Present – Members & Guests:

Ron Bridges

Josh Snyder

Dick Moon

Troy and Vurlee Toomez

Don and Deanna Stephens

Eddie Tare

Deanna and I first stopped by Angeles Oaks where we met Dick and Eddie at the restaurant – talked for a short time and a few other people started to show up. Deanna and I took off for the trailhead at about 8:45 am to meet up with Greg Hoffman, the Forest Service liaison. When we got to the trailhead, Greg informed me that he would not be able to stay with us on the trail as he had to take off to rescue a downed tree from another trail. Before leaving Greg did apply additional brown paint to our trailhead sign which was sun bleached and gave me additional trail difficulty stickers to put on the trail head entry signs under the 1N38 sign. Greg left and shortly after that the rest of our group arrived at the trail head.

Everyone aired down and we started up the trail. The trail was in pretty good shape and the main problem was the undergrowth down the middle of the trail that had grown up due to the rains we had earlier this year. There was very little trash except at the trailhead area and no serious water erosion problems. We did not find any downed trees or major rocks on the trail. Because Greg was not with us, we found ourselves short of tools – all we had was what people brought along. I found myself in the position of coordinating the work that needed to be done. Josh, Ron and Deanna brought up the rear and used clippers and a gas powered hedger to tackle the growth down the middle and sides of the trail. Up ahead Troy used his axe to clear the brush, along with Dick, Eddie and Vurlee sharing what tools they had. We knew it was going to be a short day because of the lack of tools and the heat. After we put in about a half day of work on the trail, we all headed up to the top. The first part of the "hill" (rated most difficult) was not as hard as it usually is and we found the second half was more challenging than normal. Hours on the trail are very important for the Adopt-A-Trail program and we were able to put in a total of 58 hours.

We had a nice lunch, cooled off and discussed our options for the rest of the day. We all decided to go over to the Gold Mountain trail which is on the north shore of Baldwin Lake. After a short, aired down drive on Highway 38, we started off on the Gold Mountain trail. Most of the people had not been on this trail before and it is rated most difficult. The views overlooking Baldwin and Big Bear lakes were spectacular and many enjoyed the challenge of the "rock garden" section of the trail. There were no vehicle breakdowns but a few scrapes and bangs kept the day interesting. The trail provided an enjoyable finish to our four wheeling for the day.

We all aired back up after we hit the pavement and Josh headed back down to Victorville and home. The rest of us headed down the hill to the steak house in Mentone (this is one L Bil’s favorite place to eat but where oh where was one L Bil?????)…After a good dinner we all said our goodbyes and headed in several different directions.

Thanks to everyone who came out to contribute to the Adopt-A-Trail program and help keep our trail clean and well-maintained.

Trail Boss, Don Stephens                                                                                 Pics