OHV trail markers
Posted: December 21, 2015 Filed under: Maintenance, Travel | Tags: education, Rubicon, TNF Leave a commentOne of my goals for the 2015 summer OHV season was to start marking every side trail along the Rubicon Trail and Forest Road 03-04 within the Tahoe National Forest (TNF). The US Forest Service (USFS) uses carsonite markers for most of these types of markers. These are the brown, three four foot long and four inch wide, fiberglass stakes.
Below is the marker for the Long Lake Trail that I didn’t get around to installing:
Having a USFS Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM) in hand while drive through our forests is great, it doesn’t help much if the intersections are not marked as to which trail is which. On the east end of the Rubicon Trail, you need three MVUMs to navigate the area: Tahoe National Forest (TNF), Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) and the Eldorado National Forest (ENF).
My flier combines the essential trails near the Rubicon Trail. See flier here
Working closely with Susanne Jensen of the TNF, we were able to put up thirteen markers along the Rubicon and Forest Road 03-04.
Next summer, we plan on completing the installation of trail markers on the TNF. I hope to work with the LTBMU and the ENF to ensure all trails in the area are properly marked.
Fire restrictions lifted on the Eldorado National Forest
Posted: October 6, 2015 Filed under: Travel | Tags: camping, education 1 CommentThe Eldorado National Forest has lifted fire restrictions on the forest as of October 5, 2015.
Although the forest is still extremely dry, the fire danger was reduced by recent rains. I would suggest you don’t have a fire unless you actually need one. The risk/reward analysis does make a campfire worth the risk of a wildland fire.
Please be smart with fire. Read and obey the rules on the fire permit, which is required to have a campfire. Have water and a shovel at the fire just incase.
Signs, trash and trail markers
Posted: July 24, 2015 Filed under: Access, Maintenance | Tags: Barker Pass Road, education, Forest Road 03, maintenance Leave a commentYesterday, I spent a good day on the trail. I started at the TNF office picking up five carsonite markers and the tools needed to install them. Then off to the trail.
There was quite a crowd at the staging area. Jeepers Jamboree started that day and these were the workers headed in the back door. I worked fast to get on the trail before them.
The first stop was the newly repaired sign board at Miller Lake. The Tahoe Donner 4 Wheelers worked to get a fresh piece of plywood up a few weeks back and I had some better signage to post up.
The next task was going to be to replace the shot-up carsonite at the campsites there but there is some confusion about the numbering so I’ll address that later.
Next, I headed to the Richardson Lake Trailhead. The carsonite there looked to be held up with rock so I was going to move it to a better location and hammer it in to the ground. But the sign was somewhat in the ground so I hammer it where it was and placed some rocks to make it stand straight up.
The next trail marker was for the Ellis Peak Trail. This is a new number as there were duplicate numbers on the current MVUM. This will be changed on the next MVUM. The old number was 0003-004-12. The new number is 0003-004-12-05. It’s a forest service thing.
The next marker was for the intersection of the Rubicon and Barker Pass Road. I’m still working on getting the Rubicon signed as it’s a county road not really a forest road. The FS sees the importance of properly marking trails and will get me the needed marker. Hopefully, next week.
More markers were placed and are on the way in order to make sure the users know where they are on the trail system.
The last task was the removal of some trash. It looked to be an old hunters shelter and some milk crates for chairs:
The TNF allowed me to dump the trash in their dumpster.
It really was a good day on the trail. And with the jamboree going on, I was entertained over the ham radio.
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!
The 'Other' Rubicon 