Gifford Pinchot Road 4109 Repair July 19th & 20th 2019

Use this forum to report and discuss trails in need of maintenance. This will help organizations like TKO and agencies like the Forest Service get the most recent on-the-ground trail conditions.
jvangeld
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Joined: May 29th, 2018, 6:36 pm
Location: Proebstel, WA

Success!

Post by jvangeld » July 21st, 2019, 3:49 pm

Success! We repaired a section of road 4109! I’ll start near the uphill end of our repairs. We repaired this waterbar by patching the rut which had washed it out, and then digging away the material that had accumulated on its uphill side and in its waste area.

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The waterbar after patching on Friday

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Dug a trench through the waste area for water to flow

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And then we scraped away more of the dirt.

Just as a reminder, this is what that waterbar looked like in May. Though it had degraded even more since then.

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Now that we channelled a bunch of water off of the road, we focused on the ditch downhill. We started by intercepting the existing rut, then we restored the shoulder as the road comes around the curve. Then we cleaned the ditch and filled in the rut.

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Intercepting the rut with a clean ditch

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Cleaned off the shoulder and filled in the rut

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It's not perfect, but it's better than it was.

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What it looked like in May.

There was some brush-out and log-out work, and some mini-waterbars.
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But mostly, we fixed the first big rut!
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It's like it was never there.

With all the improvements we made uphill of the rut, I think it is not going to reappear for a number of years. We did it! Thanks are due to Josiah, Toby, Richard, Michelle, Bethany, Andrew and Kirby. I am looking forward to what we can do next.
Jeremy VanGelder - Friends of Road 4109

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retired jerry
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Re: Gifford Pinchot Road 4109 Repair July 19th & 20th 2019

Post by retired jerry » July 22nd, 2019, 5:02 am

wow, nice work, thanks

the FS will be unhappy because now they can't close it :)

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Don Nelsen
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Re: Gifford Pinchot Road 4109 Repair July 19th & 20th 2019

Post by Don Nelsen » July 22nd, 2019, 3:19 pm

Great job! Now let's hope the usual crowd of monster trucks don't destroy it again.
"Everything works in the planning stage" - Kelly

"If you don't do it this year, you will be one year older when you do" - Warren Miller

Aimless
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Re: Gifford Pinchot Road 4109 Repair July 19th & 20th 2019

Post by Aimless » July 22nd, 2019, 7:35 pm

I think it was a saying of Sam Rayburn, long time Speaker of the House to the effect that it takes teamwork and commitment to build a barn, but any damn mule can kick it to pieces.

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Water
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Re: Gifford Pinchot Road 4109 Repair July 19th & 20th 2019

Post by Water » July 22nd, 2019, 7:41 pm

removed
Last edited by Water on May 6th, 2020, 12:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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jvangeld
Posts: 156
Joined: May 29th, 2018, 6:36 pm
Location: Proebstel, WA

Re: Gifford Pinchot Road 4109 Repair July 19th & 20th 2019

Post by jvangeld » July 22nd, 2019, 8:10 pm

It was a blast working up there. The most damage the trucks and jeeps are doing to the road is at the shortcut up the first switchback. I swear it has been cut further into the road at the top every time I have been up there this year. I wanted to drop some logs down it to act as a barrier, or maybe drive some into the ground palisade style. But we didn't get that far. If anything is going to make the road permanently inaccessible, it is probably that shortcut.
Jeremy VanGelder - Friends of Road 4109

jvangeld
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Joined: May 29th, 2018, 6:36 pm
Location: Proebstel, WA

Re: Gifford Pinchot Road 4109 Repair July 19th & 20th 2019

Post by jvangeld » July 22nd, 2019, 8:28 pm

I guess I see myself as having two options. I could drive an offroad 4WD vehicle really fast through the mud puddles and tear up the road as I go. Or I could watch someone slowly drive an offroad 4WD vehicle up and down a short section of road as it drags some specially-shaped steel behind it. We're driving an offroad 4x4 either way, but the second option is a lot more constructive. And, more to the point, the Forest Service doesn't try to stop the first kind of 4x4, so why would they try to stop the second kind?
Jeremy VanGelder - Friends of Road 4109

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Charley
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Re: Gifford Pinchot Road 4109 Repair July 19th & 20th 2019

Post by Charley » July 22nd, 2019, 10:30 pm

jvangeld wrote:
July 22nd, 2019, 8:28 pm
I guess I see myself as having two options. I could drive an offroad 4WD vehicle really fast through the mud puddles and tear up the road as I go. Or I could watch someone slowly drive an offroad 4WD vehicle up and down a short section of road as it drags some specially-shaped steel behind it. We're driving an offroad 4x4 either way, but the second option is a lot more constructive. And, more to the point, the Forest Service doesn't try to stop the first kind of 4x4, so why would they try to stop the second kind?
:)
I've got truck envy. My little taco only has RWD.
Believe it or not, I barely ever ride a mountain bike.

Webfoot
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Re: Gifford Pinchot Road 4109 Repair July 19th & 20th 2019

Post by Webfoot » July 23rd, 2019, 6:21 pm

Thank you for your work. I was selfish and took the weekend for my first trip to the Wallowas.

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RichardDavies
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Re: Gifford Pinchot Road 4109 Repair July 19th & 20th 2019

Post by RichardDavies » July 24th, 2019, 11:22 am

Webfoot wrote:
July 23rd, 2019, 6:21 pm
Thank you for your work. I was selfish and took the weekend for my first trip to the Wallowas.
Can't say that I blame you. I took my first backpacking trip there last fall and it was amazing.

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