Adopt a Trail / Campout Trip Report

Patty and I arrived Thursday (7/28/11) afternoon at the campsite. Thanks to the GPS coordinates and ED4 signs, we found the campground easily. Some members had already arrived, but Ole was at the campsite making sure that we had the space we needed. After setting up our tent / site, we walked around to introduce / greet those members at the campground. Dave came over and introduced himself and gave us a run down of the events to occur. As prospectives, we felt quite comfortable. After dinner, we walked over to the group campfire and joined in the "party". We finally called it quits about 10 pm. Friday morning was the start of the trail maintenance work. The forest rangers were on hand to give up a pep talk and explaining the forest service guideline's and new trail maps (someone mentioned that they should have brought their decoder ring to decipher the map... true). We broke up into 2 groups, one for Mattley Ridge trail (leader was Dave) and the other for Corral Hollow trail (leader was Jason).

The Mattley Ridge crew consisted of Dave and Loro (& Alpine), Ole and Sherry, John and Hope & family, Mike and Reynosa, Gary and Marlene (& Molly), and Chris and Patty. We followed the trail up to the ridge then took the right fork of the trail at the "hunters" staging area (?). Then the fun began. Our 1st tree was cut up to reveal a snow bank. We got thru this one easily enough, but then came the next snow bank. There was a LOT of snow to move. Everyone worked real hard to get it down to a level where the vehicles could get through.  All in all, I think we cut up 10 or 11 trees (Ole had the BIG saw, while John and I had smaller ones)  and dug out 4 snow banks (We destroyed at least one shovel). By the time we hit the bottom of the trail, the only thing anyone wanted to do was get back to camp. And that's what we did, very quickly I might add.

Dinner that nite consisted of  a Taco Dinner. Everything tasted great! It was great seeing 2 empty tables all of the sudden get filled with a large quantity of food. Rumor had it that Jason held the record with 4 taco's. The desert was two types of ice cream and some pie, cookies, and brownies. Thank you Dave for organizing this. After dinner, people sat around the campfire and talked about the day's events and jeeping in general. Since the Mattley trail hadn't been finished, it was decided to finish it up on Saturday. We finally agreed (reluctantly) on a start time of 7:30 am.

Saturday we hit the tail around 8 am. We broke up into two groups again. Dave's group (w/ John & Shane, Chris & Patty, Ellen &Loro) took the upper ridge trail while Jason's group headed lower. After a nice climb to the top of a ridge, we decided to clear an extra trail. Chain saws made quick work of a small tree. At the junction of another road, we turned around and headed back to the last trail junction and continued on the Mattley trail. We eventually came to a 30" plus log crossing the gravel trail. A bypass had been made around the log in the soft dirt. It was decided that we should clear the trail and close off the bypass. John's chainsaw and my chain saw were not long enuf to cut clear through the log in one cut, so it was done in stages. Eventually, we made two cuts clearing the log off the trail. John's chain saw got stuck in the log when the weight of the log shifted. We managed to use 2 hi-lift jacks to re-position the log and allow the chain saw to be pulled out. Since the log was so huge and heavy, we winched 2 sections out off the road.  It was gratifying to see some ATV's use the newly cleared trail shortly thereafter.

After lunch on the trail, we returned to the campground. We met up with Gary & Marlene, Vidas, Mike & Reynosa to determine if we were going to run slick rock. I was concerned about the trail since I was running stock tires, but everyone assured me that I would be fine. After some discussion, Dave, Loro (& Alpine) and I decided to go ahead with the run. We drove up to Bear Valley and gassed up. We then proceded to the trail head. All in all, I didn't find the trail to be too difficult. While I made bottom contact several times and scraped some paint off my driver side fenders (and rock rail), I got thru the run pretty good.

After the run, we aired up near the main road and returned back to camp. Vidas and Dave had to leave, but Gary, Marlene, Ellen, and Loro remained and we all had a great shared dinner that evening. Everyone packed up and left Sunday morning. Thanks to everyone at the campout and the trail run. Patty and I had a great time. See you all at the next meeting.

Summer Campout/Adopt a Trail

First, the event was a real fun! Thanks to all organizers for flawless execution. I arrived to the ED4 camp on Thu around 5:30pm. (The directions were very clear.) I was greeted by Dave who suggested me several camping options. I chose a campsite close to the main campfire. After setting my tent and having a quick snack, Dave came over to tell me about tomorrow's plans. He thought that trails probably had already been opened by rangers or other 4wheelers, and we will be done by 11am and will be able to run some trails, like Slick Rock in the afternoon. In the hindsight it was over-optimistic which probably reflects Dave's nature ;-) Then I joined the group of Jason, Jim, Mike P, Ole, and Tom to talk about tomorrow etc. Jason demonstrated some amazing articulation of his Jeep and his skill on the huge rock near our camp.

In the evening we gathered by the campfire with our drinks and had a lively conversation. I went to sleep at 10pm.

