Trip Reports
| Eagle Rock - Scouting Trip | ||||
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| Date: | Sep 27th, 2009 | |||
| Trip Leader: | Matt Dodds | |||
| Members Present: | Mac McClung | |||
| Guests Present: | ||||
| Picture Link: | Matt's Pics | |||
| Description: |
I met Mac and Stephanie at their house about 11:45 and we headed out just after noon. We went to Eagle Rock from the West, the Victor side of Gold Camp road. All the fall colors on the way to the trail head were stunning.
Once at the Eagle Rock trail head we started evaluating any recent damage done to the trail. First was the area that uses to be a little pond right off the road. When they replaced the culvert under the road they drained the pond. People have been driving in this area but the damage is minimal because the area was under water for so long nothing is growing there. The ruts area not bad, yet. My suggestion for this area would be to modify the culvert to allow the pond to reform and block off the new trails into the pond area. Next was the left side of the meadow where Reynolds Wrap exits. This area had people drive through it 3 years ago and we blocked it off. Someone has driven in this area again and dug a large hole. This will need to be fixed but can wait until next year. We then headed to a trail on the far left of the meadow. We headed down this trail and found 4 vehicles back there, one broken and none of them able to get up the next section of the trail. Because neither Mac nor I had been down this trail we decided to see where it went. It was a nice trail with little use. We came to a T in the road and headed Left (I'm curious what is right) back towards Reynolds Wrap and ended up at the top of that trail. So, we ended up back in the meadow of Eagle Rock, it was a nice loop. The fencing that we put up in the meadow area and the cable that closed the trail going up the hill are still in good shape. There are a couple of small by-passes that are new but they are not causing damage and are for pulling off the trail to let other people by, I like them. At the bottom of the hill there was a jeep with broken spider gears and the axle tore apart. Also the four people we meet broke down on the other trail were now coming down Eagle Rock because they could not get past the mogul hill. After everyone cleared out we headed up. Both the main hill and the mogul hill are really torn up. This area needs a lot of work. At this point Mac decided it would be a good time to air down. At the top of the mogul hill a bolder has shifted that is causing the left line (the original line) to be almost impassable by anything less than a really built rig. Even the line strait up and around is chewed up and Mac got to use his new winch. After that, the trail is good until you get to the stream crossing. There is a new by-pass to the left. I see no reason for this by-pass. If you can get to this point, then you can get through the stream crossing. We then got to the fallen tree, Mac whipped out his... chainsaw and make quick work of the tree, we then winched it off the trail. I think people will stop using the by-pass now that the tree is gone. Just passed this I made an error on my line between the trees and my left tire climbed a tree and my rear slid to the right and sandwich me between two trees. More winching and I was out. The last problem area is at the end of the trail. There is an optional obstacle that is fun but someone has by-passed this to the left into the marsh area, again there is no need for this and it will need to be blocked off. All-in-all it was a great day. There problems that people reported can all wait until next year and are not as big as the problem we are having with the mogul hill. |
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