Meeting with the LTBMU Supervisor
Posted: July 6, 2015 Filed under: Access, Maintenance | Tags: access, education, law enforcement, LTBMU, Middle Fork Trail Leave a commentThis afternoon, I sat down with Jeff Marsolais, the forest supervisor of the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, for a half an hour. When I say half an hour, I mean 30 minutes, almost to the second. I got 30 minutes in the seat in his office. I had three typed pages of notes to get through so I talked fast. But that’s easy for me.
Although he didn’t have time to respond to all the issues I brought up, he said he’d get back to me. So, what did I bring up? Here’s a brief outline of topics:
Who is the OHV lead for the LTBMU?
Should be full time and year round but not 100% OHV focused.
Needs to be pro-OHV not just someone doing the job.
We need consistency and quicker responses from the LTBMU.
AAT agreements and paperwork
The Forest Service needs to be quicker and proactive on approaching and supporting clubs willing to adopt
Rubicon Trail
Limbs cut off years ago need to be removed or chipped
The main sign at the staging area
Staging area maintenance
Recreational Opportunity Guide – finish it or drop it
General signage along the trail, paved and dirt sections
Other trails
Buck Lake Trail
Twin Peaks
Middle Fork Trail
Funding
CA State Parks – start writing next years now, include more people in the process
Recreational Trails Program (RTP)
Foundation Grants
How did the Corral Trail get a full time, eight person crew to work that trail since the OHV grant fell through?
He did say he might be interested in a ride out on the trail to see first hand what’s going on. That would be a great education for him!
This one meeting won’t end these issues but now we all know the main guy at the Basin has been told how all those underneath him have dropped the ball over the years.
Truckee’s Fourth of July Parade
Posted: July 6, 2015 Filed under: Travel | Tags: access, education Leave a commentThis past weekend, I was honored to be invited to take part in the annual Truckee 4th of July parade.
The Tahoe Donner 4 Wheelers Club invited me to join them in the parade. This year’s parade focused on the TD4W Club’s Trails & Ales event this July 18th/19th. See the blog below for details or visit the TD4W website: http://td4wheelers.com/
The club had eight vehicles in the parade, two of them towing trailers. The first trailer was a flatbed with a Jeep poised on the trailer as if it were going down a trail. I liked the fact that they had a forest service (FS) carsonite stake stating that the trailer was an official OHV route. The second trailer was the Rubicon Trail Foundation (RTF) trailer being towed by me. I had re-rigged the airlines and had cracked the lowering valve on the trailer so I could raise the trailer while driving down the road and then the trailer would slowly lower itself.
For the most part, the parade went well. There were a lot of people there to watch. Fortunately, our group was toward the front of the parade.
As we exited the parade route, the rain started. No big deal as it was forecast for ‘showers’. We pulled in to the old lumber/rail yard on the east end of town and started to pull off the decorations. That’s when the skies opened up and started pouring rain. We worked faster. We had to get the decorations off from around the Jeep on the trailer and then the Jeep off the trailer.
Then the lightning started. And it was close. You count between the lightning and the thunder. Every five seconds is a mile. We had thunder within two seconds! And it was all around us. Some of us did not have hardtops on out Jeeps. At least I had a bikini top. A few didn’t have tops at all!
Trails & Ales
Posted: June 30, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: education Leave a commentThe Tahoe Donner 4wd Club is hosting the first annual “Trails & Ales” event July 18th and 19th in Tahoe Donner outside of Truckee:
There will be a show & shine event on Saturday which will include a BBQ and beer tasting. On Sunday the club will run participants through the Bear Valley Trail which is up Highway 89.
The Tahoe Donner 4wd Club is a stand up club. They were on of the first clubs to step up and adopt a campsite.
TheOtherRubicon.com is proud to be a sponsor of this event.
Please sign-up as a participant or at least attend the show and shine to check out the rigs and vendor booths.
Doug
Fire restrictions in place on LTBMU & TNF
Posted: June 25, 2015 Filed under: Access | Tags: LTBMU, TNF Leave a commentAs of July 1, 2015, fire restrictions are in place on the TNF & LTBMU!
I just came across the postings on their websites. The Eldorado won’t be far behind.
Be fire safe even without a fire. Carry water and a shovel at all times.
CA State OHV grants awarded
Posted: June 25, 2015 Filed under: Maintenance | Tags: access, education, grant, maintenance Leave a commentEarlier, I reported that the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit had failed to apply for any funds for four wheel drive trails. They had only applied for a motorcycle trail that is frequented by mountain bikes. (The project is being lead by TAMBA – Tahoe Area Mountain Bike Assoc.) Then I reported that the Basin had failed to received any funding due to a technical error.
Well the results are out regarding who actually got the money.
Here is a link to the page with the results of those awards. There are several catagories of grant funding so let me cut to the chase for you.
Planning – this would include Placer County’s plan to GPS the east half of the trail:
Placer County: $51,000 (they had asked for ($89,000)
Tahoe National Forest: $90,000
Tahoe National Forest: $488,000
Tahoe National Forest: $623,000
Eldorado National Forest: $591,000
El Dorado County: $590,000
All I can say it that’s a lot of green stickers being bought!
The 'Other' Rubicon 