On Fri 8:30am we had forest rangers visiting our camp. They explained about the changing rules of trail use, handed us preliminary trail and forest road maps and posed for the group pictures. Then we divided into two groups: one led by Dave went to Mattley Ridge Loop trail, and our group of 5 rigs led by Jason & Mike - Jim, Tom & Daniel, Greg & Josh, and I went to Corral Hollow trail. Before leaving the camp Jason's Jeep experienced power steering problem. His hydraulically assisted steering was installed just before this campout and got some air in the system. The air evacuation caused us about 20min delay. We started from the eastern end of the trail; I disconnected, aired down to 20psi. In the beginning the trail was freshly cleared, probably by forest rangers or other groups. However, later on our way we encountered and cleared about 4 fallen trees. But the biggest obstacle and fun was crossing the snow drifts. We needed to use tow strap from the moment we encountered the first large snow drift. Jason was going first and was sailing through most of the snow drifts, but on one of them he got stuck sliding to the side of the drift and ramming his rear tire against the tree stump and his roll cage against the tree. I witnessed some technical finesse how Jason operating two winches from front (his) and rear (Tom's) got out of trouble without damaging anything. Tom and Daniel were the second "victims" following the same line as Jason (first unloading his dog Dusy) and getting into the same predicament. They got out of this situation the same way as Jason. The rest of our team took a bypass without any trouble but also with much less fun. Other snow drifts presented less problems or had bypasses. We were done around 1pm (I think). The team decided to go to Mattley Ridge Loop to check how another group was doing and offer our help if needed. We got on the top of the hill when Jim's engine stalled. Luckily it was just running out of gas. Jim was astounded when he discovered that his Jerry can was also empty. He had to borrow some gas from Tom and was back on track... but in a minute Tom's engine stalled running out of gas! Tom used his remaining gas in a can, and we continued.

We failed to make a contact with Dave but we saw that the trail was not cleared all the way through. We came back to the camp and had some drinks waiting for another group. Ellen just arrived and joined us. When another group finally arrived they were very tired. They removed 11(?) fallen trees and shoveled snow drifts, so that even Mini Cooper could pass. However, the did not finish all the way trough and they did not even start another loop in that trail. There was work to be finished on Saturday.

Dinner organized by Dave and contributed by everybody was great: tasty food, fine desserts, and fun people to talk to. We all gathered around the campfire and had really good time. I sat next to Greg, Dave and Loro, and we talked about 4wheeling and CAL4WD. I called it a night at 10am. Tomorrow we had to start at 7:30am.

On Saturday we departed to Mattley Ridge Loop trail around 8am. On the trail we divided into two groups. I joined the one led by Jason & Mike. Others in our group were Greg & Josh and Mike & Brittany. We had really exiting trail run through the loop that has not been touched the day before: tight, steep and off-camber in places, running in dense woods and traversing nice meadows. We removed 5 fallen trees and were done around noon. We headed back to camp. Jason, Mike and Jim were packing up and leaving, while Gary, Greg, Josh, Mike and I were planning to go to Slick Rock train once Dave's group returns. When they came back it was already too late for Greg and Josh but we (Gary and Marlene, Mike & Reynosa, and I) were joined by Chris & Patty and Dave & Loro with her dog Alpine.

We were concerned that the stream crossing the trail may be too deep for stock height of Chris and Patty's Jeep but decided to give it a try. There were numerous other groups on Slick Rock trail. I must say that the trail changed a bit since I last visited it a couple of years ago: more eroded in places, the was no bypass for the Slick rock itself, and there's only one way down among scattered rocks. I followed Dave & Loro over steep ledge at the bottom of the Slick rock and made some metal contact. The stream was not deep at all - it receded since Mike visited it a couple of weeks back. However, the steps at the end of the trail changes since my last visit. I was unable to make it all the way up the normal rout and took an easier rout over the rock on the left. Only Dave and Mike in longer wheelbase rigs made it straight up. Amazingly, Chris and Patty made the whole trail in their near stock JK unlimited 4d without damaging anything. Great work!

After Slick Rock trail we all went back to the camp. I packed and left around 5pm.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed this trip, and it helped me to get to know closer people from the club. Looking forward to the next adventure!

Vidas

Adopt-a-Trail Photos

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Hi All: I left home about 12:00 and arrived after about three hours. I setup camp at the Big Meadow campground, about 1.6 miles east of 7n09 on Hwy 4, and decided to look for 7n09 and 7n23 to get oriented. I tried to go down 7n09 a ways but the snow stopped me fairly quickly. I went up 7n23 a ways as well until snow stopped me there also. After my initial exploring I decided to get some supplies at the grocery store in Arnold. On the way out of town I stopped at the Snowshoe Brewing Company for a brew and some dinner. I highly recommend the Grizzly Brown Ale.

The next morning I drove to the intersection of 7n09 and Hwy 4 and waited for the others to arrive. After a short nap Dennis, Dennis' son, Loro, Jason, Mike, Chuck, Brad, and Jim arrived. (Hope I got all the names right!) After introductions Jason, Mike, Chuck and Jim left to setup camp. After a short while they returned and the festivities began in earnest. First we went onto the Corral Hollow trail. Initially, snow was intermittent but I somehow still managed to get stuck. A quick pull and we were on our way. Later more significant snow appeared and I could not get onto it so we let the others go first. Once they had gone by, except for Chuck I think, I tried again after airing down some more. Since the others had reduced the slope of the snow I made on the first try. We had lunch at the cabin. Shortly after the cabin the snow became too deep and the trail was lost so we turned around. next we headed toward the Horse Gulch campground. We made it all the way to the campground over intermittent snow. Towards the end the snow became more significant. Some trees were kissed in the process and one didn't appreciate the advances and crunched my fender to show its displeasure. Some strapping was required here and there, and a side pull with a winch was demonstrated by Jason. Thanks to Dennis for providing the demonstration vehicle. The next day we drove some more of 7n09 in spite of lite rain. Overall I think we cleared 4 or 5 logs over the 2 days but we did not shovel any snow.

Saturday, Dennis and son, Brian, John Ruiz and family, CJ and I ran Slick Rock. We started from the Utica Reservoir end and exited via the Alpine Lake end. We all did the steps OK and then on to the river crossing. It was fairly high but not impassible. Unfortunately my electric fan blades all went for a swim and drowned in the process. The blades all broke off at the base and left me with no cooling. Fortunately, John had an extra fan that we rigged onto my ZJ and we were off. Overall it was a very nice, but a little longer than usual run with a little snow at the end to keep us on our toes.

It was a very nice trip, good times had by all, at least by me!

