Not only will you be doing your good GC deed, but I can all but
guarantee that you'll have a lot of fun doing it. Just ask any of
the folks who have attended a CITO before.
Join us and the EDNF to help demolish and clean up a
decommissioned Forest Service building at Owens Camp. This will be
very similar in nature to the Baltic Lookout Cleanup last September.
Except for that we had to contend with rain, fog, shuttling, and
a 45 minute road detour on roads too narrow for an SUV to go
scratchless. Despite those impediments, I think anyone who
attended would agree they had a ton of fun anyway. Hopefully
this one should hold none of those unforeseen hindrances.
The Forest Service was both impressed and overwhelmed by the
amount of work done by the small and ambitious group. We filled a
stakeside truck in just about a half hour. This time they have
offered even more resources (i.e. trash trucks). Lets leave another
lasting impression so that they see cachers as a positive influence
on the outdoors rather than a negative one.
Dust masks and latex gloves will be provided to those who wish,
although it is highly recommended that you bring your own heavy
duty work gloves. We will try to provide as many extra pairs of
those as possible. Jeans and long sleeve shirts would also be
suggested.
Feel free to bring any additional buckets, shovels, rakes, or
brooms. Hammers and pry bars may also be very helpful.
The event will be held from noon until 3-4 pm or until we're
done, whichever comes first. I'm sure that will be the latter.
Children are welcome, but they should be closely supervised. Please
note that they may be a lot of exposed nails, broken glass and
flying debris (after all these are violent acts of
cleanupTM).
To get to the CITO site, take Hwy 50 to the town of Kyburz and
turn south onto Silverfork Road. Continue on Silverfork Road for
approx 8 miles until you get to FS Route 10N25 on your left. Follow
that to the CITO site. I believe most vehicles should make it there
no problem, unless you have an extremely low clearance vehicle. If
you are concerned about that say so in your log - it's only a short
distance from Silverfork Road and I'm sure someone would be willing
to get you from Silverfork Road to the CITO site.
There is scheduled to be a downhill bike ride event the following day.
For those who wish to camp, the closest campsites are Silverfork
CG, China Flat CG, and Sand Flat CG. These are all first come
first serve. You can find more information on the campgrounds
here (we will be in the Placerville Ranger
District).
For the National Forest Service campgrounds that do require
reservations, you can make them here or call
1-877-444-6777 (National Recreation Reservation Service).
Hope to see you there!
use of TM courtesy of SillyScout
Oh yeah - it's too early to be published, but if you are
interested there will be another CITO in
October at Loon Lake.
Update: 6/4/08
Well just like the first one, what fun would this be without some
adversity? I just talked to the Forest Service and apparently they
have decided to hire a contracter for the removal of the buildings
at Owens Camp. There goes the "Violent" part 
. They have no objection to us still
reporting on June 28th to clean the site up and extend our
efforts down Silverfork Road as far as we wish. That might
work out well as interest seems to be minimal and ODL Events
have since been posted on the same date 
.
The other option (somewhat) offered is to clean up the area around
Alder
Ridge Lookout as the FS is talking about renovating it and
using it as a FS rental. However, that is MUCH more difficult to
get to and it's probably too late to pull together the details
(which would be out of my hands).
I also just got word that our project manager just changed from the
Forest Fire Prevention Dept to a new FS Volunteer Coordinator. She
is currently on vacation for another week but may have other
potential projects. If you had planned on attending, I'd love to
know if you are flexible to other potential sites or if you made
lodging or camping plans nearby. Feedback welcome. Either way, some
sort of CITO will still occur at posted coordinates on this day -
I'm just trying to get a handle on additional projects/manpower if
offered.
Update: 6/26/08
Just talked to the Forest Service and they have downgraded our duty
quite a bit. They are completely tapped out on their resources with
all the fire activity (and more predicted for this weekend), so
they won't have any of their own personnel attending.
Since fire restrictions will go into effect Monday, they've simply
asked us to make as many fire pits as we can "disappear" along
Silverfork Road. For those still looking for "Violent"
activity/clean-up, I'm sure you could make fire rings disappear
"violently" - as long as there is no one else in the immediate area
.
I'd like to meet at the posted Owens Camp coordinates around 9:30
am Saturday. There is a nice horseshoe pit there, so if anyone has
horseshoes please bring them along while we're waiting for the rest
of the crew to show up . Also please bring work gloves and
shovels if you have them (I'll try to bring some extra).
The road to Owens Camp is paved. Any vehicle should be able to make
it there no problem and there is plenty of parking at the top.
While heading south on Silverfork Road, just turn left onto the
paved portion of 10N24 (waypoint to be added) and keep left on the
paved portion to the coordinates. There are some bumps and
potholes, but unless you have the lowest of low riders you'll make
it fine (and worst case scenario, you can wait at the posted
waypoint and we'll pass right by you).
Should be short, easy and fun (and still plenty of time to get to
ODL is you wish).
