Hollister Hills

Boys Battalion

Hollister Hills, Boy’s Battalion weekend, September 9, 2007, by Brian McMinn I joined up on Sunday morning since school commitments prevented me from coming out for the Boy’s Battalion on Saturday. Everyone who stayed over was provided the opportunity to preride some of the new trails on the other side of La Cienega. One of the park rangers met up with us at 9:30 a.m. to lead us on the trails. Falling in behind were Sherry (CJ7), Richard (from Napa) (M38A1), Ed (Toyota PU), Tom (CJ7), Jim (ZJ), myself (TJ), Mike & Dede (Early Bronco), and Ole (CJ7) bringing up the rear.

The trails were cut in wide enough to accommodate the variety of the vehicles in the group. Many of the routes traversed the sides of steep slopes which required staying on the trail for continued enjoyment of life. The group had to stop from time to time to trim branches here or there. The ranger was driving a Rhino that was well suited to the trails made narrow by brush.

The outing amounted to about 3 hours of trail riding on a warm sunny day in Hollister Hills. The heat eventually got to Dede, the lack of power steering gave Richard a workout, and Ole had a bee encounter. The trails made for a good Sunday drive with few challenges and plenty of opportunities for custom pin striping. Everyone returned to the campsite to pack up and have leftover tri-tip sandwiches before hitting the road.

Brian.

Hollister Hills Tree Planting

Volunteers: I really don’t think I can add much to Ed Lorenzen’s e-mail of April 22, only that I wish to personally THANK the following people:* Ron Heath; * Ole Stortroen; * Rich Martin; * Darell Kroeker; * Ed Lorenzen; * Ray Mendes and Aaron Mendes; * Christopher Thordarson; * Ellen Layendecker; and * David Grubman and his two daughters (sorry, David, I didn’t get your daughter’s names).

I think our group of volunteers are getting realllllly good at this planting thing. We were able to plant the 21 Elderberry bushes in about 1-1/2 hours, or less time. These bushes were planted on the Hudner side of the park (that’s the newest part of the park ). After the planting, Patty Forbes treated us to some Lemon bars and Banana (nut less) bread. They were both delicious. We were also treated to a short tour of Hudner. Can’t wait for the Hudner side of the park to be open. Any day of 4-wheeling is a good day. Thanks you all so much for your help. Sincerely, Sherry Stortroen