Big Ridge Trail Project May 10th,11th

[Don B]

Hi all ,

Five years ago PLEAA made comments to the BLM concerning a trail named Big Ridge . The BLM wanted to close it as it has serious erosion problems and huge rock slides . A compromise was reached and the BLM gave five years for the trail to be cleared to get a motorized vehicle over it or it would be closed . Garfield County has not been able to do anything and no one else has either . THIS IS THE FIFTH YEAR . It's do or die for Big Ridge .


A Trail Project is cheduled for May 10th and 11th . It's a Friday and Saturday . State Parks will be there with a trail cat for three days to work the big stuff . We need lots of help . Please contact any clubs or groups that you work with as we need a lot of help . U4 has promised to work with us and I have several atv clubs I'm contacting in Northern Utah . Please send it out to your e-mail lists and everyone you know . Please see the attached maps and flier for more info . This is a beautiful area and is a great chance to get out , have fun and give back to the land we all love . Area is really remote so bring more supplies than you think you'll need . Feel free to contact me for more info .


Thanks for all your help ,

Glenn Olsen

Public Lands Equal Access Alliance

 

[DAA]

Thanks for the heads up. I've always wanted to drive that road.

Already have other plans for those dates. But I'll see if I can maybe get them changed.

- DAA

 

[Kevin B.]

Don, can you link the attached maps and flier?

 

[jinxspot]

Don, can you link the attached maps and flier?

x2
Thanks in advance.

 

[Thardy]

Posted a link on Desert Runners site. Not a huge crowd over there but there may be some interest.

 

[Don B]

This site won't let me upload the attachement with the map and flier (too large) I'll work on it later and see if I can make it work

 

[Kevin B.]

Would love to get some more details. I've been wanting to get down there, this seems like it might be the right time to do it!

 

[Wild Bill]

Here is the flyer and the map. We hope we can get a good turnout for this project.









Wild Bill

 

[Kevin B.]

Oh, that's Poison Springs. When Don posted, I thought it would be further south.

I'm almost probably definitely in.

 

[jinxspot]

Bump, This event is getting a bit closer... any more specific details on this trail project?

Unfortunately Im not gonna be making it down there for the trail cleanup, but Im hoping things go well.

 

[mbryson]

good bump...I'd totally forgot about this

 

[Wild Bill]

A group from PLEAA went down Sat to do some checking on this as someas I get their report I will post it here.

thanks

 

[Kevin B.]

A group from PLEAA went down Sat to do some checking on this as someas I get their report I will post it here.

thanks

Thanks Wild Bill. There's at least three of us planning on coming down Friday night.

 

[OldGeezer]

Boy this is one ambitious project.
And remote is an understatement.
I went down last Saturday to take a look. I left SLC at 6:00 AM and got there at 2:00 PM. It was 2 hours down Poison Spring Canyon to the Dirty Devil ford then another 2 hours to the project site. The Dirt Devil was running at 70 cfs and was about a foot and a half deep. I parked my truck at the bottom of the switch backs and started hiking up. I soon met up with the PLEAA group, who was on their way down, and talked to them for a while then continued up to the top. There's a lot of rock fall to clear and some bad erosion to deal with. A lot of the rocks are too big to winch off so I hope the trail cat is strong enough to do it.
In my opinion, we should work from the top down because a lot of the crap is probably going to fall onto the road below. It wouldn't be safe for any one working below and the cat wouldn't have to clear the trail twice. The down side is it would be a lot longer to access the top end.
I left at 5:30 PM and made camp at Sunset Pass at 7:00. The next morning I made the drive out to Hiway 95 near Hite in 3 1/2 hours. Both roads are in good shape and 4wd wasn't hardly needed at all.

 

[DAA]

In my opinion, we should work from the top down...

Can the top of the work site still driven all the way to starting above the Fint switchbacks? Or are you thinking everyone will just hike up from the bottom to work?

- DAA

 

[OldGeezer]

Can the top of the work site still driven all the way to starting above the Fint switchbacks? Or are you thinking everyone will just hike up from the bottom to work?

- DAA

I'm not sure. I've never been south of the Flint Trail and that was back in '95. There were fresh motorcycle tracks on top and older looking tire tracks from vehicles. I'd rather drive to the top but, really, the hike isn't that bad.

 

[OldGeezer]

Here's a few photos I took:

 

[OldGeezer]

Some more:

 

[OldGeezer]

And finally:



I also have GPX files but dont see a way to post them.

 

[Kevin B.]

Those are messy. I'll bring an extra shovel.

Who is coordinating the project? Depending on when we leave Salt Lake we might not show up until Saturday morning - if that happens we'd like to know how to find everybody.