Corral Canyon Volunteer Day 1

[carguy 1]

Day 1 of our efforts went great. Although not quite as planned.

I had the jeep all packed up ready to go. Craig showed and we headed down the road, Quite brisk in the morning. I belive it was 40 degrees when we left. We got about 4 miles down the road and the old Jeeps rear end started howling. Did not want to brake at Corral so we came back and got the Dodge.

We were still early and had to wait for the USFS to open the gate. We then went to 4 corners for our meet.

We had mescalero, chief gunner, one of thier friends(sorry sometimes bad with names too), mikeyb sandiegoland & myself at the meeting to represent SDAR.

Richard Tull giving us the safety meeting and work outline.

Then we were off to work!

We picked up alot of litter, met up with some other volunteers and hondapilot and marbee40. and strated fixing fence that the firecats ran over.

It was nice to be able to ride the area again for some.

More fence repair.

Then it was time for BBQ3? Lunch time at Corral Canyon campground. Thanks again Aaron

Burgers, hot links, cold beer and chips & stuff. Great lunch and enough food for many more volunteers(hint, hint!)

After lunch we finished 1 of our fence projects .

Then we were treated to a tour of the burned area. Yes the gates were opened for us to view the davastation of the Horse fire and the reason that some of the area has to be closed to recover.

Seeing some green after the fire shows hope. There has not been alot of rain since the fire.

we stopped at a few spots along the route to do some more litter pickup.

The fire did alot of damage. There will be some serious soil stablization issues with the winter rains.

The 4 wheelers installed some fence on one of the 4WD trails. 1000' I think

This section with the overlook of Lake Morena will be opened and a new gate installed here .

Richard was impressed with our work and if next weekend goes as well, Our riding area may be opened as early as next month. Great job guys!!!

SDAR Volunteers Rule!!!

The next day to help is the 16th, next Saturday. See you all then.

[sandiegoland 0]

The fire really wiped out the vegetation in some areas.

But left to it's own, nature does sprout back.

HondaPilot and marbee40 building a fence to keep OHV users from accidently getting on a fire-break from an existing trail.

mescalero and marbee40 getting a laugh from the two mechanical casualties of the day... Aaron's Grill and marbee40's rear tire.

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Thanks again SDAR! We had 8 participants today. It was a reward working out there with all of you in the good weather and getting treated to a fine BBQ.

[Chief Gunner 2]

Guys; I am Not a religious fanatic ( I drink to much to be a member of that club) yet I do believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

I have no intention of offending or trying to recruit or solicit from anyone.

It is the time of year that many of us refelct opon our beliefs, our families, and our friends and I would just like to say to you all:

May Peace, Warmth, Comfort and Love embrace those whom I have known

Thanks guys

Aaron

[sandiegoland 0]

Guys; I am Not a religious fanatic ( I drink to much to be a member of that club) yet I do believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

If you think that is going to bring the grill back, forget it... we already tried that...

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Seriously though, best of the season to you and yours too!

[Mescalero 0]

b]

mescalero and marbee40 getting a laugh from the two mechanical casualties of the day... Aaron's Grill and marbee40's rear tire.

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Thanks again SDAR! We had 8 participants today. It was a reward working out there with all of you in the good weather and getting treated to a fine BBQ.

There was one more casualty......... more on that later

Good to meet a bunch of guys who know an important cause when we see one. Had a fun day on two feet and am looking forward to next Saturday and then the following volunteer days until it gets re-opened. I sure was sickened to see such devastation to the landscape and knowing NO animals nor insects survived that fire.

There was some good sights though seeing the new growth coming in and Gunner, his son in law Justin and I walked some nice single track trails in the non charred areas. We drooled over thinking of riding these chutes as we walked along scooping up trash left behind from careless past trail riders and Northbound " International Hikers."

The BBQ lunch was great but we learned a good lesson about throwing Chief Gunners $1k grill in the back of the Dodge. Things got even uglier after we blended it with Jim's XR650 that was thrown in the back of the truck after a flat. I don't know what to say Aaron... it was strapped down and just think of what it would have looked like if we were driving those trails at speed. There was some bad juju going on in the back of my rig because last night when I unloaded Jim's bike at his house I broke his mirror on the ceiling of the camper. Sorry Jim... I do have an ACERBIS right side mirror that I'll give ya.

See ya next week.

[Marbee40 0]

SDAR and all,

This was my first "trip" with SDAR, even though I've been a "member" since '05! What a great way to get started by doing volunteer work and possibly contributing to the re-opening of trails! We ALL know that getting ANY trail re-opened is next to impossible and any effort which lends to this is worthy! Thanks for the invite.

The pictures were GREAT! I met with "Jon" at Thousand Trails and we completed about 50+ miles of easy trail riding over Otay Mt. and a few other trails, ending up just west of Tecate. GREAT dual sport day! Then we buzzed thru Campo and around to meet with the group at Corral Canyon and off to work.

Repairing fence seemed a relatively easy task. Drive a few fence stakes, stretch a little fence, and tie a bit of wire....sounds simple. Until you realize that only a few USFS employees usually have to do this by themselves. I would DREAD doing this every day as my only job. Then there was the "boot camp" gate guard, keeping the non-volunteers out that stood his post for the ENTIRE DAY! Poor bum.

Anyways, as for the casualties of the day, my bike will live to ride another day. I didn't need that daggum mirror anywho, so don't sweat it! Considering how much fuel it cost you to give my sorry butt a ride home, I think we're MORE than even. Again, DON'T SWEAT IT! Let's put together a BBQ repair fund for Gunner. Opening the back of your pickup to find that his BBQ had committed hari-kari was just too darn funny. Kudo's to Gunner Chief for the OUTSTANDING lunch! I'm still paying for them durn dogs!