Can't wait for the next run Greg Quintana

Adopt-a-trail

Sunday, June 28:CJ & Susanna, Dennis Holler & Ava Moore, Loro, Sierra & Alpine Valarie & Rick Arnesen, & Moke. (Sorry if I got the name wrong? I was not very awake this morning) Met at the Corral Hollow trail head at about 9:30am, and ran the trail up to Bear Valley by about 12:30 with a stop for a short hike to the high point. The trail is completely open, with easy passage through the snow banks. I'm happy to report the Grand Cherokee is gone.

After an ice cream break at Bear Valley, CJ led his parents, Dennis & Ava & me to lunch on the banks of the creek on Slick Rock Trail. After lunch, I headed home uneventfully other than the blistering hot weather. The rest headed down the trail! So, more news to follow...

Also, I got a photo of a fungus I've never seen before, even in the mycology books. Looks like a white ball with spikes on it! If anyone knows mushrooms, let me know and I'll send a photo.

Thanks to Sherry for organizing the trail opening!

Ellen

Adopt-a-trail

Hello All, Here's a trip report for the Saturday and Sunday runs. This was the first time for Ava and I to run any of these trails and it was an awesome weekend to do them.

Actually, neither Ava nor I had ever been to the Horse Gulch campground so before we checked into the Lodge we drove in to see where it was on Friday evening. We found Ellen and Connie already set up in camp and talked to them for awhile, then went into Arnold for the evening.

Run #1: Early Saturday morning (8AM!) we all met back at camp to start out on the Mattley Ridge trail for cleanup. (Others have listed the participants). Ellen led us through both loops of the trail. Mostly it was cleaning up debris, but we did move some branches around to detour around a bypass due to a fallen log. None of us had a chainsaw, so that's the best we could do at the time. It had been a long day so we all dispersed to relax for the evening.

Run #2: Sunday morning, we slept in and met at 9AM at the Corral Hollow trail head. This time it was CJ and Susannah, Rick and Valerie Arneson (and Moke), Loro and Sierra and Alpine, Ellen, and Dennis and Ava. CJ led the way through the trail. We stopped at the cabin (which was occupied by campers) and also stopped at the top of the trail just across the valley from the Bear Valley Ski Runs. Loro and the dogs, Dennis, Ava, and Rick hiked the 1/4 mile to the high point -- which is the highest point in Alpine County. We continued on to highway 4 where we drove up to the gas station/store at Bear Valley. There we rested, (some had ice cream!) then we continued to a lunch spot at the falls on the Slick rock trail.minus Loro who decided to drive home with her ailing Bronco (I hope she made it ok.)

Run #3: So, three runs in two days! I had heard quite a bit of talk about Slickrock and have wanted to try it for a long time. After we had lunch, Ellen headed for home and the Arneson's made a Toyota sandwich with their CJ's on the trail. This was an awesome trail, and showed me that I had made some good choices on the mods to the 4Runner. I had no problems running this trail and got considerably less damage than the Deer Valley run several years ago. I broke in the sliders!!! The lockers worked great and the crawler gears really made the going much easier. Below is a link to a picture of CJ guiding me up the stair step at the end of the trail. I had a wonderful time all weekend.

http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu270/DKHoller/AdoptaTrail09/P6280149.jpg

Adopt-a-Trail

Hi All, Just wanted to send out give out a big "Thank you" for all the voluneers who worked on the Adopt-a-trails for both the Mattley Loop Ridge and Corral Hollow trails. Just this Saturday, June 27, Ellen lead the group of us to open or finish opening the Mattley Loop Trail. Jason and his group did a great job the prior weekend. Thanks Jason for the great e-mail.

For this past Saturday, the list of volunteers is as follows:

* Ellen Layendecker,

* C. J. Arnesen and him mom, Valarie Arnesen,

* Loro Paterson,

* Dennis Holler & Ava Moore,

* Carlos Fuchen and his family.

* Connie Wilson,

* Susanna Dergee, and

* myself (Sherry)

Ellen lead our group of 13 volunteers. 7 vehicles. Thank you Ellen. Valerie pass around some delicious bread, that we all enjoyed prior to us leaving for the trail. Our work day on Saturday was pretty much uneventful, the group did work on a slight re-route of a section of the trail, back to the original trail. We did pick up lots of trash/shooting stuff. Same place as last year's trash pick up, but less...So I think we are making an impact. Good job all. Thanks for your help. Sincerely, Sherry Stortroen

Run Report for June 18, 2009, Corral Hollow Trail

Jason Green lead the group of 9 volunteers, as follows:

* Tom Vella,

* Ed Lorenzen,

* Ole Stortroen and myself,

* Mike Phorn,

* Ron Gustafson,

* Jim O'Leary and

* Chris Means.

This year on the Corral Hollow Trail offered up lots, I mean lots of snow. We did encounter 3 downed trees, one really large one, that had fallen against itself, accross the trail and empaled another tree on the opposite side of the trail. It was something to see. This downed tree offered our chainsaw guys (Jason & Ole) a slight challenge, but with the help of their chainsaws, lots of winching, the downed tree didn't have a chance.

Jason, Jim, Tom & Jim Vella, Mike P., Chris and Ron did run the Mattley Loop Ridge trail, or most of the trail on June 18. Thanks a bunch for all that tree clearing.

If I have missed someone, please let me know. Again, Thanks Much for your help. Sincerely, Sherry Stortroen

Adopt-A-Trail

ED4, As Sherry mentioned, 9 of us (Ole, Sherry, Jim O., Tom V., Mike P., Ed, Ron, Chris, and myself) opened the Corral Hollow Trail on Thursday. A couple very large trees across the trail, one suspended 6+ feet in the air resting on a 8" diameter tree, and 4-5 feet of snow made this one of the toughest years by far. Everyone pitched in and we had the trail cleared by 4pm.

