Official Christmas Tree Cutting Patrol 2013

[PWCO70crusier]

A word on the apps for phones...all apps available that say "NOAA" are unofficial and not produced by the National Weather Service or NOAA. We have no control on how they source their data and provide it to the user. Many, such as Accuweather are private companies that do their own forecasting, but for the whole country and most likely do not have a grasp of locally effects or include them in their forecast.

For the National Weather Service forecast, its best to visit the webpage weather.gov/pub and obtain information from there. Nobody gets a perfect forecast out here in the mountains, but we do our best. I hope this helps people understand a bit where those apps obtain their info, and why they may be so far off. Again, the best info is on the NWS webpage.

 

[PPFJ60]

Hey Chuck, I fixed your avatar for ya.

Your awesome Travis. It's going to be a while before that green jk can park on stuff like that though so only CG tricks will work for that level of posing.

I know it's the dark side and all that but this 2012 JK sport is a formidable 4x4 just as it is. Must put sliders on it soon.

 

[Fitzgerald]

Your awesome Travis. It's going to be a while before that green jk can park on stuff like that though so only CG tricks will work for that level of posing.

I know it's the dark side and all that but this 2012 JK sport is a formidable 4x4 just as it is. Must put sliders on it soon.

Dark side? Nah, I love all things 4WD. You should have seen Greg's GMC truck out on the last run, looked so cool on the trail.

If I didn't have such a long history with the 55, I think I'd be building my own version of the old Olympia Beer Bronco. Saw a picture of that thing a long time ago and I've been in love with it ever since.

 

[Fitzgerald]

Day 1

Great time on Day 1!!!

Before we even left the Western Station, Andrew had a chance to be a hero.

 

[Fitzgerald]

Day 1

Then we got to the WP Middle School to check in and team up.

Leon and I headed north, where he was winching a 4Runner out of a ditch before we even got off Rampart. (Sorry, no pic... to busy "helping").

Some nice snow and warmer weather than the Springs had.

 

[Fitzgerald]

Day 1

Thought we were going to have an eventful day after the quick start, but other that a crazed Jeep driver that clipped both Leon and my 100 with his mirror, a couple of ATV's on Rampart and couple of truck pulling kids in sleds down Rampart, pretty QUIET! I know Jeff and Jim had some action, but I'll let them share.

 

[Fitzgerald]

Day 1

Lastly, we got back to the sledding hill up air up when we found the FS folks helping a group that locked their keys in their suburban. They were using crowbars, tire irons (no kidding), wedges, cables, wire.... all in attempt to get it open, and all attempts failing. It was getting dark and COLD when Andrew once again came to the rescue. He volunteered his CB whip and the used it to pop open the slide lock.

Looking forward to tomorrow!

 

[RockyMtRunner]

Thanks, Travis, for the lead-in to tell about our Saturday patrol. Jeff can add on later, if he wants to. Sorry, no pics. Jeff (nensha) and I were patrolling the south sector--314, 315, and 322 when Jeff got a call from Forestry to help someone near the intersection of 312 and Rampart. It turned out to be a full size pickup truck that was stuck. The passenger-side IFS assembly was hung up on a stump/large root. The owners were a very nice young couple. The guy made it clear he didn't want us to pull the truck forward, but Jeff had another idea anyway. He used his high-lift jack with a wheel-lift accessory to raise the wheel and IFS assembly high enough to clear the stump and place blocks of wood under the tire. The lady then backed the truck off the wooden blocks. The guy was very grateful as he shook our hands. The lady seemed happy to be able to roam the forest again to find a Christmas tree. We were glad we could help them out. We found that a wheel-lift accessory is good piece of equipment to carry along. There was no room for a bubble jack under the hung-up IFS assembly. The wheel-lift accessory allowed us to lift the relatively light weight of the wheel and IFS assembly a short distance for clearance. We didn't need to lift part of the truck's entire weight fairly high by lifting off of the frame to get the tire off the ground.

Fairly nice weather for easy patolling and chatting with folks the rest of the day. However, at the end of the day, the dummy in me appeared. I drove home with the Forest Service Volunteer sign still attached to my rig. I know they are in short supply. I drove back up to the middle school staging area early Sunday morning and returned it to Forestry. Sorry I couldn't stay for Sunday's patrol. We had other plans.

 

[Fitzgerald]

So Maggie (our dog) and I took a drive early Sunday morning and returned the sign to Forestry at the middle school.

Ha! I was wondering what you were doing up there this morning.

I was up there until around 1:00 today until my daughter got a tummy ache and forced our early departure.

Not much action by the time I left, but as I was leaving there were a TON of people coming up Rampart. So.......???

 

[Fitzgerald]

Oh... and today we got donuts!

