Thomas Edison once said, "Opportunity is missed by most people because
it is dressed in overalls and looks like work". Well a big majority
of our members took advantage of "Opportunity", and worked our tail
ends off the weekend of February 10th and 11th, 1996.
Saturday's
work crew consisted of Art Pendergraft (with skid loader from Bi-State),
Loretta Brack, Sally Chism, Jim & James Nunn, Jolene & Brandon
Korgan and cousin Johnny. We met with Bud Phillips, Pawnee National
Grasslands, in Greeley at 7:30am. We loaded 10 ft. posts to be used
for water bars, drove out to the FS work center north of Crow Valley
campground, and loaded more posts and tools. Through and access road
south of the Pawnee Buttes, we made our way to the section of hiking
trail to be restored.
Weather conditions were about as undesirable as one
could imagine. Bitter cold winds that nearly blew you off your feet
at times. It was questionable whether we could work all day by the obvious
storm front moving in fast. As Art ran the skid loader, the shovel and
wheel barrel brigade didn't take long to decide that the terrain of
that area, compounded by the treacherous winds, made it almost impossible
to haul the gravel by the manual method.
The
most progressive system was to have 4 to 5 sandblasted workers spread,
shape and groom the gravel (3ft. wide by 6in. deep, after filling in
the ruts, some over a foot deep in spots) as Art hauled the gravel with
the loader. Shovels and rakes worked but the most effective tools we
used were the "McClouds", a fire fighting tool used by the Forest Service,
that has long wide rake tines on one side and a flat square shaped hoe
on the other.
By lunch, it seemed as though the storm had blown right
around us and off to the southeast, but the cold wind continued. Associate
member Tim Lyons came out to help for the rest of the day. After lunch
a couple of the boys went with Bud to remove some of the old water bars
and unload the new timbers. We returned home around 5:00pm. That evening
we received a call from the Colorado Mountain Club (CMC), they needed
some one to pull the big bobcat donated by All Purpose Rental out to
the project on Sunday. None of their people had a rig that could pull
it, and the CMC president bent his hitch on his Sidekick when he attempted.
Ross Early came to the rescue Sunday morning.
Sunday's crew arrived at the Buttes and were treated
to a pair of Golden Eagles circling the area. With the beautiful blue
sky, it definately lifted ones spirits. The morning breeze warmed up
quickly, it would be a much better day for the volunteers today. Dave
and Kevin took turns running the skid loader as Ed, Sally, Dawn, and
Jolene used the McClouds. Meanwhile, the wheel barrel brigade, Jim,
Julie, Jeanyce, Dave, Jason, and James, hauled an amazing amount of
gravel manually. Bud Phillips was amazed at the progress. Bud then explained
the goals for the day.
Jeanyce,
Jolene and Julie headed with shovels in hand to dig out the rapter closure
signs that needed to be relocated. Ross, Dave, and Jim grabbed digging
bars and broke out a dirt band in the gully that had a rut 4 to 5 feet
deep which was too narrow for horses, which the riders were making a
bypass around.
At noon we hiked up the trail to meet with the newspaper
reporters from the Greeley Tribune, and checked out what the CMC was
up to. The trail beyond the gully goes through some real pretty terrain,
with lots of steep washouts and unique vegetation. After talking with
the reporters for a short time our crew headed back to our work site.
After moving more gravel to work the ruts we built check dams to hinder
any more erosion. Out of approximately 10 to 12 stock piles of gravel
we were able to spread all but two.
By the end of the day the Weld County 4WD Club had
exceeded all of Bud's goals for the weekend. Bud thanked us for our
hard work and presented us with a framed certificate.