Funniest comment of the day was the new PC name concocted for folks traveling northbound: International Hikers. I guess ya had to be there.

I sincerely hope that MANY of you plan to be at Corral Canyon next Saturday. Even if you can only give 4-6 hours of your day, the effort will go a LONG ways towards getting a favorite riding area opened back up soonest. This effort also puts our group (and the 4x4 folks) in a good light when fighting off future closures in our county. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

Finally, I look forward to meeting more of the SDAR gang in the near future.

Thanks for having me!

[Mescalero 0]

I mentioned to Chief Gunner that he should host a Tech Day at his garage full of tools and gadgets. He's down for it.

I will rebuild his BBQ while you guys wrench on the bikes.

[Kevin 0]

Repairing fence seemed a relatively easy task. Drive a few fence stakes, stretch a little fence, and tie a bit of wire....sounds simple. Until you realize that only a few USFS employees usually have to do this by themselves. I would DREAD doing this every day as my only job. Then there was the "boot camp" gate guard, keeping the non-volunteers out that stood his post for the ENTIRE DAY! Poor bum.

Here is some food for thought. I am curious, since Corral Canyon closure, if these USFS employess have been putting there now available extra time, improving the other trail system's in there juristiction. Has anyone seen evidence of this??

[sandiegoland 0]

Here is some food for thought. I am curious, since Corral Canyon closure, if these USFS employess have been putting there now available extra time, improving the other trail system's in there juristiction. Has anyone seen evidence of this??

Hey now, no hating in our "PR" thread...

Seriously though, questioning what they are up to is always good!! Everyone should come out and meet the new ranger. Let him know our organization and the faces behind it. Richard Tull arrived just before the fire and has been addressing everthing issues associated with stabilizing the area ever since. He comes from Inyo County where they have vast amounts of riding spaces, so he knows how precious our confined areas are... and he's a rider too (and a Baja nut)!

As Carguy mentioned we were given the opportunity to ride through the areas that will have to remain closed, o see for ourselves and spread the word about what they are up against.

[carguy 1]

Repairing fence seemed a relatively easy task. Drive a few fence stakes, stretch a little fence, and tie a bit of wire....sounds simple. Until you realize that only a few USFS employees usually have to do this by themselves. I would DREAD doing this every day as my only job. Then there was the "boot camp" gate guard, keeping the non-volunteers out that stood his post for the ENTIRE DAY! Poor bum.

Here is some food for thought. I am curious, since Corral Canyon closure, if these USFS employess have been putting there now available extra time, improving the other trail system's in there juristiction. Has anyone seen evidence of this??

Since you mention it Kev, I had a good talk with the New OHV Program Manager, Richard Tull, and as mentioned he is on our side. While talking to him I discovered that he is trying to open more trails in his jurisdiction including Corral Canyon. There are politics involved. What is needed is imput from us to where and so on. That imput can be direct to him (R.Tull) next weekend's Volunteer Day!

Come on out and talk Mr. V.P.

Also talking with another Richard (Worker Bee)he spends all week doing what we were helping with.

There is alot of effort going in to re-opening this area. Lets all help complete this task.

Repairing fence seemed a relatively easy task. Drive a few fence stakes, stretch a little fence, and tie a bit of wire....sounds simple. Until you realize that only a few USFS employees usually have to do this by themselves. I would DREAD doing this every day as my only job. Then there was the "boot camp" gate guard, keeping the non-volunteers out that stood his post for the ENTIRE DAY! Poor bum.

Here is some food for thought. I am curious, since Corral Canyon closure, if these USFS employess have been putting there now available extra time, improving the other trail system's in there juristiction. Has anyone seen evidence of this??

Since you mention it Kev, I had a good talk with the New OHV Program Manager, Richard Tull, and as mentioned he is on our side. While talking to him I discovered that he is trying to open more trails in his jurisdiction including Corral Canyon. There are politics involved. What is needed is imput from us to where and so on. That imput can be direct to him (R.Tull) next weekend's Volunteer Day!

Come on out and talk Mr. V.P.

Also talking with another Richard (Worker Bee)he spends all week doing what we were helping with.

There is alot of effort going in to re-opening this area. Lets all help complete this task.

[Kevin 0]

[

Hey now, no hating in our "PR" thread...

quote

No hating intended or implied. Just asking a simple question on whether anyone has seen improvements elsewhere in this USFS local Juristiction as there would be available time to accomplish this since Corral is Closed and does need that much attention. Well, has anyone seen any other improvements?

[sandiegoland 0]

No hating intended or implied. Just asking a simple question on whether anyone has seen improvements elsewhere in this USFS local Juristiction as there would be available time to accomplish this since Corral is Closed and does need that much attention. Well, has anyone seen any other improvements?

I was yanking yer chain because you have one you non shaft driving BMW hooligan. I'm just suggesting to go to the source, then you can go check out to see if the answer/claim is real. (I'm not sure I would have made the assumption that they have more hours to dedicate elseware because of the Horse Fire though).

You're question is basically one of oversight. I don't think most of us know what is in that specific office's jurisdiction or how they allocate or transfer work around. What trails should we be asking them about?

[Kevin 0]

I think that it would be safe to assume that if you have 5 areas to oversee everyday, and then one area was taken off your list, so now you have only 4 areas to oversea everyday-You would have some free time to spread over the remaining areas!!!! . Enough said.