Bad Coco
GOLD Star
First I’d like to thank Kansas McGahan with Placer County for procuring 2 pallets of concrete for us to use in the maintenance and hardening of the Morris Rock section of Cadillac Hill and Steve Morris for allowing us to stage the material at his home.
We had quite the turn out to help us with the project with people coming from the Reno/Sparks area, Placerville, and as far away as Santa Rosa and Martinez. Several people including John Briggs and Doug Barr came in before the work party and began the arduous task of moving all the material from Steve’s home to the top of Cadillac.
The Thursday of the work party was quite the test. After meeting with the LTBMU to work on details of future work parties on the Basin, my son and I first trailered in the concrete mixer and other tools and materials provided by RTF. We then turned around and headed out to start bringing the concrete in, in hopes of having all the materials in before the other volunteers arrived. Lesson’s learned here, even though the RTF trailers are incredibly strong and well-built and that it fit perfectly, they can’t hold up to 27 bags of concrete. Well not if you don’t want to snap a spring!
To top the day off, it dumped on us so hard it made the first hill heading out of Tahoma look like the Los Angeles run-off during a flood. Did I mention, only a bikini top on the rig and hail coming down the size of grape tomatoes? A few calls on the Ham and John Arenz arranged to have another spring brought up. Luckily Doug Barr had left another Trailer at Steve’s home for us to use, so work continued on. After the work party Matt Farley, Gordon Wood, Dion Mattei and Andy Hagin helped replace the spring.
Friday, was a much better day, we got the last of the concrete to the top of Cadillac and had all the equipment set up and ready to get an early start on Saturday. We all had a much needed dip in the river and settled in early considering we planned on start mixing concrete by 6 am to get the trail re-opened as early as possible on Saturday evening.
Saturday morning had the sound of generators and rock drills piercing the morning silence bright and early and everyone involved was busting their rumps to get the work knocked out as quickly as possible to affect as few people as we could. Larry Allen arrived with his family and a hurt back to make sure we had someone that could take photos for us and he stepped in the role to make sure all the paperwork got completed. Guys from Jeepers Jamboree came up and helped us get the concrete from the staging spot to the mixer and anything else that was needed.
We were done with the work on the hill itself by about 3pm and due to thunderstorms approaching, we got everyone off the hill and reopened it slightly sooner than we would have liked, but safety wins out. Trail users were very understanding and patient while we had the trail closed and I would like to thank them all. Only 1 person that I am aware of had to cross before our planned reopening of 6pm, and it was greatly appreciated, that they made sure to avoid the fresh concrete as much as possible.
After a hard day’s work, we all took another dip in the river and were treated to an incredible dinner cooked up the Jeepers Jamboree guys. I’d like to thank RTF for providing the meals and to the entire Jeepers Jamboree staff for allowing us to camp with you guys and feeding us like kings!
I apologize for taking so long in getting this information out there. To everyone that showed up to volunteer your time and efforts, I applaud you and sincerely appreciate time out of your crazy schedule to help us keep the trail open. Without you, the work simply can’t get done!
I had problems posting pictures here, so here is the link on Pirate to some of the pictures.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/rubicon-trail/1838481-july-fotr-work-party-summary.html#post27543697
Eric
We had quite the turn out to help us with the project with people coming from the Reno/Sparks area, Placerville, and as far away as Santa Rosa and Martinez. Several people including John Briggs and Doug Barr came in before the work party and began the arduous task of moving all the material from Steve’s home to the top of Cadillac.
The Thursday of the work party was quite the test. After meeting with the LTBMU to work on details of future work parties on the Basin, my son and I first trailered in the concrete mixer and other tools and materials provided by RTF. We then turned around and headed out to start bringing the concrete in, in hopes of having all the materials in before the other volunteers arrived. Lesson’s learned here, even though the RTF trailers are incredibly strong and well-built and that it fit perfectly, they can’t hold up to 27 bags of concrete. Well not if you don’t want to snap a spring!
To top the day off, it dumped on us so hard it made the first hill heading out of Tahoma look like the Los Angeles run-off during a flood. Did I mention, only a bikini top on the rig and hail coming down the size of grape tomatoes? A few calls on the Ham and John Arenz arranged to have another spring brought up. Luckily Doug Barr had left another Trailer at Steve’s home for us to use, so work continued on. After the work party Matt Farley, Gordon Wood, Dion Mattei and Andy Hagin helped replace the spring.
Friday, was a much better day, we got the last of the concrete to the top of Cadillac and had all the equipment set up and ready to get an early start on Saturday. We all had a much needed dip in the river and settled in early considering we planned on start mixing concrete by 6 am to get the trail re-opened as early as possible on Saturday evening.
Saturday morning had the sound of generators and rock drills piercing the morning silence bright and early and everyone involved was busting their rumps to get the work knocked out as quickly as possible to affect as few people as we could. Larry Allen arrived with his family and a hurt back to make sure we had someone that could take photos for us and he stepped in the role to make sure all the paperwork got completed. Guys from Jeepers Jamboree came up and helped us get the concrete from the staging spot to the mixer and anything else that was needed.
We were done with the work on the hill itself by about 3pm and due to thunderstorms approaching, we got everyone off the hill and reopened it slightly sooner than we would have liked, but safety wins out. Trail users were very understanding and patient while we had the trail closed and I would like to thank them all. Only 1 person that I am aware of had to cross before our planned reopening of 6pm, and it was greatly appreciated, that they made sure to avoid the fresh concrete as much as possible.
After a hard day’s work, we all took another dip in the river and were treated to an incredible dinner cooked up the Jeepers Jamboree guys. I’d like to thank RTF for providing the meals and to the entire Jeepers Jamboree staff for allowing us to camp with you guys and feeding us like kings!
I apologize for taking so long in getting this information out there. To everyone that showed up to volunteer your time and efforts, I applaud you and sincerely appreciate time out of your crazy schedule to help us keep the trail open. Without you, the work simply can’t get done!
I had problems posting pictures here, so here is the link on Pirate to some of the pictures.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/rubicon-trail/1838481-july-fotr-work-party-summary.html#post27543697
Eric