I saw you this morning, I waved to your around 830 in the black Cayenne. All the lanes were full so we went up past the lanes and did cleanup at the spot past the uphill horseshoe bend. I only brought one bag so I wasn't able to grab everything. I don't know if they'll be looking at those spots as well but there is still garbage there.Long post -- sorry.
OK, so Mrs. Toast and I took a ride out this morning and got to the lanes at 7:30. All lanes were occupied except Lane 3, so lane 3 was our cleanup spot. We spent about 4 hours doing cleanup, shot 3 mags each, and split around 12:30.
When we got there, there was a freakin' pallet ON FIRE -- completely unattended, unless you count the sketchy white van with WA plates that was camped out across the road with their windows blocked until they drove off around 10:30. (I think they probably had to drop off resumes or something.). I recorded the fire and van on video before putting out the fire, in case law enforcement wants their info. I brought 5 gallons of water for a hand washing station. Used 4 of them putting out an idiot's fire before we even got started.
Volunteer fire dept. service done, we got to work piling up the debris and then bagging it. I think we must have gathered a thousand shotgun shells and wads, at least. All kinds of absurd crap. I pulled a full container of cake frosting out of the forest. WTH?
Several people drove by and we told them about the inspection and cleanup efforts. All were friendly and appreciative. Several stopped to help and get a little shooting in, and a couple said they'd come back over the next week and put some time in.
We walked up the hill to Lane 4 and gathered another huge bag. I pulled about 30 pounds of trash that had clearly been intentionally dumped maybe 15 feet off the side of the road, along with not one, but TWO 40 lb. bags of stinking, used cat litter. I hauled all the rest of their trash out of the woods and down to Lane 3. I got the 2 bags of cat litter out to the road, but I had to leave them there for pickup as they were too heavy and too gross to carry back to Lane 3. At least they were in strong bags that didn't tear and dump the mess out all over the forest, or worse, all over me. I thought that was very considerate of whoever put them there.
Got up to Lane 4, spoke to the shooters up there, poked around, and took some pics. There is indeed a goodly dump off the back end of Lane 4, but it's not as bad as I had feared. A few strong people can get that in a few hours, I think. There's quite a bit of trash and debris out there, but if this community actually turns out over the next week, the biggest and worst of it trash-wise is probably fixable before the inspection.
The two biggest problems I saw were the evidence of a bunch of fires -- most quite small at least, but I counted around 10 -- and the short pistol range that's developed off to the right at Lane 4. That hill has a big valley behind it and stray rounds high and to the right could be dangerous. Removing the worst evidence of the various fires would go a long way to improving the overall sense of the place for the inspectors. Most can be removed fairly easily, I think.
We made a pretty good dent on Lane 3 today, at least the front half of it. If I had had another hour or two, I could have got more of the road around Lane 3 and cleaned up the sketchy white van people's (SWVP's) backyard for them while they were out at their job interviews. I am sure they would have really appreciated that, but I didn't have time to do it for them.
We left 6 bags at Lane 3, along with the remnants of several pallets, a tire, and some other larger debris that was collected. Sorry we weren't able to haul, but it's bagged and in a nice pile right behind the concrete berm. When we left, a new party was setting up, and they said they'd get put some time in and add to our pile.
I really hope the SWVP do not mess with those bags tonight. If someone is able to make a run out there this afternoon and grab them, that would be ideal.
We will not be able to get out there again this weekend, but we are planning to do another morning run one day early next week. It will be the same deal, unable to haul, so if someone wants to meet up out there and bring a trailer, PM me.
I took some pics, but I will have to post them a little later.
I was not able to view Lanes 1 or 2, as they were occupied.
My feeling is that we actually CAN shock the inspectors with our ninja crew if we can generate some turn out. At the very least, we can demonstrate our commitment to self-police the place, especially since we are doing this with almost no notice and with a planned cleanup a week after their inspection. It's a "yeah, we do need a bunch of people ready to put in work" problem, but it's not a "this is pointless and impossible" problem. The inspectors are not going to find a pristine forest, but they're going to find that someone made a huge dent in the problem since the last time they were there.
Biggest issue I can see is attracting attention, because the people we spoke to out there all seemed ready to help when they heard that inspectors were coming in a week.
We REALLY need a solution for the SWVP with the dry months coming, and it needs to be an LE solution or a locked gate at night. Is camping there signed as illegal? Is it even illegal?
Start EARLY tomorrow. It's gonna get HOT!
The van was interesting and definitely sketch. Who camps at a shooting pit without being there to shoot is a bit odd to me.
) and I wish to leave some with you.
