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Northern Utah Fall Quarterly Training Day + Service Project up AF Canyon: September 28-29th 2012

sixstringsteve

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
Fall Quarterly 4x4 Training Day

A Rockymountainextreme.com Event
in conjunction with the Utah 4x4 Club, Lone Peak 4 Wheelers, and the US Forest Service


September 28-29th 2012

American Fork Canyon, Uinta National Forest​


Rocky Mountain Extreme is excited to announce our Fall Quarterly Training Day! This training day will be different from any other training days in the past. We have been working with the US Forest Service and local 4x4 clubs to incorporate a trail cleanup, trail repair, and fence building service project on National Public Lands Day on Saturday, September 29th.


What is Get to Know your 4x4 Training Day all about?
Whether you're brand new to the 4x4 scene, or you've been wheeling for years, you're invited to attend RME's quarterly 4x4 training day. Come learn about the best places to wheel in Utah, how to drive your 4x4 off road, how to prepare and plan for a trip, how to recover stuck rigs, and much more. Most importantly, you'll get to meet some of our local 4x4 veterans and meet new friends to go wheeling with. You will gain practice driving your rig over a variety of obstacles with experienced wheelers standing by to offer advice.

What is National Public Lands Day?
September 29th is National Public Lands Day, where people from all sorts of recreation groups get together and clean up trails, educate others, and donate time and energy to improving the trails that we all love so much. This year will be up American Fork Canyon, installing fencing, plaques, vegetation, and closing off illegal routs in the Graveyard Flats area. This time around we will be moving out of the controled environment of Miller Mostorsports Park, and into some real world four-wheeling up scenic American Fork Canyon! And what better time to do it than during National Public Lands Day (NPLD), the annual event where everyone is encouraged to get out for a day of service on their public lands. For more information, visit: http://www.publiclandsday.org/

Who is invited?
Everyone is welcome: new members, friends, family, and veteran wheelers. Even if you're not an RME member you're welcome to attend. This event is aimed at drivers, but non-drivers will definitely benefit as well. If you plan on attending, please reply to this thread so we can get an idea of how many people will be attending.


Cost
Free. Since we are helping the Forest Service build fences and repair trails, they will allow us to enter for free. Simply tell them you're part of the RME 4x4 training/service project and they'll let you in for free.

Vehicle requiremets
Bring what you've got. Friday night we will be camping at the top of a 4x4 trail (we're being vague on purpose). If you do not have a 4x4, you're welcome to catch a ride from someone who does. You do not need a 4x4 to participate in Saturday's activities, but you will need one to access the campsite Friday night.
- 4 wheel drive with low-range
- trail armor (sliders, bumpers, skidplates) are always a good idea, but not required.
- Expect zero body damage unless you're trying to get it.
- We will have spotters positioned at the tough part of the trail. Our spotters will be able to get any stock 4x4 through the trail without any damage.
- Not required but recommended: CB Radio. We will be using these to communicate throughout the canyon.

Location
Meet at Tibble Fork Reservoir (point A on map) up American Fork Canyon, Friday, Sept 28th at 6:00 PM. We will be camping up at Dutchman Flats (point B on map) at 7:00 PM.
[map]https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=UT-144+S%2FAmerican+Fork+Canyon+Rd&daddr=American+Fork+Canyon+Rd+to:40.526025,-111.605899+to:Unknown+road+to:Unknown+road&hl=en&ll=40.504924,-111.619034&spn=0.112641,0.154324&sll=40.523684,-111.610279&sspn=0.028152,0.038581&geocode=FWi4aQId-GpY-Q%3BFX5lagIdGhFZ-Q%3BFclgagIddQdZ-SlLge14-nZShzF3uXQlj0FVRA%3BFQtSagId7-dY-Q%3BFXNRagIdLelY-Q&t=h&gl=us&mra=dme&mrsp=1&sz=15&via=2&z=13[/map]
 
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sixstringsteve

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
Although this Quarterly Training Day is formally held on September 28-29th, we need volunteers starting as early as Thursday, September 27th. If you'd like to help out Thursday or Friday morning, before the Quarterly Training Day starts, click here: http://www.rme4x4.com/showthread.php...highlight=logs



Friday, Sept 28th

6:00 PM - Meet at Tibble Fork Reservoir (point A on map), head to Dutchman Flats (point B on map) and set up camp
7:00 PM - Set up camp at Dutchman Flats (point B)
7:30 PM - Trail Etiquette class beings (taught by Stephen from Iconic Camping)
8:00 PM - 4x4 preparedness: what to bring, trail repairs, maintenance, tools, recovery, etc. (taught by sixstringsteve)
8:30 PM - Intro to modifying your vehicle (taught by sixstringsteve)
9:00 PM - Where to go 4-Wheeling in Utah and how to plan a trip. (taught by QTR volunteers)


Saturday, Sept 29th – National Public Lands Day

8:30 AM: Breakfast (bring your own)
9:00 AM -12:00 PM - Service project: Repairing/building fences up in Graveyard Flats (point C on map) + other, smaller projects throughout the canyon. Gloves, long pants, and closed-toe shoes are required.
12:00 PM – Lunch (bring your own lunch)
1:00 4x4 trail rides:

- Road to Pole Line Pass: From AF Canyon to Midway. 2-3 hours. (super easy, graded dirt road with beautiful views). Led by Stephen from Iconic Camping.