With our goal completed, we decided to tackle the Mattley Loop Trail on Friday. We ( Tom V., Jim O., Jim V., Mike P., Ron, Chris, and myself) met with Lonnie at 8:30am to give him an update on the trails and then we went to work. We began on the "tree side" of the loop, as opposed to the "snow side". Only 1 large 40" diameter tree (I know this because my 3' bar did not cut all the way through) and a handful of smaller trees across the trail. We flew through the first section and made it to the 7N-09 intersection in less than an hour. We proceeded down the rocky section and missed the right turn down the hill to the steep off-camber section of the trail. The trail that we were on was well traveled and very nice. This was a new trail for everyone there. It led us to a gravel road and we turned right to get back to our original trail. We quickly found the bottom of the steep, off-camber section and headed up it. That was a blast. All of the drivers got real serious going up that hill! We had a few more trees to clear and we popped back out on the main trail and headed back to the 7N-09 intersection for lunch right around noon.

After lunch we decided to tackle the "snow section" from the bottom up. Nobody ever claimed that we were rocket scientist!! After a 15 minute dusty cruise down the gravel road, we headed up the trail. I just need to say, the meadows up there right now are really breath taking!! After a leisurely drive up the trail, crossing the meadow, we ascended to the first of 4 big snow drifts. Everyone grabbed a shovel and we cut a trench to keep our vehicles on the trail. Jim O. was the lead and had to winch through to break trail. From that point, everyone else strapped each other through. This continued as we slowly progressed up the trail. It was a lot of work, but everyone had a smile on their face. We cleared the top of the hill around 2:45pm and headed back to camp to clean up and head home.

So, if you have read this far, the Mattely Loop Trail is open!! There is no need to head up there next weekend and work. I know this will be exciting news to some people and a disappointment to others who were looking forward to heading up there. To the people who were looking forward to getting out of town next weekend, I say keep your plans and leave your shovel and work gloves at home and go enjoy the trails!! It is flat out awesome up there right now and I hear the fishing is pretty good at Lake Alpine. The work weekend just became a relaxing weekend. There are a lot of other trail down from ours to explore as well. The possibilities are endless........

Regards,

Jason

Adopt-a-trail

Corral Hollow and Mattley Ridge Loop By Chris Mains

Wow, what a fun 2 days.

I arrived at Horse Gulch campground on Wednesday night. I had the whole place to myself until about 11:30 pm or so when Jason, Jim, Ron and Mike arrived.

The next morning after everyone was fed and rigs were prepped we headed out to begin the opening of the Corral Hollow trail. In addition to Jason, Jim, Ron, Mike and myself were Tom V, Ole and Sherry. It was pretty uneventful until after the cabin. We found a couple of trees that needed to be cut up, so out came the chainsaws.

Ole and Jason made short work of the trees and the rest of us pushed them out of the way. A short time later we came to an area that usually has some snow in June and boy did we find snow….and a very stuck and abandoned Jeep Grand Cherokee. The Grand was blocking the trail so with a little digging and a tow strap it was soon moved to the side so that we could attempt to continue on. It was tough going getting past the first couple hundred or so feet, but with Jim’s and Tom’s winches everyone was through in short order. We came across a little more snow up at the top which turned out to be not much of a problem and then we stopped for lunch at a spectacular view spot.

After lunch we began our descent towards Hwy 4, but soon came across a huge fallen tree that was suspended above the trail. It was an extremely dangerous tree to remove, but after much discussion and planning the group managed to lower the tree to the ground, cut it up and move it without any injuries. The remainder of the journey was uneventful.

Day 2 was the Mattley Ridge Trail. We had 4 rigs with me, Jason, Jim, Mike, Ron, Tom and his brother Jim in attendance. We decided to start out on the side that we knew would not have snow. Actually, there was very little that needed to be done. I believe we had to cut one fairly large tree early on and then drag a few smaller ones out of the way.

I guess at some point we missed a turn that would have taken us onto a difficult steep off-camber trail. So, we ended up on a trail that was new to me. It was very tight in spots but not too challenging. Eventually we ended up on a gravel road that we thought might take us back to 7N09, but in actually put us at the bottom of the steep off-camber trail. So, of course we decided to go up it. That was very cool. The off-camber stuff definitely keeps my attention. Couple that with some really tight spots, very steep climbs with a poor traction surface and you have some serious fun. We have to do that again. After that excitement we stopped for lunch. After lunch we decided to tackle the other side of the trail from the bottom up. Gravity was not helping us. We shoveled, winched and strapped our way to the top with Jim leading the way. It was epic. In the end the trail was opened at we headed back to Horse Gulch to pack and head home. A hot shower was waiting.

Adopt-a-trail Photos

ED4, Here are the photos from the Adopt-A-Trail June 18th and 19th. http://flickr.com/gp/19001911@N08/BYjr84

Ole and Sherry, could you please forward this link to Lonnie?

Have a geat 4th everyone!!

Cheers,

Jason

Adopt a trail

Name: CJ ArnesenDate: 6/27 - 6/28/08 Location: Adopt-a-Trail 7N09 off of HWY 4 and more Trail Boss: Jason Green Attended Friday by: Jason Green, Jay Lohr, Tom Vella, Ed Lorenzen, Chris Mains, Sherry Stortroen, CJ Arnesen, Jim Hodges and Ole Stortroen.

Attended Saturday by: Chris Mains, Jay Lohr, Jason Green, Tom Vella, Ellen Layendecker, Jim Hodges, Brian McMinn & Thu Doung, Rick & Val Arnesen, CJ Arnesen, Loro Paterson, Darell Kroeker & Lynn Warkentin & Bob Atchison, and Sherry Stortroen.

