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Archived Trip Report for EJS 2014

mbryson

mbryson

.......a few dollars more
Supporting Member
Location
Bountiful, land of rocks
Here's some of my highlights. The rest are at www.marbryson.com. Had a great time. Ran Hells Revenge first Sat. as a gunner with what amounted to almost an RME old-timers run :D (needed a few more guys :D but there was a LOT of experience on the trail with us). Sunday was with Dave Adams, Jeremy Pool and Jonny Cobia on the first ever "Escalator to Hell" RR4W run. I whacked my head on my Jeep (slipped off the door sill and landed on the cage) and was a bit out of it for a while there. Monday we did a non-organized run through Kane Creek. Tues with Linda Adams, Brett Davis, Big Sarge, myself and JR Adams on Elephant Hill. Wed. I was on the Tread Lightly Poison Spider trail repair deal with Discount Tire, Quadratec, BLM, Tread Lightly, myself and GiJohn/pug. Pics below.


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Ryan from Jeep itself trying a JKU in Mickey's hot tub :D

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disaster????

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more disaster???

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Using the daily driver a bit

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Using the V10 to tow to Elephant Hill

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I like this Jeep....might need some freshening of components over the next few years but it's solid

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Someone had actually DROVE down to the arch at the top of Poison Spider......now we have a fence. Quadratec, Discount Tire, BLM and Tread Lightly were great to work with on this trail. ResQ1 is a pretty sweet, albeit heavy rig but PERFECT for trail maint. or the occasional vehicle repair. Good dudes from Discount and Quadratec. Enjoyed working with them.


Had a good time. I'm NOT staying in tents again. Had enough of that. Was checking into cabins at the campgrounds and found a deal on a motel that was similar in price. Staying at Ramada for 2015. Already booked/paid through hotels.com
 
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B-RAD

B-RAD

Registered User
Location
Sandy, Utah
mbryson said:
Here's some of my highlights. The rest are at www.marbryson.com. Had a great time. Ran Hells Revenge first Sat. as a gunner with what amounted to almost an RME old-timers run :D (needed a few more guys :D but there was a LOT of experience on the trail with us). Sunday was with Dave Adams, Jeremy Pool and Jonny Cobia on the first ever "Escalator to Hell" RR4W run. I whacked my head on my Jeep (slipped off the door sill and landed on the cage) and was a bit out of it for a while there. Monday we did a non-organized run through Kane Creek. Tues with Linda Adams, Brett Davis, Big Sarge, myself and JR Adams on Elephant Hill. Wed. I was on the Tread Lightly Poison Spider trail repair deal with Discount Tire, Quadratec, BLM, Tread Lightly, myself and GiJohn/pug. Pics below.


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Who you callin ol timer you wipper snapper Oh you must be talkin about Jinx:) it was great to hang out with you you that first Saturday. thanks for tail gunnin Mark
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leemastergt

Active Member
Location
Orem, UT
So it sounds like you were there when they put the fences up on Poison Spider? Do you know why they fenced off the sand bowl? Is that a permanent fence now?
 
mbryson

mbryson

.......a few dollars more
Supporting Member
Location
Bountiful, land of rocks
leemastergt said:
So it sounds like you were there when they put the fences up on Poison Spider? Do you know why they fenced off the sand bowl? Is that a permanent fence now?
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I was there when we fenced off the sand bowl. I was not aware that that area wasn't "open travel" but ALL of the Moab RMP area is "existing routes". Existing routes means a swath about 20' wide (my interpretation, likely not "exact" from BLM). So the "sand bowl" created a travel area about 70' wide or so.... I wasn't thrilled to put the fence in, but that was one of the reasons we were there. From what I know, it is a permanent fence.

I was also alerted that this also means the sand dune area will be a 20' wide travel area.

This is one of the reasons people need to make your voices known on the RMP processes. If there is a large motorized voice (and hopefully cooperation, service projects and time from the motorized community is helpful in reinforcing that voice) for ANY route closures or designations, the land managers should hear from the majority of users. The motorized community is so passive that the minority voice is heard and the majority voice is mute. The land managers are REQUIRED to go with what they hear and evaluate routes based on that. I'm not sure when/if there will be another RMP in the Moab area. They seem to take a 20-30 year cycle?
 