- Mary Ellen Gulch Trail: 2.5+ hours, up and back trip to an old abandoned mining site, with cabin remains (beginner, easy in a stock 4x4)

- Forest Lake Trail: 3+ hours, up and back to a small lake with salamanders. Lake is about 3-5' deep. (intermediate, stock rigs can complete it with careful spotters, armor recommended, especially sliders)

- Mineral Basin Trail: 3+ hours up and back (intermediate/advanced, body damage possible in a stock 4x4. If you have a lift, you'll be fine with a good spotter. Sliders recommended but not required if you have a lift. Led by sixstringsteve.​



Participants should bring:
Camp chairs
Tent
Rain gear
Cold weather gear
Tools (shovels, rakes)
Lunch
Water
Work Gloves
Closed Toe Shoes





At 7:00 PM,
Saturday morning the 29th beginning at 7:00 am, work will begin in fabricating the fence. The design is such that volunteers will be able to work on portions of the fence at the same time. Professional plaques have been designed and are being fabricated in a kiosk to be set in place for visitors to learn about the history of this area. There will also be other projects in the canyon.

T-shirts, stickers and other prizes will be given away to volunteers. Workers are encouraged to wear closed-toe shoes, long pants and gloves. Bring battery or gas powered drill motors, long 1/4” & 5/16” diameter drill bits and 5 pound hammers if you have them. Bring your trailers and strong securing straps to safely tie down the logs.


For the service project, we will be installing a new fence at Graveyard Flats. It's a shallow grave where some 20-30 people died in Forest City, most due to a diphtheria epidemic that swept through the town. The current fences are in poor shape, and there are graves outside of the current fenceline. This will be an historic event, one that you will be able to tell your kids about. We will also be installing plaques that highlight history of the area. We will be removing the old fence, expanding the fenceline and installing a new fence, closing off illegal bypasses, and planting bushes and vegetation to restore the trail damage. It's a very cool area with lots of awesome local history.

More info about the project:

Once again this year’s Public Lands Day is a nationwide event. We hope you will take part with a project near you. One big event will be in Utah Valley’s American Fork Canyon. All local 4WD clubs are invited to participate in this project.

There is an historic graveyard that was created in the 1870’s and was next to Forest City mining town during a boom for precious metals. This final resting place is known as “Graveyard Flat”. The winter of 1872 was severe enough to close American Fork Canyon, leaving little access into or out of Forest City. Diphtheria, known as the “strangling angel of children” was epidemic. Sadly, this highly contagious disease swept through town taking the lives of many children and some adults. They were buried during that winter in pine boxes in shallow graves.

Over the years, attempts to protect the graveyard have come and gone. Many years ago a fragile white picket fence was built but winter elements took its toll destroying the fence. This year’s Public Lands Day project is directed at building a substantial 552-foot log fence around this historic location. It will take 380 logs, 8 inches in diameter by 14 feet long. They will be stacked in “Lincoln-log” fashion. Logs will be secured with large spikes. Obviously this will be a huge undertaking requiring many volunteers and equipment to haul and build it.


Committed:
sixstringsteve
Cruiseroutfit
Mesha
MBD09
notajeep
Kevin B.
193kyle + wife
workdog
tacoman99
iconwill

jentzschman
Maverick
Thardy
TROKITA
Mustang_Boy2001
GIJohn40
dash
clfrnacwby
doughboy0379 + girlfriend

TJDukit
Steve (friend of sixstringsteve)
hardcastle



on the fence:
tjdukit
xjtony
YotaDaniel
dutchman + 1
Poe_student
JUGGALLO GUY801
Maldito X
 
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sixstringsteve

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
TJDukit said:
Now I'm not sure if I should do this one or the 5mp cleanup. Hopefully we can get enough interest for both.
Click to expand...

yeah, I wish it wasn't in conflict with the 5mp cleanup. I feel terrible that we'll be pulling people away from that event. Thankfully Greg is a great guy and he is supportive of both. Maybe we'll be able to get even more people out on NPLD with 2 options out there.
 
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Greg

Greg

I run a tight ship... wreck
Admin
Location
Grand Junction, CO
TJDukit said:
Now I'm not sure if I should do this one or the 5mp cleanup. Hopefully we can get enough interest for both.
Click to expand...

That's going to be the tough part, AF Canyon has more appeal over 5 Mile Pass. Ideally we will have a pretty even split in participants, with the people in need of training attending the Quarterly Training Day event at AF Canyon.
 
TJDukit

TJDukit

I.Y.A.A.Y.A.S.
Location
Clearfield
I think I will most likely do which ever one seems to need more help on the project side. Making Friday night is unlikely.
 
sixstringsteve

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
We don't have a restriction on how big our group can be, so there's room for anyone who wants to come. That being said, we might start steering people towards 5mp if they're not getting enough participation.
 
Bear T

Bear T

Tacoma free since '93
Location
Boulder, mt
Dirt Hedz offload club was planning on piggy backing on a project up Af canyon on Saturday then camping that night. But maybe if mire help is needed at 5mp we might head out there.
 
Kevin B.

Kevin B.

Not often wrong. Never quite right.
Moderator
Location
Stinkwater
I'm in. If 5MP doesn't get enough love, I'd be happy to roll out there too, maybe Saturday night or Sunday morning.
 
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