 

[EricG]

Ran into Dave, Sam and Ryan twice yesterday. First time down at the bottom of an unknown trail I took thinking it might be 300U with the sign missing, and then again on 300V. How'd you guys do on that ice & stuff down there? I had to lock both ends to make progress. There were tracks up to that tight spot with the big rock on the right - looks like they made an attempt, but valued their sheet metal to much and turned around. I picked up a little chatter on the radio on the way down 24 but couldn't make out much of it.

 

[black95]

Chuck and I came down from an unnumbered trail up north and ended up behind The south group on 300V, just before the ice. Sam was spotting Ryan, then myself and chuck over the glacier. That was pretty high on the pucker factor. We all made it through without sliding off, then made one more run as a group through the 312,314, and 315 loop before heading in. The tracks you saw on 300V were actually from chuck and I on Wednesday night in the snow, we decided discretion was in order with the fresh snow being so slick, it was pulling chuck's jeep into that rock too hard so we turned around. Strangely, the glacier was still not hard frozen that night, that came after the -15 degree Thursday and Friday night temps.

Nothing much happened all day Sunday. Crowds didn't start coming in until after lunch when the sun came around and the wind died. Chuck ended up finding a pretty expensive Samsung smartphone on 324, I contacted the owners ex-wife (yikes) and she directed me on how to get ahold of him. It will be returned to him after I get out of work today. That was our only real rescue

 

[EricG]

Chuck and I came down from an unnumbered trail up north and ended up behind The south group on 300V, just before the ice. Sam was spotting Ryan, then myself and chuck over the glacier. That was pretty high on the pucker factor. We all made it through without sliding off,

Yea, I started sliding off it a bit and my copilot wasn't to thrilled with the situation Came pretty close to putting the winch and/or chains in play, but the next attempt got us through.

 

[nensha]

Chuck and I came down from an unnumbered trail up

Just an FYI reminder:

Being on unnumbered routes (i.e. social routes or undocumented routes) could result in a $325 fine. As could being anywhere in, or on, a motor vehicle that is not permitted in the MVUM. Basically, if it's not on the MVUM you shouldn't be there. Even if you are on a designated route, but more than one vehicle length off the designated route you could be fined.

Yes, while we are volunteering with the Forestry, they won't bother us. But we shouldn't abuse the freedom either.

I spent most of Sunday talking with people that were where they didn't belong. (One group twice. The first time the leader was about 5 feet away from needing a major recovery. He was about to try to cross an ice covered pond.) There was a camper on Mt. Herman road that may have received $600 in fines for camping where he was. Not only was the vehicle too far off the road, but he'd cleared out the slash and trees that were blocking the route to the location.

 

[Fitzgerald]

...Being on unnumbered routes (i.e. social routes or undocumented routes) could result in a $325 fine...

Man!, I left you punks just in time!

 

[Fitzgerald]

Hey guys, looks like I'm going to be home alone this weekend!

So, if anyone's interested in grabbing dinner or an adult beverage after our service is completed Saturday, I'm game!

 

[Springs505]

Just an FYI reminder:

Being on unnumbered routes (i.e. social routes or undocumented routes) could result in a $325 fine.

I explored this area quite a bit over the summer. IIRC, I ran quite a few un numbered trails that looked pretty well traveled and never thought I might be doing anything wrong.

 

[nensha]

I explored this area quite a bit over the summer. IIRC, I ran quite a few un numbered trails that looked pretty well traveled and never thought I might be doing anything wrong.

Yup, there are a large number of undocumented roads in the area and getting worse all the time. Most of the new ones are created by shooters. The older ones are decommissioned roads that people have removed fencing and other blocks.

Your best bet to stay safe and avoid fines is to stop by the Ranger District office or flag down a Ranger out on patrol when you go into unfamiliar areas and get a copy of their MVUM (Motor Vehicle Use Map). If a road isn't on the map you shouldn't be on it. Also even if it is on the map you need to pay attention to where the route ends. There are a number of routes off Rampart that are only 0.1 to 0.4 miles long on the MVUM; however, you can easily drive several miles on them.

Once the forestry gets done with the law suite over roads north of Divide, they plan on hitting the Rampart Range hot and heavy to shutdown roads and clean up other areas.

 

[Springs505]

Guys, my maybe for tomorrow has turned into a no. My truck is leaking from the water pump pretty good now. It looks like I emptied my overflow during my drive to/from from work on wed, so I probably shouldn't take it out tomorrow.

Have fun out there tomorrow and see you guys on Tuesday.

 

[Fitzgerald]

Guys, my maybe for tomorrow has turned into a no. My truck is leaking from the water pump pretty good now. It looks like I emptied my overflow during my drive to/from from work on wed, so I probably shouldn't take it out tomorrow.

Have fun out there tomorrow and see you guys on Tuesday.