Friends of the Rubicon
FOTR
Rubicon Trail Home Page Navigation -- SEARCH?

Setting 2008 Rubicon Trail Priorities, by the Rubicon Oversight Committee

Notes from Randy Burleson, Rubicon Trail Foundation ROC Member

_____

The ROC brainstormed a list of the possible projects for 2008, and then we mailed the general ROC mail list a spreadsheet of that project list to rate on the rating scales noted below.

We evaluated potential projects by rating them from 1 (least important) to 5 (most important) based on the following categories:


* (PL) potential physical loss of trail (does loss of section, put trail at risk? does bypass exist?)
* (EI) environmental improvement (what's the environmental risk of NOT doing it?)
* (Sf) safety (does section pose threat to user safety, as it exists?)
* (US) user satisfaction upon completion (will users consense that the result is good?)
* (St) story (how attractive is this, in terms of headlines?)

Here are the aggregated scores of the project rating exercise we did at the last meeting, highest priority to lowest priority:


1.) Big Sluice Drainage (perhaps 2009)
2.) Buck – Side Slope (check with SMUD, small improvements available sooner)
3.) Walker Hill – continue maintenance
4.) Rock Fill – Tahoe Side (1000 cubic yards of gravel) (RTP Grant)
5.) (HiLo’s) Water Bars – Tahoe Side (MAY – while it’s wet)
6.) Wentworth – Phase II
7.) Placer County: Close bypasses above Cadillac Hill
8.) Trailhead Signage
9.) Water @ WW campground (1/4 mile west)

This is not necessarily the order in which these will be addressed, but it sets a pretty clear priority for the order in which they will be requested, at the ROC level. There is risk that we may get a donor coming in with bucks, choosing from the menu out-of-priority, based on their own external values, but I don't see much that we can do about this.

Randii

Also for reference, here's the full sample of projects that were on the list where ROC voted:

- Big Sluice Drainage (perhaps 2009)
- Little Sluice Work (later than 2009)
- Winter camp - west of LS (2009 for big work, small projects available sooner)
- Walker Hill – continue maintenance
- Buck – Side Slope (check with SMUD, small improvements available sooner)
- Wentworth – Phase II
- Toilet at Loon Lake near spillway (CXT)
- Placer County: Close bypasses above Cadillac Hill
- Placer County: Diverting water off Cadillac Hill – water bars, bypasses
- Placer County: Discuss rerouting trail to higher area near Miller Creek (was main trail long ago)
- Wentworth Kiosk
- Replace bottom-of-bowl range fencing with already-funded USFS grant
- Rework rock-ramp off the slabs at the 2003 reroute away from Pleasant Lake
- Signs and reflectors
. * Spider Lake to Buck, across the private slab bypass to True Old Sluice
. * Wentworth Springs to Ellis Creek, County to map centerline
- (HiLo’s) Water Bars – Tahoe Side (MAY – while it’s wet)
- Water @ WW campground (1/4 mile west)
- Rock Fill – Tahoe Side (1000 cubic yards of gravel) (RTP Grant)
- Old Sluice – Top end rockfill work by the tree roots
- Repeater House on private property for year-round HAM radio network
- Kiosk Deck Railing
- Bypass @ Alligator
- Trailhead Signage

Complete Rubicon Trail Update as of June 24, 2008

Of these jobs, FOTR has already addressed signs and reflectors west of Ellis Creek to Wentworth and Loon; the bypass just pass the Alligator Pit; drainage to the trail between Gatekeeper and the bowl; and trail maintenance and drainage work near Wentworth Springs campground; as well as in the campground itself.

Our Rubicon Trail Foundation (RTF) has worked hard to pull together approval, funding, and materials for the Rubicon Repeater Vault, and FOTR's excellent volunteers will finish up the building before July 2008.

FOTR also has Walker Hill work already in discussion, as are repairs to the kiosk deck and railing.

FOTR and Jeepers Jamboree are coming together in historic partnership to address several maintenance efforts between Miller Creek and Observation Point during the July 19 work weekend (sign up here to help).

El Dorado County Department of Transportation (EDC DOT) has scheduled work for Wentworth Springs Phase II. Workers will be starting on this project to support our FOTR efforts in early July.

El Dorado National Forest (ENF) is working permits and approvals for installation of an Oil Cleanup Vault (similar to what's currently next to the Loon Kiosk) at Wentworth Springs Campground, along with repair and small expansion of the Range Fencing at the bottom of the bowl.

Our State Parks OHV Division and EDC are working closely together to install the vault toilet at Loon Lake near the spillway (CXT), with permit assistance from ENF... and I'm working with OHMVR and EDC to print large-scale versions of RTF's map for the trailheads.

The Lake Tahoe Hi-Lo's already maintained most of the water bars in the Lahontan Basin in May, and have planned more thorough maintenance on the #10 water bar after the rock fill project. Placer County is using RTP grant funds to work towards substantial rock fill work in September.

Watch for sign up sheets here and check in on the Rubicon Trail Talk forum of www.pirate4x4.com

See 2007 ROC Priorities

Top of Page

Copyright © 2000 - 2021 by Del Albright, Albright Enterprises
All rights reserved by US Copyrights Office. Use available by permission only.

Java Script for disable right click