***Most of these pictures, and then MANY from the Slickrock obstacle are available HERE. The pics are in photo albums by driver. Feel free to browse through the folders. If you click the center of the image it should load a high res version, or you can click the little blue arrow download icon to the lower right side of the photo. These will still be somewhat low res. If you need higher res, or want to make a print just email me the file name of the photo you are needing and I can email you the original. Hopefully this makes sense once you see the photo album.***

I drove up late thursday night after some last minute Jeep repairs. My family has a cabin in Dorrington about 25 min away from the camp site at Horse Gulch so I slept there Thursday night and drove into camp Friday morning.

We left promptly at 9am. A shot of the camp.

we headed out on Corral Hollow Trail.

Our first obstacle/trail repair

Not being much more manual labor we used gas powered chain saws and gas powered pulling devices.

And then we posed like we actually worked. I’m kidding, Ole got a good workout using the chain saw, and everyone pitched in to help roll trees out of the trail. However it is fun to use our "toys" to do some of the work.

We came to a beautiful meadow where this old hunting shack sits.

Group Photo time. More obstacles

Jason took time to carve "GB 08" - Granite Bandits 2008 and pose.

Beautiful view while driving.

We finished Corral Hollow and decided to go into the Slick Rock trail via Lake Alpine and have some lunch. 

I was too busy eating and didn’t take any photos.

After lunch we drove the rest of the trail to the "stairstep" obstacle. The photos below try to describe each person’s attempt up in only one photo.

Jason, Hard line, VERY high centered.  

Tom, good line, lifted a tire, drove right up.

Chris, spun a few tires, but crawled right up, and was very stoked that he made it.

I bounced my way up with little finesse.

Ed crawled right up it, like it was a speed bump in a shopping mall.

Jim, he gets two photos. One showing some good articulation and . . .

one showing the very odd situation he got himself in. Two rocks jammed up between tire, gas tank, and shock. The picture doesn’t show it, but they were VERY stuck and actually pushing his tire in about 4inches.  

Jason needed some revenge after getting high centered so he took a second CRAZY line over the left of the obstacle.

Just in case you need help while on the Slick Rock trail the locals have devised a Hillbilly Cellphone in case of emergencies. It says "Hillbilly Cell Phone, Go to Highest Hill and Holler, If No answer Holler Louder, NumPad, Can you hear me now?, GOOD!"

Friday night I camped, first time in about 7years I believe. It was nice, but I was jealous of the campers/showers/stoves/beds. Someday when I’m older and have paid my dues I’ll live a life of luxury.

Saturday morning my parents joined the fun. They brought along my dog Mokey, and some edible goodies to share.

Saturday, more people, more fun. We found some snow on the Mattley Loop Trail. Jason took charge.

A picture making sure everyone got credit for working. Some more beautiful views while driving.

Group photo. High Res version available HERE (just right click and save as)

One area on the trail was particularly bad. We picked up garbage bags full of shell casings, and other items like this:

Jim with a full bag.

Sherry with another.

Tom took home some Volvo brake rotors.

Lucky Jason found a very nice flash light while "exploring" a bit.

One of our last logs. Quite large, but thankfully rotten. Jason pulled it over to the side.  

In proper ED4 spirit people jumped right in to roll it out of the way. What a fun trip, thank you. It was great to explore new parts of an area where I have grown up. Also it was great to be a part of keeping these trails open.

See ya at the next meeting, CJ

Adopt a trail

ED4, Thank you Sherry for being the “Scribe” this past weekend and thanks to all who participated!! We had a great weekend of work and play!! Ole maned the chain saw on Friday and I took care of a few small trees on Saturday. CJ documented the entire event with 200 plus photos. Watch out Ira, I think you have some competition. CJ’s mom, Val, kept everyone’s appetite in check with homemade banana bread and cookies. Jim kept us entertained with his nigh-time laser light show. I was even lucky enough to find a nice G&P Tactical Flashlight while cleaning up the garbage left behind someone’s shooting spree.

Friday we completed the Corral Hollow Trail by 12:15pm and we headed up the road to do the Slick Rock Trail and have lunch by the river. The weather was great and the smoke was not as bad at the higher elevations. The trail ride was fairly uneventful until we got to the stair-steps at the end. I tried to climb a relatively hard line with too much air in the tires and got so high centered, you almost could spin my Jeep around in a circle. I had to winch myself off the boulder. Everyone else made it up with minor delays in forward progress except for Ed who walked right up it like a driveway. After everyone was on top, I asked if they would mind if I gave it another shot with aired down tires. Of course everyone said go for it, because honestly, what 4 wheeler doesn’t like watching someone else try to roll their Jeep. I elected to try a +/- 70% granite wall off to the left side. With Ole as my guide, I made it up with a lot of luck and a heavy right foot. I just could not drive away from that damn stair-steps again with my tail between my legs. Way too much fun for one day, so we headed back to camp. On our way out, we saw Stacie Albright camping near the reservoir. We talked with her for a while and aired up our rigs and headed back to camp for some cold adult beverages.

Saturday was also fun. We had more people and cooler weather. There was probably a dozen or so large limbs I moved out of the way before anyone could get out of their rig. Then there were 3-4 very large trees across the trail that we easily pulled out of the way. Luckily all of these large trees fractured when they hit the ground, so they did not need to be cut with a saw. There was only 3 remaining snow drifts on the backside of the trail and only one required some digging to help it melt faster. We moved through the first part of the trail so fast that we had time to take an awesome group photo on the edge of a vista. Thanks to CJ and Tom for shooting some very, very cool photos of everyone and their rigs!! Look for it on the web site soon. After lunch, we traveled the last loop and moved a few more down trees. This trail had not be used in a while and tested everyone’s low gears and brakes. We were back at camp by 4pm and had the rest of the afternoon to kick-back and relax.

