I plan to be there. I will be up late, so I may be late. Don't wait for me.

We'll wee you on the trail Joe! And maybe Greg also??

From highway 50; take Exit 60: Sly Park Road
Left under the highway
Right at the 3 way intersection
Then a quick left into the gas station/convenience store/subway

How was the trail? How was the turnout? We need information!

I had the whole write up complete with pics written and when I hit preview I got an error. I'll re-write in Word in case that happens again, then re-post

In short:

Myself, David, Rick, Mark, Johnathan, India & Joe had a great day out on Strawberry trail. It was the first time since I've been a member (since 2007) that a Ranger from the Eldorado National Forest met us at the trail head to thank us for our service and chat with us for about 15 minutes regarding the condition of the trail and what he would like us to concentrate on.

The trail looked great! Very minimal trash, only a couple trees needed to be moved from the trail.

More to come.

Johnathan made member!!!!!!! Congratulations!!!!

We met at the Chevron/Convenience Store/Subway at 8:30am:
George – hitch hiker
Mark – Toyota FJ Cruiser
David – Yellow Toyota Land Cruiser
Rick – Black TJ
Johnathon – Green JKU
Joe – White TJ

The original plan was to split the group and enter the trail from both sides, but with only three vehicles at 9am, I decided to keep all three together and head to the north trail head.
We headed over to the Napa Auto store so David could pick up some tire deflators. On our way out, Johnathon joined us and we were on our way.

We reached the trail head around 10am and were met by Ranger Kyle and his colleague Amanda. That was the first time in the six years I’ve been with the club that a Ranger met us at the trail head to thank us for efforts and give input on the trail conditions. He also mentioned that he would be interested in riding along if we were to squeeze in another maintenance run before the first snow.

We headed up the trail and were pleasantly surprised with how little trash there was. There were signs of trail use, but definitely not as heavy as previous years. Lots of pine needles covering the trail, new growth on the trail, the bypass closures were still all in tact. Joe caught up to us as we approached V-Rock. Quite a bit of rock stacking at V-Rock had been done, which lead us to believe Quads and motorcycles could easily navigate through.

We cleared some trees, checked previous work, and raked tire tread marks away from unauthorized trails in an effort to discourage anyone else from venturing off trail.

We stopped for lunch, when I realized that the BBQ I had brought for Johnathon’s BBQ was still straped to my Jeep back in Pollock Pines.
After lunch we headed back towards Strawberry and had a great ride out. Nobody broke, everybody had fun, we got to meet with the Rangers, and the trail looks great!

"BKGM Jeepers" wrote: I agree with Josh. Did it look like a third trip up there would benefit the trail? I recall up top required the use of chainsaws - did that get done, or look like it was needed?

We had intended to run the whole trail, but by the time we stopped for lunch at the lookout point, some were running up against fuel and time constraints; so we turned around and headed back. Which means unfortunately we did not run the whole trail.

I didn't see any need for chain saws up top, but that doesn't mean I didn't miss something. My personal opinion is that the trail could ALWAYS benefit from a third maintenance run. It would be nice to run the trail in its entirety since the last 1/3 did not get ran; we don’t know what kind of shape it’s in.

"BKGM Jeepers" wrote: Does look out point = the caples lake overlook? If so, you ran all of the trail we are responsible for.

Another trip sounds like a good idea!

Yep, the Caples Lake overlook. Another trip is always a good idea....let's do it!

:hack: