Here's an after action report from the Porject Leader (Incident Commander), Robert Lightfoot.
What an adventure the 2006 Gatekeeper project turned out to be. My involvement with this project started with an interest in doing something for the trail following the blasting of the Gatekeeper last fall. A work party was in the planning stages but was canceled due to an early snowfall and lack of time needed to coordinate a task of this size. Covered with snow the Gatekeeper was out of sight but not out of mind.
In April I received an email from Scott Johnston asking if I was still interested in helping out with the Gatekeeper project. I was eager to help but being somewhat new to FOTR I was a little Leiry of taking on a lead role. A few more emails and phone calls later it became apparent that I was going to be the lead on this project.
Not knowing exactly what I just got myself into was a little bit disconcerting. I had only been on the trail a few times and hadn't been involved in past work parties so this was all new to me. The logistics for this project seemed overwhelming.
It didn't take long to realize what an outstanding group of people are involved with FOTR and the 4wd community. I received a number of emails and phone calls offering suggestions and support for the upcoming project and things started to look a little bit easier.
On a scouting trip to the gatekeeper a couple weeks prior to the scheduled work day I met a couple members of the Hi-Landers Club. They hadn't heard of the planed Gatekeeper project but were interested in helping. At that point I realized not everyone is involved in FOTR or follow the various bulletin boards such as pirate4x4.
Going through the clubs roster from the Cal4wheel site I sent out emails to club contacts from the North District and did some networking with other contacts I had. The emails and phone calls started to trickle in and I doubled the number of confirmed volunteers that were going to participate. We now had Marlon Allen volunteer as the head cook. Eldorado County supplied a skid-steer and operator Mike Overmeyer to load the trailers. There were numerous other commitments for food, equipment and trailers while Randy Burleson, Scott Johnston and Del Albright helped keep me on track.
As with most projects there are people that intend to show up but for various reasons they just cant make it. On the same note there are people you never hear from that show up unexpected. I certainly hadn't expected 61 volunteers and 9 trailers. With more people than anticipated we were going to be desperately short on food. Robbs resort stepped up with a large donation of burgers and fixings to bail us out in a pinch.
There were representatives from many of the North District clubs with TDO and TTORA showing up in force. The Hi-Landers that I met a few weeks earlier had their own trail project that day but volunteered their trailer for a couple loads of rock before continuing on their way. Everyone put their hearts and souls to the task at hand and made it happened.
With 24 trailer loads hauling an estimated 8 tons of rock Scott Johnstons crew had no easy task emptying the trailers and getting them turned around on the trail. Randy Burlesons crew further up the trail had their hands full taking care of drainage issues and guiding a creek back into its channel and off of the trail. Of special note was the husband and wife team of Terry and Amy Crawford who drove up from Santa Cruz to help. They were in the thick of it from start to finish and I'm not sure they ever slowed down.
I have to say that being somewhat new to FOTR I was very impressed with the hard work and sincere dedication it's members and others in the 4wd community exhibited durring this project. They helped turn a very daunting task into a doable project and got it done. I look forward to see you on the trail.
Robert Lightfoot
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