Elbe Rock crawl and Rainier Vista

Wow! That should be a lot of fun when it is complete. The rocky hill climb that was built in Tahuya makes the long drive out there well worth it!

Dagnabit

I got everything in order and was getting ready to head up to Elbe on Wednesday with excavator, dump truck and operator to get to work on the trail prep. I get a call from Nancy Tuesday evening letting me know that the fire hazard level just went up and all equpment must be done working by 1pm.

Well, that wasn't going to work out so now we have to wait until it get's wet out there before we can go back up.

Hey Dale,

I was up there Sat. saw the signs. We ran the Busy and picked up beer cans. We did see an excavator at the trail head. Thanks for all your hard work!

You can start early in the morning you just have to stop running equipment at 1pm:awesomework:

That wasnt dale on the trailhead he was at home enjoying his a/c last weekend :fawkdancesmiley:

We did get some work done today. Had a guy up there who worked on the access to the hill climb from the end of Gotch. Worked things a little so that he could get his dump truck in and out. Moved several loads from the pit down to the bottom of the hill climb. The access to the hill climb may be partially blocked unless you've got quite a good rig

I don't know if he got to it today, but he put a few loads where Rainier Vista comes back to the 9 road and then goes back into the trees again. We plan on putting a few obstacles along that section of trail.

Next is to find a date where I can get a crew together to start the actual task of constructing the obstacles.

So I got this 1942 generator military trailer to haul the boulders to the trail. It needs some work but I should be able to have it done for next weekend. The plan is to make a deck and ramps and winch the rock onto it, then dump the boulders next to the trail where an excavator can put them in place.

The lasts post on this thread was 8/09 sad. Like it was completely forgot about?

JAWS said:

The lasts post on this thread was 8/09 sad. Like it was completely forgot about?

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Not alot of people want to make Elbe a better place. Most users just want to wheel the trails and not be involved with the maintenence or improvements.

The trails get better without maitainance, why would you want to make it easier?:corn:

hey I did my part I got you hooked up with those rocks:awesomework:

lets not forget all the hours I spent digging those bastards up either. the real good ones had to get buried, to big to haul

Fullywrecked said:

The trails get better without maitainance, why would you want to make it easier?:corn:

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We are trying to make this trail more challenging, instead of a 2wd road. At alot of the work parties we cut windblown trees off the trail, clean the mud off the wood bridges so they don't rot, fix and clean the campground, pick up trash, and keep the water and silt flowing into silt ponds, not into sensitive areas.

Crazy Daze said:

Not alot of people want to make Elbe a better place. Most users just want to wheel the trails and not be involved with the maintenence or improvements.

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First off I thought that was pretty dicked up to say after seeing all the people that show up for the work parties but after Fullywrecked's comment I realize you might have a point.

Crazy Daze said:

So I got this 1942 generator military trailer to haul the boulders to the trail. It needs some work but I should be able to have it done for next weekend. The plan is to make a deck and ramps and winch the rock onto it, then dump the boulders next to the trail where an excavator can put them in place.

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I have the material sitting at my house for the bed. Get on up here with that thing.:awesomework:

I was going to finish the sled but this I think will be much more efficient. We can probably mount what I started right on that bed. I grabbed a couple of hinges today to make the rear gate with. I'd say that in about 2 hours the bed could be finished.

ain'tstuckjustresting said:

First off I thought that was pretty dicked up to say after seeing all the people that show up for the work parties but after Fullywrecked's comment I realize you might have a point.

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It's a back and forth battle. Most understand the need for trail repairs for broken bridges, washouts, garbage pickup etc, but there's more dissention when it comes to trail maintenance. Some like to see a trail deteriorate so that it changes all the time and becomes more difficult. Most of those people haven't had to work directly with the land managers yet so they don't fully understand why we have to do what we have to do.

Corey's point, I believe, was that very few people show up to work parties compared to the number of people that use the trails. I've been to work parties where people are ticked off that we're in their way, God forbid they should think of helping out. Or we see people that say that they only get to wheel a few times a year so they're not going to waste that day or weekend, at a work party.

Work like we're trying to do on the Rainier Vista is more fun because it involves making something new, something more difficult and something unique for the area.

We need more help on this one with obtaining heavy equipment than we do on the trail. However, with this rock buggy that Corey and I are putting together, some MAN power will be needed.

For the trailer I need two sheets of 1/4" plate: 34.5" x 82.5", two big greasable snatch blocks and some square tubing to reinforce the removable ramp and build the a-frame on the tongue. It will be pretty simple. I am going to cut the rear winch cable down to the length I need and 3/4 of a layer on the drum so it will have lots of pulling power.

Does anyone have two 10,000lb+ geaseable bearing snatch blocks we can use?

I'll see what I can pull off but I'm pretty sure we have a crew working next weekend so the dumptruck and tiltbed will be tied up. I'll see if there is a chance to grab a mini and use my own trailer to pull it up.

Some of the rocks that are piled at each end of the trail can be hooked to one or two vehicles and dragged further into the trail too. That is what I was going to do before I found the trailer, just hook and drag one rock at a time.

Crazy Daze said:

For the trailer I need two sheets of 1/4" plate: 34.5" x 82.5", two big greasable snatch blocks and some square tubing to reinforce the removable ramp and build the a-frame on the tongue. It will be pretty simple. I am going to cut the rear winch cable down to the length I need and 3/4 of a layer on the drum so it will have lots of pulling power.

Does anyone have two 10,000lb+ geaseable bearing snatch blocks we can use?

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I don't have all of that, but I've got enough to make a good start.