Little Lasier Work/Camp/Ride Report by Mary Johnson -
This year’s outing at Little Lasier Meadow was amazing! Delightful weather, beautiful views, abundant vibrant wild flowers, wonderful cooperation with the Forest Service and amazing volunteers who accomplished a tremendous amount of work.
The camp was reserved for Gold Country Trails Council (GCTC) by the Sierraville Ranger District. The hard working Forest Service crew had cleaned the camp and chipped the piles of branches and since it was a light snow year, none of the corrals had been damaged! The only camp work consisted of unclogging the drain at the water pump which became a get down and dirty job .... and that water is COLD!!
Early arrivals hiked the connector trail/first road loop to check for clearing needs and also hiked, established cairns, and cleared the pass trail sections, as well as the stock crossing through Pass Creek. The large tree that came down at the creek crossing on the Blue Trail was cut up, along with a couple other small ones. And for excitement the disappearing tail end of a small bear was sighted as it crossed the road near camp!
With all that work accomplished early, the stage was set for the "real" work: tree clearing on the PCT. Earlier this year, Stephen Fisher, a volunteer for the PCTA (Pacific Crest Trail Association) had reached out to GCTC in order to work with our group. He had done preliminary hikes for tree clearing inventory so we knew we had a big job ahead of us.
In the late 1980's GCTC adopted the section of the PCT near Little Lasier Meadow and has continued to clear the PCT long after the "official" adoption was forgotten. In recent years the PCTA and GCTC connected again so that the "mystery" trail workers from GCTC were no longer a mystery to the PCTA.
After a light rain Friday night, Saturday dawned clear and cool: perfect working weather. Stephen arrived at Little Lasier Meadow along with the amazing GCTC volunteers, many who also arrived on Saturday morning just for the work day. Everyone was organized into groups to clear certain sections of trail.
Tom Alling with his mules and Tom Fletcher on horse back, headed north on the PCT with a chain saw on the pack mule. The mechanical “mule”, courtesy of Mike Peckham, carried Mike, Jeff, Toni, Laurie, Bev and Debbie up the first road to the PCT to work south, while Stephen, Milt and Alison headed out by car to Road 70-40 to the PCT to work north.
Jamie, Bill, Stacey, Mary and Gail hiked up the connector trail to cut back the notorious white thorn that was encroaching on the passage way. Katlin and Ross used horse transportation to clear trees and trim high branches on the 70-50/60 loop. Keith held down the fort at camp while covering the previously cleared drain line at the pump.
Last but not least, GCTC President Julie McMannus, arrived for support and provisions for the pot luck dinner.
Trail crews returned early afternoon, relaxed a bit, with lunch and headed out again, some riding, some driving home, some relaxing, and some heading out to work again!
Stephen, Milt and Alison were on a mission to drive to the PCT via Webber Lake Road to try and finish Stephen's section of the PCT. Well, lets just say they missed a delicious pot luck dinner, but arrived back at camp (shortly after we sent the search team out), with big smiles on their faces having accomplished most of what they set out to do.
The total after everyone's hard work: We cleared 30 trees over 5 miles of trail and 26 trees over 3 miles of access road.
A job WELL DONE!! Thank you everyone!
- Submitted by Mary Johnson
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
P. S. CLICK HERE to join the 700+ equestrian members of GCTC to help support 100 miles of non-motorized trails in Tahoe National Forest and Little Lasier Horse Camp and Skillman Horse Camp.
This year’s outing at Little Lasier Meadow was amazing! Delightful weather, beautiful views, abundant vibrant wild flowers, wonderful cooperation with the Forest Service and amazing volunteers who accomplished a tremendous amount of work.
The camp was reserved for Gold Country Trails Council (GCTC) by the Sierraville Ranger District. The hard working Forest Service crew had cleaned the camp and chipped the piles of branches and since it was a light snow year, none of the corrals had been damaged! The only camp work consisted of unclogging the drain at the water pump which became a get down and dirty job .... and that water is COLD!!
Early arrivals hiked the connector trail/first road loop to check for clearing needs and also hiked, established cairns, and cleared the pass trail sections, as well as the stock crossing through Pass Creek. The large tree that came down at the creek crossing on the Blue Trail was cut up, along with a couple other small ones. And for excitement the disappearing tail end of a small bear was sighted as it crossed the road near camp!
With all that work accomplished early, the stage was set for the "real" work: tree clearing on the PCT. Earlier this year, Stephen Fisher, a volunteer for the PCTA (Pacific Crest Trail Association) had reached out to GCTC in order to work with our group. He had done preliminary hikes for tree clearing inventory so we knew we had a big job ahead of us.
In the late 1980's GCTC adopted the section of the PCT near Little Lasier Meadow and has continued to clear the PCT long after the "official" adoption was forgotten. In recent years the PCTA and GCTC connected again so that the "mystery" trail workers from GCTC were no longer a mystery to the PCTA.
After a light rain Friday night, Saturday dawned clear and cool: perfect working weather. Stephen arrived at Little Lasier Meadow along with the amazing GCTC volunteers, many who also arrived on Saturday morning just for the work day. Everyone was organized into groups to clear certain sections of trail.
Tom Alling with his mules and Tom Fletcher on horse back, headed north on the PCT with a chain saw on the pack mule. The mechanical “mule”, courtesy of Mike Peckham, carried Mike, Jeff, Toni, Laurie, Bev and Debbie up the first road to the PCT to work south, while Stephen, Milt and Alison headed out by car to Road 70-40 to the PCT to work north.
Jamie, Bill, Stacey, Mary and Gail hiked up the connector trail to cut back the notorious white thorn that was encroaching on the passage way. Katlin and Ross used horse transportation to clear trees and trim high branches on the 70-50/60 loop. Keith held down the fort at camp while covering the previously cleared drain line at the pump.
Last but not least, GCTC President Julie McMannus, arrived for support and provisions for the pot luck dinner.
Trail crews returned early afternoon, relaxed a bit, with lunch and headed out again, some riding, some driving home, some relaxing, and some heading out to work again!
Stephen, Milt and Alison were on a mission to drive to the PCT via Webber Lake Road to try and finish Stephen's section of the PCT. Well, lets just say they missed a delicious pot luck dinner, but arrived back at camp (shortly after we sent the search team out), with big smiles on their faces having accomplished most of what they set out to do.
The total after everyone's hard work: We cleared 30 trees over 5 miles of trail and 26 trees over 3 miles of access road.
A job WELL DONE!! Thank you everyone!
- Submitted by Mary Johnson
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
P. S. CLICK HERE to join the 700+ equestrian members of GCTC to help support 100 miles of non-motorized trails in Tahoe National Forest and Little Lasier Horse Camp and Skillman Horse Camp.
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