Major 14N39 trail work by ENF
Posted: August 6, 2015 Filed under: Maintenance, Uncategorized | Tags: 14N39, ENF, maintenance, Richardson Lake Leave a commentSo, I headed out to the Rubicon to place more carsonite trail markers, and came across a large “Road work ahead” sign at the staging area. I was meeting John Briggs, the Friends of the Rubicon Tahoe side lead. We moved markers at a few of the campsites and later placed markers at the intersection of Forest Road 03 (Barker Pass Road) and 03-04.
After getting our volunteer commitments done, we headed up the Richardson Lake Trail (14N39) to see what was actually going on. We knew that the last ‘meadow’ was scheduled for work but wanted to see for ourselves.
On our way up the Rubicon earlier, we came across a HUGE dump truck. It was a Volvo 725. I believe that means a 25 yard bed. I had earlier asked the size of the hauler (before seeing it) and he said it could do 20 tons. This is a similar machine to the ones Placer used to haul so much material last summer. I think it was the same contractor.
We drove up 14N39 to the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), where the trail temporarily ends and walked the short distance from there. There we met Tim Merten. He is a Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) civil engineer on loan to the Eldorado National Forest (ENF) to deal with the “42 Meadow Route Closures”.
At the ‘meadow’, there was a very large excavator working the section of trail that goes through the ‘meadow’. The plan calls for digging down almost two feet, laying cloth that will prevent the rock from sinking but allow water to pass, placing rip-rap about the size of a football, smaller rock on top of that and finally 3/4 crushed rock as ‘drain rock’. The final product should be able three inches above the grade of the ‘meadow’.
I was told they planned on three weeks to complete the work and I wondered if they were going to place each rock by hand.
What I later learned was the plan also calls for rebuilding twenty five (25) rolling dips along the trail as they work their way out.
With any luck, we’ll be driving to the top of Sourdough by the 20th!
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.
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!
A day on the trail…
Posted: June 22, 2015 Filed under: Maintenance | Tags: Cadillac Hill, education, maintenance Leave a commentJune 16, I was lucky enough to have time to spend a day on the Rubicon Trail.
For me, a day on the trail includes trail maintenance. This day was no different. I was out to enhance what I had started 6/4-5. On that day I moved a few trailer loads of rock on Cadillac Hill. So, I moved a few more loads to the same area of the Upper Hairpin and to a spot just a little up the trail. The upper hairpin turn is behind me in the photo below.
I also worked the puddle above the upper creek crossing. It didn’t take much, but it had a huge impact.
This small amount of rock solved two issues. The first was erosion. As rig drove through this ‘puddle’ before, small amounts of dirt were removed and the ‘puddle’ was growing deeper. Erosion is bad everywhere but when it happens at a creek, that sediment gets flushed down stream and the anti-OHV crowd gets bent out of shape. That will no longer happen here.
The second issue solved is that of users driving off trail. Although not a challenge to most, a few side-by-sides had gone to the effort to drive off trail and go around the very large tree on the right side of the photos because they would bottom out due to their wheelbase and low clearance. That bypass was blocked last year and since has been respected by the users. Now, due to the filling of the hole on the uphill side of the step, there is no reason for users to drive off trail.
The other area addressed that day was a root section well west of Observation point. It is a root section that had been eroding over the years creating a very off-camber trail. This spot also lead to users driving off trail to avoid the off-camber section.
Although I didn’t have time to move much rock, it is a start. After taking the picture below, I drove through the obstacle and still found it to be well off-camber. So, I spent another 15 minutes moving more rock in to the low spot on the trail.
This area will need more rock. I look forward to finding more time to spend on the trail, doing trail maintenance.
For those who think this is paving the trail and that we should just let it go, I obviously have a different view. The anti-OHV crowd has used ever eroding trails against us and will again in the future. Not only has the Rubicon been used, twice, first within the Lake Tahoe Basin and second in the Eldorado but we had 42 trails closed (most wrongfully) due to lack of maintenance in areas near meadows.
I prefer that we get out in front of the anti-OHV crowd and perform some preventative maintenance. A little bit goes a long way.
Cadillac Hill maintenance
Posted: June 6, 2015 Filed under: Maintenance | Tags: Cadillac Hill, camping, erosion, maintenance Leave a commentSo, last week (June 4/5), I finally got out on the trail with the ability to focus on trail maintenance. Unfortunately, it didn’t go quite as planned.
The plan was to wheel in to the upper hairpin on Cadillac Hill, set-up camp, moving a bunch of rock to stop erosion, re-trench the upper creek crossing and evaluate what the lower hairpin needs.
The drive in was fine. I got a little hail at Observation. Light sprinkles from there down to the upper hairpin on Cadillac Hill. It stopped just as I started setting up camp. I wanted to make sure I had a dry camp before the predicted thunderstorm rolled in.
The first task was to harden the actual upper hairpin turn. As you can see, over the decades, there has been a little erosion taking place here. There are now a few differential busters that have ‘grown’ up out of the ground.
I took my ‘trusted’ trailer up the trail and collected rocks from off the trail. (No reason to weaken one section of the trail in order to harden another area.) On my third trip with the trailer loaded with rock, I noticed a bad noise. I stopped and checked the trailer connection.
For those of you not familiar with the “Lock-n-Roll” hitch, it provides full articulation in ALL directions. But after a few jack-knifes (on previous trips) and once running the hitch upside down, the hitch has seen a lot of abuse. This time, I took it a little too far.
I spent over an hour trying to re-bend the middle piece back in to position to give me full articulation. I had the trailer tongue strapped to a tree and my winch pulling on the hitch trying to straighten it out. Not too successful.
Update note: I called Great Basin Forge and explained my issue. Even though they don’t list parts for sale, they sold me only what I needed and got it shipped out the same day! Thanks guys.
So, I called it a day on hauling rock with only three loads delivered. As you can see, I did get a little done. At least the diff busters are minimalized.
I hiked up to the upper creek crossing and trenched the crossing a little deeper and further away from the log ‘water bar’. This almost immediately stopped any flow of water down the trail.
The growing puddle/hole above the step just above the creek crossing was also addressed but not completely. I hauled quite a few half full five gallon buckets of rock and dumped them in the hole. It will need more but I was running out of fuel for the day.
The next morning, before heading out, I walked down to THE hairpin turn and worked there for about an hour. Again, the flowing water was trenched away from the route that would let it flow further down the trail. This area will also need some follow up.
Once I get the trailer rebuilt, I’ll head back out and continue the projects.
