Help on Pipes

WE NEED HELP!!!!

Mr. Morey & myself went to Pipes yesterday to see how the trail faired this past winter. The trail seems fine, very little water damage, BUT the trees didn’t fair so well. It took Tom & I 3 1/2 hours to get to the upper campground. There were at least 5 large trees that had to be “coaxed” off the trail. We strapped,winched, cut & hacked the trees off the trail. We did not attempt any farther than the upper campground,due to what we had already found.

To that end, we need as many people as possible at our Pipes work weekend on May 20-22. Come up for the weekend,or just one day. Tom Morey is contacted Greg (SBNF) about chainsaw & operator availability. Ultimately we hope to have 2 chainsaws & operators. I think we should have 2 groups, one group w/operator to cleanup from the trailhead to the upper campground. The second group could start at the upper campground to the lower campground.

PLEASE HELP, if your vehicle is down, we have empty seats, just get to the group campground at Hearbar, it is paved to Heartbar. I am going up on Friday morning May 20th, if anyone would like to get another day in.

To help organize this, please let me know ASAP what, when & how you can help.

Tools needed:

  • Shovels
  • Rakes
  • Wood saws
  • Pry bars

Thanks

Tom Hunt
4×4 Freelanders

Death Valley

To celebrate some ancient presidents, we went to Death Valley. I missed out on Saturday’s run that looped around to the racetrack, but I hear it was nothing short of normal, which is a little bit scary. Fortunately, the next day’s trip through Titus Canyon wasn’t such an adventure. We didn’t even get lost.

Clark’s Grade

I’d never been on Clark’s Grade, but I sure like it! Probably because they smoothed out the rough downhill approaching the Bear Creek crossing. It also helps that our guide didn’t get us lost.

Other than Mr. Morey’s jeep and my Grand, there was the ever-confident silver FJ.

Oh, and don’t bother looking for blackberries at Clark’s Ranch. Tom M took the last of them. We did see a great spot for camping. I haven’t a clue where it is, but it’s in a beautiful valley. Tom M knows where it is, though.

We made it to Big Bear by about 12:30 for lunch, some shade, and some lively discussion on RVing. I learned that there’s not much point of having a shower because any campground with the necessary hookups also have shower facilities. And just because you have an RV, it doesn’t mean you can just park it and you’re all set (there’s some setup involved).

The run really was uneventful. The most excitement we had was seeing a forest ranger drive by during our creek rest break, knowing that most of us didn’t have the required forest adventure passes required for just hanging out. The second most exciting part was seeing Greg Hoffman drive by our rest spot and completely ignore us. Yep, real exciting. No mechanicals, no getting lost. It wasn’t a typical Freelanders run.