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leemastergt

Active Member
Location
Orem, UT
mbryson said:
I was there when we fenced off the sand bowl. I was not aware that that area wasn't "open travel" but ALL of the Moab RMP area is "existing routes". Existing routes means a swath about 20' wide (my interpretation, likely not "exact" from BLM). So the "sand bowl" created a travel area about 70' wide or so.... I wasn't thrilled to put the fence in, but that was one of the reasons we were there. From what I know, it is a permanent fence.

I was also alerted that this also means the sand dune area will be a 20' wide travel area.

This is one of the reasons people need to make your voices known on the RMP processes. If there is a large motorized voice (and hopefully cooperation, service projects and time from the motorized community is helpful in reinforcing that voice) for ANY route closures or designations, the land managers should hear from the majority of users. The motorized community is so passive that the minority voice is heard and the majority voice is mute. The land managers are REQUIRED to go with what they hear and evaluate routes based on that. I'm not sure when/if there will be another RMP in the Moab area. They seem to take a 20-30 year cycle?
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This is good to know. That's really too bad! The sand bowl was one of my favorite areas on that trail. A nice place to stop for lunch and dink around for a minute. So they're going to close the sand dune hill as well? How do we proceed to protect the trail?
 
mbryson

mbryson

.......a few dollars more
Supporting Member
Location
Bountiful, land of rocks
leemastergt said:
This is good to know. That's really too bad! The sand bowl was one of my favorite areas on that trail. A nice place to stop for lunch and dink around for a minute. So they're going to close the sand dune hill as well? How do we proceed to protect the trail?
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They're not going to close the sand dune area but they may need to restrict travel through it. There's really nothing that can be done at this point. The RMP has been complete for a few years. The BLM is just executing the RMP as they can. I'm not sure if my thoughts about that area will help (expressed to BLM as we're working alongside) but as long as the area doesn't become a disaster as the sand bowl has, they may just leave it as is?

The root of the problem is that the area was posted as open and now is posted to "existing routes only" (my language might be off a bit here). The "existing routes only" would allow access through the sand dune area (the area the trail runs through) but not allow it as a "play area" (that would have to be "open travel"). More comments on the RMP re: these specific items could have helped keep these areas as they were (although the condition of the "sand bowl" last week was a disaster in my opinion)?

To answer your question specifically, "the trail" is open and available for travel. Think of the trail as a 20' wide swath through the area. If you're out of the 20', you're off trail. The problem for the BLM then becomes widening of routes. At some places the trail is 70-100'ish wide. They will be required to manage those spaces down to approx. 20' (whatever they deem necessary to minimize resource impact). Sorry, I learned a lot while helping and I thought I was fairly well informed. I was able to express opinions (specifically about the sand dune area) and the lack of impact in that area. If the area becomes "overused" as the "sand bowl" area was, I don't know that the BLM will have a choice except to designate travel through the impacted area (same as they did at the "sand bowl"). If you have comments, you can direct them to the BLM. PLEASE be respectful and somewhat courteous. They are trying to walk the line but have to stick to what their job tells them to do. Enough comments can help (case in point with the Coyote Canyon trail----but then there's the whole permit system---I was able to express my opinion about that as well---their comment was that a lot of times the Coyote permits go unused and I explained why they could be underutilized---Coyote is what it is due to a neighboring landowner---not likely to change in our favor) but I'm not sure if the BLM's hands are tied or if there is some room there?

ANYONE (ATV, motorcycle, mtn bike, full-size, etc.) that travels off trail even just a little is widening the trail. At some point the BLM has to step in and manage the resource by bringing the trail back to it's intended size.

As part of the EJS experience, we as group leaders are to help educate about staying on the trail. Hopefully I've helped? Esp. as the BLM institutes the current RMP, we will need to be begrudgingly supportive in hopes that we will be able to work to re-open or redefine areas we'd like to see remain as they were. When I'm at the morning meeting with Dave Adams, he says something that seems to make sense. "You've traveled hundreds or thousands of miles to drive on Moab's rocks. PLEASE stay in the center of the trail and encourage all others to do so as well. Trails widen because people don't want to drive over a rough area. That is the trail. Drive over the rocks and have fun!" (paraphrased but pretty close to what he says---he says it better)
 
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gijohn40

gijohn40

too poor to wheel... :(
Location
Layton, Utah
I was there with marc and saw first hand the people that could not stay on the trail and make it wider in spots just to avoid a rocky ride... and its these people that are causing the fences to be put in place. as we were standing there with the BLM officer informing a full size about the damage they were doing to the trail two side by sides came screaming thur the same area and proceeded to continue even after she told them to stop...
 
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