Trip Reports
| Eagle Rock Work Trip | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date: | June 17th 2009 | |||
| Trip Leader: | Rob Kaplan | |||
| Members Present: | Matt and Kim Dodds, Mike Borum, Paul Beaudean, Rob Cooper, Dave Peaslee, George Borrelli, Russ Rose, Bob Novak, | |||
| Guests Present: | Jerry Haufield, 11 kids and two counselers from the Navada House | |||
| Picture Link: | Russ's Pics | |||
| Description: |
After a successful scouting trip a couple of weeks ago and lots of communication and planning with Felice, at the Nevada House, and Rick, at the Forestry Service, it seemed like only two things could keep this from being both successful and fun. One was bad weather and the other was a poor club turnout. When we arrived at the Nevada House at 7:30 it appeared that Mother Nature was going to cooperate, at least for most of the day. The weatherman said that there was a chance of afternoon thunderstorms. What were the odds of that? Glad they pay those guys well! Felice had told me that they had 11 kids and two counselers going. On my list we had: Matt and Kim Dodds in Matts' 88 YJ, Mike Borum in his 06 LJ, Paul Beaudean in his 45 CJ2, Rob Cooper in his 01 TJ, Dave Peaslee in his 92 Range Rover, George Borrelli in his CJ5, Russ Rose in his 86 Samurai, Bob Novak and Jerry Haufield in Bobs' 06 LJ and myself in my 88 YJ. We had a total of 17 seats at that point and all was good. When I arrived Matt informed me that Jim Johnson was going to meet us at the trail head in his 47 Willys/CJ/Wagoneer. We also had 3 guest rigs from the Nevada House. We had another Sami, a nicely put together Blazer and a relatively Stock Ford Ranger. At about 8:00 we let the kids pick their poison and then got in line to head for higher ground. When we got there we met up with the 3 guys from the Forestry Service. They gave us the safety briefing along with a list of what we were planning on getting done. Dave led a clean up of what little trash there was in the lower clearing. We also noted that the drain had been cleared at the entrance to the trail and the water was more than a foot lower than two weeks ago. We then went up about 100 yards to where the trail turns hard right. There were already posts installed on both sides of the straight ahead hill climb and while some of us installed a post in the center of the opening and then strung heavy cable to close off the hill. While that was going on Kim led the kids in seeding, placing straw mats and brush on the closed hillside. We then moved on to the area where the trail that we closed off rejoined the main trail. We repeated the work that had been done at the bottom of the hill. Rob Cooper and Jim Johnson had taken one of the Rangers over to Saran Wrap to install some trail markings on that trail so we all went up a little further and ate lunch while we waited. After lunch the Rangers were going to head down, so we tried to raise Rob on the Radio. We had no luck so Matt went back to look for them and we proceeded up the trail. We all made it up past the first obstacle and then stopped to toss all the rocks that we could find into the trail to try to make it al little more difficult. At that point Matt called and said that they were on the way and would be caught up soon. As we headed up the hill and around to the left, Rob C had to give a little assistance to the Ranger to get it up to the bypass. That was not before he had gone up and then proceeded to back all the way down the hard line. The rest of the way up was pretty straight forward. I had to get a few rocks stacked once but it was on a line that I would never have even looked at before installing the rear locker. What a difference! Getting up to that point, Rob and Matt had to use a snatch block and winch to get the Ranger off of a tree and then some more strap work to get the Ranger up to the top of the last obstacle. All things considered, the Ranger did a pretty good job on the trail. By then the other Sami was having problems with the carb as well as the clutch and it was towed most of the way out by the Blazer. Just as we were approaching Bull Park, the hail started. We stopped quickly to put up tops and install doors an windows and then headed out to the main road. We stopped when we got there, so did the bad weather, and did a little more work on the Sami. We stopped just before the blacktop to air up and then headed back to the Nevada House. Jim said good bye and went back to load up at Southgate. We had to stop a couple of times to put air into Pauls' right front tire which had a cut in the sidewall. We changed it at the Nevada hous so that he could get home. At the Nevada House we dropped off a bunch of tired and thankful kids who were already looking forward to the reward trip. Thanks to all who participated for making this a successful work trip. |
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