It was great to get out of the smokey Bay Area for a few days and enjoy the great outdoors with fellow 4 wheelers. I am ready to go back! The summer camp out should be a great weekend!!

Thanks again to all who participated and made this years Adopt-A-Trail a huge success!!!!!!

Cheers,

Jason

Adopt a trail

Esprit de Four members and guests: A big THANK YOU goes out to all those club members and guests who helped this past weekend, June 27 and 28, to open the Corral Hollow Trail and Mattley Loop Ridge Trail. The group consisted of the following people: (If I have misspelled names, or missed anyone, sorry, let me know to correct the records.)

Friday’s crew: Jason Green; Jay Lohr; Tom Vella; Ed Lorenzen; Chris Mains; Sherry Stortroen; C J Arnesen; Jim Hodges and Ole Stortroen.

Saturday’s crew: Chris Mains; Jay Lohr; Jason Green; Tom Vella; Ellen Layendecker; Jim Hodges; Brian McMinn; Thu Doung; Rick & Val Arnesen; C J Arnesen; Loro Paterson; Darell Kroeker; Lynn Warkentin; Bob Atchison; and Sherry Stortroen.

This year our group helped cut and clear 5 downed trees; dig thru one small snow bank; and picked up lots of garbage. There was an area off the Mattley Loop trail, that we cleaned up lots of garbage, shooting type garbage.

After Friday’s work day, Jason lead the group through the Slick Rock Trail. Nice trail, and not getting any easier. It was a nice day with work and wheeling. Thank you Jason for taking lead for the trails.

The Forest Service very much appreciates the work we do to keep these trails open. Without our help, there is a very good chance of resource damage, and trail closures. Good Job all. Thank you. Sincerely, Sherry Stortroen

Adopt a trail

Trail Report: Adopt-A-Trail June 23-24, 2007, by Brian McMinn There was a great turnout for a work outing. We had about 12 rigs and almost twice as many people to work on the trails. Fortunately we had a mild winter so the work was light this year. We only had to clear about 5 or 6 trees from the trail. Work was finished before lunch where we finally met up with Roy the Forrest Ranger. He was grateful for our efforts and seemed genuinely interested in promoting our enjoyment of the forest.

The driving ace of the day award goes to David Grubman who expertly piloted his wife’s Chevy Tahoe through the Mattley Loop Trail. He came out with running board intact!

The afternoon was spent trail riding. This involved some off-camber sections through tight trees. I took comfort in knowing that Darell and Jim were ahead of the group with the two biggest rigs on the trail. If they could make it so could I. Jim had a little trouble making it past one of the off-camber sections so the group broke out the chainsaws and shovels and “improved” the trail making it easier for those that followed.

Some of the group stayed the night at the Horse Gulch campground. Jim Hodges, Loro Paterson, John & Hope Ruiz and children, and I enjoyed the evening around the campfire. Jim entertained us with his better than National Geographic, live flashlight demonstration.

Looking forward to next year and hope to see everyone soon.

Brian.

Adopt a trail

Club members and Guests: I wish to extend a “Thank you” to all of the volunteers and guests who took this past weekend to help open the Mattley Loop trail for the season. Our volunteer group consisted of 17 adults and 4 children; as follows:* Jason Green * David Grubman * Brian McMinn * Rich Taylor * Dennis Tralake * Kelly Swanson * Chuck Rippen * Jim O’Leary * Bob Atchison * Darell Kroeker * John & Hope Ruiz and their children Brittany, Shane and Brenna * Loro Paterson * Ellen Layendecker * Tom Vella and his nephew Daniel Vella * Jim Hodges * Sherry Stortroen (If I have spelled anyones name incorrectly, I apologize. Please let me know the correct spelling for club and forest service records.)

The day started out by meeting up with the people that were camping at Horse Gulch for the weekend. We quickly grouped up, and headed to the trail head by 9:00 or so. We air downed the vehicles and headed up the trail. At the split, our group divided into two groups. In past years this split in the trail work consisted of “downed trees” to the left, and “snow” shoveling to the right. Darell lead the group up the “tree” side, and Ellen lead the “snow” side of the trail. Thank you Darell and Ellen for leading, I really do appreciate your help.

At our lunch stop, we meet up with our forest service contact Roy Morris. The group had the opportunity to meet and talk with Roy. We discussed possible changes in trail signs, signs at intersections of the trail; and map corrections. Roy mentioned that our group had helped set a record for the forest service, in having all the adopt-a-trails open by this time of year.

I don’t believe I have ever seen the trail so dry, which made for lots, and lots of dust. I saw absolutely no snow. So no snow shoveling. There were only 5 or so fallen trees across the “snow” side of the trail, and very few fallen trees on the other split of the trail. This was the easiest trail opening that I can remember. Good job all, Thank you very much for your help. Sincerely, Sherry Stortroen

Adopt a trail

Ok, here It is, my first trip report! Adopt-a-trail, wow, who would have known that off roading with chainsaws could be so much fun. I got up to Dorington Thursday after noon with Jason Green, Chuck Rippen and Rich Taylor, Rich supplied the cabin for the weekend. By 13:00 the four of us set off on our dual sport bikes up HWY 4 to the trail head to evaluate the trails for maintenance. This was my first adopt a trail after working and wheeling with ED4 over the past four seasons. Saturday Morning at the trail head our group of about 14 rigs” I think?” split off into two groups. Not a whole lot took place in the clearing the trail department to report but for those that weren’t there, to see approximately eight grown men working harder than any logger in the area just to roll an 8ft section of a log down a hill, well, let’s just say you missed out. Well, I think I’m going to stop here mostly because I’m at work and filling my report out on my Black Berry, not an easy job to do with my fat fingers. My mind is still some where up above Slick Rock off of HWY 4, but that’s another story! Thanks to all that showed up and added to the adventure.

