Outdoor Adventure USA

Very good, i was just going to post this here. We'll be donating to their raffle again this year. Great cause and a great event.

I have yet to spend any time in this area. I'll mark it on the calendar and hopefully I can make it!

adventureduo wrote:Very good, i was just going to post this here. We'll be donating to their raffle again this year. Great cause and a great event.

Do you know... if I show up on a motorcycle will there still be plenty for me to do?

Are there any folks from OAUSA planning to attend the Calico Clean-Up tomorrow ?

I went out to Stoddard Wells OHV Park today to help out at the 4th Annual Barstow Clean-Up, sponsored by Clean-dezert.org. I was joined on the drive in by Nick Shammas, and met up with Jill and Ken (Red FJ-40 at BorregoFest).

The attendance was huge, and the rigs were amazing - hundreds of vehicles of all types, including dozens of trophy truck and desert pre-runners that spent a lot of time running the sandy trails at very high speeds after the clean-up.

Overall, 13 dumpsters, at 40 cubic yards each, and a tractor-trailer for the tires that were picked up, were filled with trash after 3 hours of cleaning the trails - quite a successful job by the entirely volunteer crew.

While a BBQ lunch was served for all those who helped out, our group of 4 was treated to a feast prepared by Nick - so we didn't miss the BBQ at all.

Considering the amount of trash that we removed from a small area today, it is frustrating to know how much more is still out there, and all over the areas we all love to explore. Hopefully, more events like this will become the norm, and maybe the careless folks who dump this stuff all year will somehow realize how much damage that does, both to the environment, trails, and our ability to keep these areas available to all of us in the future...

Jill and I planned on going to the clean-up as part of a geocaching event and when she said hey, look at those two cruisers that just came in. It looks like Larry and I replied that it was Larry! A good day to be out in the desert and many thanks to Nick for an awesome lunch. We were so busy eating and enjoying ourselves, we didn't miss the raffle.

Thanks guys for letting our stock truck cruise the desert with you.

Jill & Ken

Thanks for getting me hooked on geo-caching...

(just what I need, another hobby )

cruiserlarry wrote:Thanks for getting me hooked on geo-caching...

(just what I need, another hobby )

There's a sore subject... I have mixed thoughts on this. I know the majority of folks who own them take care of them, but there sure seems to be a lot of owners that don't. As a result, it ends up being more like geo-trashing as the damaged/destroyed caches spread litter over the desert. If it were only a few I'd understand, but it seems like a third or more that we've found over the last couple years are like this.

People need to be more responsible when placing these things. If it is the middle of nowhere and not someplace where regular maintenance is going to be easy, maybe it's a bad idea. Leaving these things out there for months (years) without so much as a checkup is just as bad as littering.



Glad to see the cleanup went well. I didn't see much on this event this year, but it sounds like there was no shortage of labor.

Chazz Layne wrote:There's a sore subject... I have mixed thoughts on this.

People need to be more responsible when placing these things. If it is the middle of nowhere and not someplace where regular maintenance is going to be easy, maybe it's a bad idea. Leaving these things out there for months (years) without so much as a checkup is just as bad as littering.

Based on my very short experience, I'd have to agree...its' the idea of geo-caching that appeals to me; but it does seem like many have ruined the concept by just sticking caches everywhere (exclusivity factor is gone), as well as abandoning the caches (creating trash deposits). So, I won't be placing caches - there are already an abundance of 'em - but I'll look out for them in areas I'm going to explore, as it reminds me of treasure hunts we had as kids.

Chazz Layne wrote:Glad to see the cleanup went well. I didn't see much on this event this year, but it sounds like there was no shortage of labor.

No matter how many folks show up, it's never enough...although you want to make sure the plethora of good intentioned volunteers doesn't ravage the terrain they are trying to protect...

In exchange for the freedom to access all of this land, I'd like to see a program that requires a commitment to help maintain / clean these areas by those who frequent them. Honestly, the folks trashing these places are not the same as those who show up to help at these events, and it would be nice to hold those responsible for the mess accountable to clean it up...