August 2005 Newsletter

SILVERWOOD
By Ric "Locked Gate" Jones

Well, I guess Bob and Sally will have to go down in history as those requiring a strap the earliest of any run.

Just as I was finishing up topping off the tank at the Chevron station at I-15 and Hwy. 138 I hear this distress call on the CB. It seems that Bob and Sally’s Jeep died just as they were getting off the freeway. It wouldn’t start so I strapped them over to the gas station where they got to spend the next 3 hours waiting for a tow truck. They did manage to get it to their local dealer in time to "admit" it. It turned out to be a sensor, but they also had a leaky water pump.

Shortly after 9 the remaining 6 vehicles headed to the trailhead off Hwy 173. We aired down at the Cedar Spring day use area and proceeded east on 2N33 towards Pilot Rock.

The weather was warm and there were a few complaints about dust, though I didn’t see any. Jay felt the need for a little rougher road than what we were on so he and the Schaffers and Rices took a few of the more difficult by-passes while the rest of us stayed on the main road.

We stopped at one point to allow them to catch up and while we were there regrouping a guy in a Samari came along and went up the hill they had just come done. As he was going up we noticed he had a flat. Shortly thereafter he came back down. Well, not only did he not have a same size spare, he didn’t have a jack that would lift him enough to change the wheel. OK, FITS to the rescue. John got his hi-lift jack and Rick got his lug wrench, and soon the tires were changed. It looked strange to see a really small tire on the front with the other large ones. While they were changing the tire a group of quad riders stopped. Well, one of them couldn’t get it started and said "I need a jump because it won’t always start." DUH!

So, Rick pulled out his power pack and gave it a jump. So much for the FITS repair facility, I guess we can be called "Full Service", maybe we should add AAA to our name. Just before getting to 173 we stopped and had a nice long lunch. While we were eating lunch, the guy in the Samari drove by, it seems he wanted to continue wheeling instead of taking the short way out.

We were soon at 173 where we aired up and headed for ice cream at Lake Arrowhead. Heading down 173 my luck held and we encountered my locked gate. Actually they had 173 blocked and we had to take a detour through an area with some very BIG houses. They didn’t have the detour marked so it gave me a challenge to navigate to Arrowhead Village.

After finally finding parking places we had our ice cream and headed home in time for the Angels game, so Pat was happy!

Along for the fun were: Rick & Suzy Schaffer, Jay and Ellen Jimenez, Jon & Dale Rice, Tom Pastore, guest Mark Miller, and Pat and I. Now that Pat’s retired she doesn’t have any excuse not to make a run!

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The Rubicon Trail Famous Spider Lake Closes Again!
When Will We Get Management Rather Than Closures?

For the second year in a row, Spider Lake of the Rubicon Trail has been closed to motor vehicle access. This time it's for resource damage. Last year (2004) it was for human waste. The closure is smaller this year, but once again, Spider Lake have been closed to us while really no management has occurred to fix any of the problems that Friends of the Rubicon (FOTR) has been pointing out to the USDA Forest Service and various County officials for years!

Citing resource damage (ie. vehicles driving over rocks and bushes, and getting off the trail), the Eldorado National Forest (not El Dorado County) has once again shut us out of Spider Lake. Admittedly, this time it's only our vehicles that can't get into the vicinity of Spider Lake. Last year, even walking in the area was prohibited because of the human waste issues. This year, the Forest Service is concerned that continued resource damage, as well as pollutants from our vehicles, will degrade and possibly contaminate the lake. Last year it was thought that the human waste would cause fecal coliform contamination in the lake (it didn't because we cleaned it up).

NOTE: Last year the closure was for possible human waste contamination that NEVER panned out. There was no impact to the lake -- no bacteria found. Also, last year the closure was initiated by El Dorado County, followed by a Forest Order from the Eldorado National Forest. This year (2005) it was only the Eldorado National Forest issuing a Forest Order. Here's the deal:

FOTR has invested over 10,000 hours of labor into the trail since 2001. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of OHV Trust Fund money have gone into the trail – mostly sponsored by El Dorado County.
FOTR has offered up many solutions to both the County and the USDA Forest Service.Not nearly enough has been done by either agency, especially the Forest Service to MANAGE the Rubicon Trail and especially Spider Lake.
Spider Lake (USFS property and private property) still does not have any designation routes to and from; it has no designated camping areas; it has no signs telling us what can and can't be done; it has no management of the Little Sluice area even though the two are directly connected and many agency personnel feel that the Sluice exacerbates the Spider Lake problems due to human use concentration.
FOTR has said many times that Emergency Closures should be reserved for when management fails. There has not been nearly enough management of the famous Rubicon Trail to warrant closures like this. It is time for management.

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