Official Christmas Tree Cutting Patrol 2014

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You reading that Leon? AT tires made the difference :) lol. (inside joke)

Seriously though, going in from 300U and out 300V never seems to be a damage issue-- it is still very spooky, but I haven't seen much damage that way. Coming down 300V is a different story, I have seen (and been a part of) a lot of damage that way. Knowing where that spot is, and anticipating it, makes a massive difference in the way things turn out... Had Brian (Moose) known that spot was there, things might have been different.
 
yes, I saw the AT, but my sipped MTs got me through :grinpimp:

We were going out/up V about noon when we drove it. I would not want to drive it the other way ;)
 
Not a lot of action today, so I made everyone pose for me. o_O

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Well, I helped a couple find their lost truck (which took about 5 minutes total :) ) I heard from a forestry that there were a couple of others. We helped Pfeiffer out with shooters on 322. (Apparently, he spent all day talking with shooters.) I also talked with a group that wanted to do some shooting, but decided that they needed to find another area. Which was refreshing to hear.

About 4 of the firefighters were called out of the area because of a fire over near Jones Park and Cheyenne Mtn. Which left Pfeiffer to cover the area until they picked up things at the middle school. So it was a good thing that it was a quiet day. Pueblo dispatch determined that it was on private land and USFS response wasn't necessary. But, this was several hours after the initial call. It took them that long to determine the exact location of the fire.
 
nensha said:
Well, I helped a couple find their lost truck (which took about 5 minutes total :) ) I heard from a forestry that there were a couple of others. We helped Pfeiffer out with shooters on 322. (Apparently, he spent all day talking with shooters.) I also talked with a group that wanted to do some shooting, but decided that they needed to find another area. Which was refreshing to hear.

About 4 of the firefighters were called out of the area because of a fire over near Jones Park and Cheyenne Mtn. Which left Pfeiffer to cover the area until they picked up things at the middle school. So it was a good thing that it was a quiet day. Pueblo dispatch determined that it was on private land and USFS response wasn't necessary. But, this was several hours after the initial call. It took them that long to determine the exact location of the fire.
Click to expand...

We heard quite a bit of shooting around 1:30ish, but it sounded a was away, we were at the end of 327 at that point and it had dissipated by the time we got back to Rampart.

Only other "excitement" was a nice older couple on 324 worried that they were going the wrong way on a one way trail. We explained that they hadn't reached that section yet and they gave us some thanks, big smiles, big waves and were on their way.

Could have seen some action in the afternoon as the dust and sun going down made for some zero visibility moments. Glad there weren't any accidents.
 
It sounds as if I need to come out for Sunday. I need to get a tree so I can "decorate" the truck for the day. I don't want everyone else to have all of the fun.
 
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Andrew, Eric, David, Tracey and I finished the day by stopping at AJ's for some pizza after the run. Had some good pizza and good laughs. A fun way to end a day of wheelin'. Might have to make post run feasts a part of our routine.

'til next time!

:cheers:
 
We had a good showing for the last day. 8 trucks and a full size Blazer with a plow of some sort on the back. It may be an E brake, or an anchor, just guessing. Vic led the team up North. I never heard a peep from them so I guess it was good. I was in the middle with Eric in the lead. Glad we had the inch to 2 of snow since it stopped the dust. We went down 300 U and I found a tree after I slid and fell on a patch of ice (you can't see ice under a layer of snow, I just relearned that). We came out on 300V and our fearless leader was looking for the glacier. He stopped the 80 and stepped out and almost ended up under his truck (Found the glacier!). The good samaritan that he is, he starts spreading sand on the ice so nobody has problems. Next thing I know I am flat on my back gasping for air. Eric missed that Kodak moment, (remember, you can't see ice under a layer of snow). I finally started to breathe without that funny gasping sound and figured out how to get my feet back under me. Eric finished with the spreading of the sand, and we crept across the Glacier with no problems. We headed up to 323 and were going to meet the South crew led by Luke. It turned out they were having fun on their own and weren't going to make it. We ran 323 and 324A and 325. About that time Tracy asked me if I picked up my saw that I used to cut the tree. OOPS! We went down 300U and got the saw and then we met up with the South group and did the 323 loop, but this time we came out 324. We went down 322 and followed a single set of tracks that kept going and going and went down a spur and kept going. Eric decided to stop when he was getting sucked into a ditch. I went up to see if I could help and all I see is a set of boot tracks following the tire tracks heading down the road. I keep going, and finally caught up to him and we followed the tracks until we came to a nasty hill. I stopped and Eric went another hundred yards down the hill and reported no truck was at the end of the tracks. I think he got beamed up to the mother ship, Eric thinks he camped overnight and drove out in the morning after it had snowed. We got turned around and met the South group at the sledding hill, aired up tires turned in radios, etc. Went to AJ's in WP and had great pizza. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.


Great to see the old faces and make new friends.
 
We, the North group, ran 327 to the end, then came back and took 323 to find the rest of the group for lunch. Way down in, past and down below from where 323 turns right and the road turns left and becomes 324, we came across a guy waving us down and we took him to his party about a half mile up a two track where they were stuck. He said that he missed waving down an earlier group (probably Molter and team) by a small margin. Sorry, guys, we got all the glory. We did an epic extraction on a Dodge/Cummins 2500 that was securely lodged on two logs that were jammed under the axle, plus he was on the edge of the drop off of the road. He had chained his front and rear bumpers to trees to secure his truck on the edge. There were two guys, a lady, and 9 month old, and they were in a deep jam, miles from nowhere looking at a long cold walk out. Internet speed is crawling tonight, so I'll go in to work early tomorrow and post up photos and a video. We had two Warn 8274's with 100' plus of cable out, both snatch blocked to his bumpers. We dislodged the first two anchor trees and had to move the lines up the hill to a couple of monster trees. After getting him off the logs and onto the road, we strapped to the logs, dislodged them, and rolled them off the road. He was able to drive out. We didn't even have lunch; we checked on vehicles along the main road then turned in our stuff to the F.S. and went to the W.P McDonalds and ate and aired up. All in all, a very fine day, with the satisfaction of doing a major good deed.
 
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