Strawberry Trail Spring Maintenance

May 20, 2006

 

This was our annual Spring maintenance run. We sponsor the Strawberry Trail in partnership with the USFS. We met most of the people at Starbucks in ElDorado Hills. We met the rest of the crew at the Silver Fork gas station. Later, several TTORA members met us on the trail. In total there was 17 rigs. What a GREAT turnout. There was Lee (TJ), Chris (Tacoma). Pat (Commando), Rob (TJ), John (TJ), Keane (Toyota 4 Runner), Brendan (TJ), Chuck (TJ), Mark (YJ), Tang (YJ), Brad (TJ), Earl (YJ), J.C. (YJ), Larry (CJ), Mike (Tacoma), Todd (Tacoma), and Peri (Tacoma) and Chris.

The day started out to be sunny and warm. Everybody was giving me a hard time for putting the top and doors back on my Jeep for the run. Later on in the afternoon it started to rain and even snow. I looked like a genius while everyone was scrambling around to strap tarps on their rigs.

The trail that we saw was in EXCELLENT shape. All the hard work we did last Fall really paid off and there was very little work to do. We did prune back a few trees and bushes mostly out of a need to do something. There is a culvert just above the waterfall section that was partially plugged but I wasn't going to get in there to clear it out. We'll have to check on it later. That water was moving fast. We also fell a couple of dead trees to block the bypass just after V-Rock. Thanks to Chris and his big saw.

The majority of the day was spent wheeling. There were several large snow patches to cross. There was one particularly nasty snow bank right after a river crossing. If you weren't driving a white TJ you had to be strapped or winched up the hill. I think more rigs would have made it through if Fred was there to egg us on. There was also a lot of water on the trail but for the most part the culverts and water bars are doing a good job of keeping erosion down to a minimum.

The trail and the day ended at V-Rock. There was just too much snow to get any further. Tang made a valiant effort to get over V-Rock but couldn't quite get over. He popped an inner bead on his tire and had to call it quits. It took us the better part of an hour to get him backed out of there. With the snow and rocks he kept getting too close to the edge and a big fall. With winching and strapping we were able to get him out safely.

Two rigs were able to make it across V-Rock successfully. It was a real challenge with the big rocks and all the snow. A liberal amount of Go Pedal was needed to finally break over the top. Once again the two white TJs represented themselves well.

We all turned around and headed back down without incident. Half the crew headed to the comfort of their warm houses while the other half of us decided we needed more driving time. We headed up the road towards Pack Saddle Pass. The higher we climbed the deeper the snow kept getting. Several of us tried to send our rigs over the side of the hill while driving around some off-camber corners. But we all made it up the road safely. We decided to turn around when the snow got deep and most of us were freezing (remember, they didn't have tops on their rigs). Dinner at In N Out finished off the day nicely.

I want to thank everyone that came out to help with our trail maintenance. There wasn't much work to be done but we made the best of it and had a lot of fun. A special thanks to the group from TTORA. They are always generous with their help and they are a great group. We have a beautiful trail and we are proud of it. If you get a chance to run it, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Just remember to tread lightly and pack out more than you pack in.

John DalFavero
Trail Master '06