Jim O’leary

Adopt a trail

How many friends of ED4 does it take to screw in a light bulb?Trip report: June 22, 2007 GÇô Adopt a trail

That one I cannot answer for you, but I can tell you that it took 20 friends of ED4 to open their Adopt-a-trail this year. The story for many started early in the week. Many members and friends arrived in the area mid week. The remaining members rolled into camp Friday (some late Friday), and early Saturday morning. Conditions were fantastic. Trails were rather dry, with night time temperatures in the low 40s and day time temps in the 70s.

Once gathered at the camp site, we rolled over to the trailhead. There were 20 folks in 13 rigs. We started down the trail to the first split. We split up the chain saws and the rigs to send two chain saws with six rigs down the snow path, and two chain saws with seven vehicles the other way.

The crew on the snow path encountered no snow, but did clear four obstacles. Chain saws were run and trees were cleared. The other crew encountered on obstacle that apparently challenged them Not being with that group, I am not sure what challenged them so much. With all the horse power, brain power and muscle power, I would think that no obstacle would be too great.

After the groups reconvened our lunch was joined by ranger Roy. Nice guy. He really seemed to go out of his way to talk to us about his plans and the general state of affairs with the trails in the area. He set us straight on some recent land issues. Another testament to ED4 was the respect the ranger showed toward the group.

The talks with the ranger were a little much for some people:

After lunch we assembled all the vehicles and took some mild trails on the way back to the camp site. Where Ed was waiting for us.

Thanks to Jim for GÇ£leaving the light onGÇ¥ for the folks rolling into camp late. Thanks to Brian for offering a right seat. Thanks for letting a non member join in the fun.

Beautiful area. Great to see everyone again. Next time I am bringing my Jeep.

Respectfully submitted.

- david grubman

Summer Campout

Ah, and now that I have your attention… I hate to bitch too much but lets just say that the weekend could have been a LOT better for Lorrie and I. We started out with a leisurely drive up the mountain on Friday. We both took the day off so we could get up to camp and relax a bit before the run. We had just blown by a Ford Powerjoke towing a 5th wheel on the 4 lane somewhere above Sonoma. I was pushing about 27# of boost from the turbo when I passed them. About a mile or so later another grade and I am not quite into it that much (~20# of boost) and we hear a BOOM! I mean BOOOM!!! Psssssssssss…. Boost == 0 EGT’s 1200 and climbing. My first thought is SHIT I just blew a head gasket. Second thought is “no that is not where the noise is coming from. 1st gear and about 5mph gets us to a point we can pull over. I get into some shade (lucky me) and pop the hood.

Good news, NOT a head gasket, bad news, intercooler boot has slipped off the turbo housing UNDER the clamp. I think, ok this is not such a hard fix… I get out the tools and put the boot back on. All in all, in the shade, not such a bad break down… 1 mile later… Boom! Psssssss. Shit! It slipped off again… I was only pushing about 18#!! come on!…

Short story. It blew 2 more times (the last one at about 10# of boost, without the jeep on the trailer) before we finally made it to camp…

Many thanks go to Dirk, Mark Polomik, Darell, and his friend Lynn for helping out in person, and on the phone…

Needless to say I am not a happy camper Friday night… (Get it, camper heheheh I slay myself…)

We had a great campfire on Friday night and turn in early because we were both tired.

Sat morning we all get ready, line up for a photo. Get some release forms signed (Because we are such a litigious club now), find a seat for Ed who rode his motorcycle up just for the day, and we are off on the trail. Right off our leader, Eric, was on the radio informing our newer members of the proper lines to take through the rough spots. Indeed from this end of the trail there is some serious “rockery” to be dealt with right off.

First I would like to congratulate Loro on excellent driving skills. Being able to handle the Bronco, with manual transmission, high gears, without power steering, AND without fuel injection just has to be commended.

Over all the trail did not present too much trouble. The first problem we had was getting Richards Xtera and Loro’s Bronco over a stair step. As always some rock piling ensued, but no straps were present. The “hard” part of the first rock garden really was not that bad. For some reason it seems the trail changed quite a bit. I did manage to kiss the big rock right where my left mirror would have been had I not pulled it in…

Next thing I knew Jim Hodges ended up off the trail. Richard was able to strap Jim back on the trail and we got him past the rocks he was trying to navigate. During this we noticed some fluid leaking from the front of his Jeep. After some more rocks we surmised that he had probably just gotten a little warm and boiled over the excess water he had put in the over flow bottle. No harm, no foul!!!

Overall the Jeep did well for Lorrie and I. I have determined that I need, among other things, better tires… I just could not keep on my lines… However, I had a good time and other than a bit of a kiss on that large rock, I don’t think I did any banging on the rocks. Lorrie did a great job of spotting in between taking many, many photos.

After some lunch we got to Lions Butt. This was a rather Moab looking obstacle. Darell and I decided to skip it and just spot people up. Jim was the only one to not make it as his transmission was giving him trouble… Don’t get me started about those automatics… Other than that everyone did a great job making it up.

Indeed from Lions Butt to the rock pile the trail is passable by pretty much any vehicle. Looking at the rock pile I don’t see how those guys did it 2 weeks ago. They did mention they had moved some rocks to help with the first stair step up into the obstacle but without 37″ tires I don’t think it would have been passable yesterday.

The drive back to camp was pretty easy. We had some down time and then got ready for the potluck. The potluck went great. As usual we had more food than we could eat. Brian cooked up some berry shortcake which toped off Sushi, baked beans and sausage, french bread, pasta salad, mixed fruit, and macaroni and cheese. I found that sloppy joe mix and meat topping french bread is pretty good.

The only down side to dinner was the slight bit of rain that we had… What is it with rain and our “summer” campouts? Anyway, the rain stopped and we had a great campfire again. We even had DVD’s courtesy of Eric.

