many San Diegans may be unaware that a Civil War brigade from California once traveled through this place in 1862, or that a stagecoach once ferried travelers along this dusty road.  To bring the past to life, costumed participants give first-person accounts of historical figures and also show off skills from the mid-1800s.

Steve Runner, who swears he got the name “due to a bear that chased me”, has a sign posted listing stories he will spin for any who care to sit a spell and listen.   He decides to share a “Rendezvous” poem with us about a man enamored with an Indian woman he meets at a Rendezvous, or an event where buckskinners and today, folks who enjoy living in the past, meet up.

A fur trapper nearby shows off one of his favorite pelts--a skunk dubbed "Pierre."

Another participant shows off antique weaponry, including a Jager used by the Hessians, German soldiers-for-hire who aided the British in their battle against the American revolutionaries.  The weight is surprisingly heavy; it must have taken considerable muscle to march for weeks on end bearing such a load.  The gun includes an elaborate plate of brass and real gold depicting a hunting scene. 

It’s a far finer weapon than the crude single-shot muskets used by the colonists, also on display, driving home how amazing the Americans’ defeat of the British to win independence truly was.

Inside the old adobe stage stop building, special exhibits and historical displays are set up, with Park Service docents in costumes offering presentations.

A burly mountain man is winding down his day outside a canvas tent staked nearby. We learn  he is the national tomahawk-throwing champion.  We’re invited to a future “Rendezvous” event, where he promises to teach us how to hurl those tomahawks.    

The Manzanita  High Mountain Rendezvous, a two-week-long encampment,  will be held on May 2-13 near Lake Morena in San Diego’s East County.   The Rendezvous will bring to life a pre-1840s fur traders’ encampment with tipis and competitions in shooting, tomahawk throwing, fire-starting, bow and arrow, and more.  Participants are encouraged to dress in period attire.

 To sign up or get details on the Manzanita High Mountain Rendezvous, visit  http://manzinita.homestead.com/main.html