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