Sunday morning, Lorrie and I tried to get up early to take care of the turbo issue. We did not do such a great job. Over the weekend there was much debate between myself and others about how I could make it home. I decided that it was best to drive the Jeep separatly and use some hose clamps to “strenghten” the intercooler boot.

Lorrie and I made our way home very slowly. But in the end we made it home without the truck breaking down. Which is really what counts.

All in all, a very fine trip. Ira

Adopt a trail

Mattley Loop Trail, located near Arnold, California, off route 7N09. Our work crew this year consisted of eight hard working people; Ira & Lorrie Weiny, Ed Lorenzen, Chris Thordarson, David Thordareson, Mark Pajdowski, Ole Stortroen & myself.

The overall work that was needed to open the trail for the season was considerably less than it has been in previous years. The postponement of two weeks from our original schedule date of June 24-25 was necessary. In contacted Lonnie just prior to our June date, he told me there was still “lots of snow” and it was slowly melting.

Our group worked from 9:40 am to 4 pm. There were no snow drifts to shovel through, but we had six downed tress. The men used axes to cut through the downed trees in order to clear them from the trail. Lonnie Allison (our Forest Service Contact) mentioned that a few guys on ATV’s had cut and cleared some of the downed trees prior to our scheduled weekend. This added help was greatly appreciated.

The trail is now officially open for the season.

Lonnie thanked our group for all our hard work.

Respectfully Submitted, Sherry Stortroen

Adopt-a-trail

Attending:Chris Christensen & Arlene (Work Boss) Sherry & Ole Stortroen Ron & Carol Engelbrecht Steve Gordon (with Trailer) John & JC Skier Jim Hodges (with Dixie & Kaiser) Bill Farley riding with Dave in a nifty Toyota 4Runner Jason Green (Chainsaw Man) and guest Todd Ellen Layendecker (Trail Boss) with Alicia Wilson (official photographer) Darell Kroeker with guest (sorry - I somehow lost your name) Doug Greig & Connie Details: About half the people drove up Friday and either camped at the Horse Gulch campsite or at Timberline Lodge in Arnold. Camping is about right - I had to change rooms twice due to some plumbing problems.

Saturday AM: Hungry Prospector at 7am - a few more people showed up. We ate, then collected the group at the Horse Gulch Camp. Strangest sight was Jason’s old pickup on the trailer behind his new pickup with the camper. OK, so the Jeep is broken, but it really looked strange!

Evidently, we left too early because more people arrived after we left and caught up with us on the trail. Not too hard - we had a lot of work to do! After clearing a log from the trail by the simple expedient of letting Chris’ Scout push it downhill, we blocked off the bypass that had been created and headed out. Well, 30 feet later, we cleared another log from the road. Then another! This one was big enough that we needed tools and the chain saws came out.

While we were working on this one, Lonnie Allison and Don Paterson(?) caught up with us, thanked us for the work we were doing, then vanished back over the hill. They didn’t tell us what was coming up next!

After a gentle meander down a vertical hill of loose dirt, we stopped in front of a log jam! 100 feet of train had 10 logs down across it, ranging from 18 inches to 3 feet in diameter! And, some were on top of others! It looked like a windstorm had toppled them all at the same time, as they were all fallen in the same direction. (There will be pictures.) There was a little discussion of a bypass, but eventually we decided to just get started and see if it could be cleared. 4 chain saws (only one of which was longer than 12″), 2 axes and a hatchet were put to work clearing branches and cutting sections out of the fallen logs. We destroyed thousands of dollars worth of beautiful red fir timber by cutting it into sections small enough to be rolled by hand or pushed by the Scout. 2 3/4 hours later, we all drove through!

Well, we only found a few more logs down the rest of the day. One aspen was 3 feet in diameter, and instead of moving it we cleaned up a bypass through some rocks and away from the meadow. I tried it first, and got stuck. But, lockers and some ballast in the back got me through (thanks guys!). Unfortunately, a branch took out one of Sherry tires with a 4 inch rip in the sidewall. After she changed to the spare, there was little more trouble as we headed up the switch backs (with some snow patches!) and we got back to the campsite by 5:30pm. Total log count: at least 18. I lost count!

Those going home Saturday or staying in town got cleaned up and enjoyed dinner at Snowshoe Brewery.

Sunday: we got a bit later start, and got to camp about 10am - just in time for everyone to leave! With only with 4 vehicles and 3 chain saws we hoped that we wouldn’t run into any more log jams. It was a bit cooler than Saturday. We caught up with Doug (who had camped elsewhere) and started our day with a run out to the bypass we made 3 years ago. It is marked as a black diamond, and it deserves it! There are some seriously off camber sections and it is still very soft dirt. Dave got his 4Runner very tippy (with one tire up in the air)! He was able to ease it back down onto the trail, and a slightly different angle got him through, but we were holding our breath and holding down the uphill side! At the bottom, another log needed removal, and we got an object lesson about not parking your vehicles downhill from the log you sawing! Chris moved his Scout in time.

Back up to the loop, we found the spot Doug had gotten stuck at - there was another REALLY big log across the trail and just no way around it. Saws out! These pieces rolled a long way downhill. And we got back to where we left off on Saturday.

It was still fairly early, so we went back down the switch backs to Mattley Meadow and stopped at the rock pile that the rangers suggested we make into a rock garden if we wanted to. It didn’t really look like it would be terribly difficult. It would provide another bypass around a meadow, so we took GPS endpoints, walked and marked out a trail! Chris is going to have the rangers look at it to confirm that it doesn’t cross private land. Next work project might be clearing the brush and deadwood to make a more interesting bit of trail!

We went back up the switchbacks and down to the pavement by 3:30, aired up and started for home. It was a long weekend, but we got a lot of work done! Thanks for coming and working your butts off!