By: Torque Staff
Dear Diary,
One of the things we’re asked most around this time of year is what really draws us out to Moab, Utah, and the annual Easter Jeep Safari. After all, the event can be anywhere from late March to mid-April. A time when temperatures can fluctuate all over the thermometer.
Well, there is the scenery, yes, it is outstanding. And the chance to see old friends while also making new ones. Of course, the off-roading is spectacular as well. There are really plenty of things that help fuel our EJS desire this time of year.
But for us, having more chances to help keep off-trails accessible is perhaps the top reason we love coming out to EJS.
Besides our ongoing 50-for-50 Trail Stewardship Initiative, we get to spend time in Moab with our buddies from Tread Lightly! each spring and tackle at least one meaningful trail improvement project.
One year it was fencing and signage on Hells Revenge. Another it was cutting back invasive Tamarisk at Hey Joe Canyon. We also have done programs on Kane Creek, Poison Spider and a few others over the years.
One thing about trail cleanups though. The stuff to clean them up with has to come from somewhere, right?
Most of the Moab-area trail projects are out in the desert and not really near potential staging locations. So Tread Lightly! staff is usually tasked with gathering materials and somehow getting them to the required spot on the trail.
That could mean one mile in — it could be several miles. And often that can take days to move all those materials depending on the project's size.
So when Tread Lightly!’s Education and Stewardship Manager Evan Robins, along with Northeast Region Program Manager Scott Ammerman asked if we could help move a bunch of items to prepare for a Monday EJS week trail project, we couldn’t say "yes" fast enough.
The staging area for this one was north of Moab and right at the trailhead for Klondike Bluff trail. Tread Lightly! secured scores of four- and 10-foot wood beams it needed to be moved about four miles into the trail for a project sponsored by Trail Trust and Fox.
Overall, the Monday project is one of three that Tread Lightly! is handling during EJS week.<./p>
For this one, Tread Lightly! plans on volunteers utilizing that lumber to install buck and rail fencing down a portion of Klondike Bluffs to protect important historical dinosaur footprints nestled into rock surfaces just off the trail itself. Unfortunately, some motorized and foot traffic has been straying off the driving surface and causing damage to the historical area, so Tread Lightly!’s goal was to block off access to those locations.
But first, wood needed to be moved and piled up in several spots along a 800-foot area of the trail.
Rob and his Gladiator, as well as our 4xe, Tread Lightly!’s Gladiator, board member Tom Zielinski’s Gladiator, a GMC truck from the Bureau of Land Management’s Moab Field Office, as well as trucks from several other volunteers reached the trailhead Sunday morning and immediately went to work, cutting the metal fasteners holding each wood pile in place and then loading vehicles.
It wasn’t long before every Jeep and truck was about as full as they could get, so the added wood was strapped down in each truck bed and our group headed into the trail.
Now, as we said before, the project location was about four miles into Klondike Bluffs and while the trail itself was not anything crazy, it did have a few nice ledges and drops that tested some of those loaded-down trucks.
At one point, the BLM’s truck went up and over one of those ledges, only to have its rear end shift down almost off the trail and into a lower wash area.
Luckily, our JTe was right in front of the BLM’s vehicle, so our rear winch got to come out and play. Eric and Rob spooled out the cable, while Scott used our new Res-Q soft shackle to attach against the GMC’s front recovery point and winch hook. Tom’s Gladiator was behind the GMC, so he used his winch cable to stabilize the vehicle’s rear from moving any further off-trail.
With everything in place, Rob spooled in the cable while Scott shouted out instructions so everyone knew what was happening. It didn’t take long before the GMC was fully back on the trail.
”That’s exactly why we decided to install a rear winch on the JTe,” Eric said. “Sometimes you just don’t have the easy option of turning a vehicle around to gain access to a front winch. And with oure JTe participating in so many 50-for-50 projects around the country, you never really know when that back winch will come in handy like it just did today.”
Soon after, diary, we hit the project destination and then it was a reverse scene from the staging area. Posts were pulled off trucks and carried to different locations and then piled up in preparation for Monday’s work project.
In all, it was a few hours of prep work that could have easily been a few days if it was just Tread Lightly! staff and the BLM Ranger involved.
”This is just a fantastic project for all of us to be a part of and a huge thanks for all the partners and volunteers who showed up today and helped prepare for this project,” Robins said to us, diary. “(Klondike Bluffs) is a great place to bring your kids or if you are new to Moab and want to do a little shake-down run on your vehicle.
”It is really the heartbeat of Tread Lightly — people coming out and giving back to public lands and that is what makes these projects special. They touch a lot of people who may interact here and it’s huge to see the public come out and give back.”
