FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date: July 13, 2004

Contact: Jon Morgan, Director of Environmental Management, (530) 621-5300

Board of Supervisors Declares a State of Local Emergency


PLACERVILLE – The Board of Supervisors passed a resolution today

declaring that a State of Local Emergency exists in association with the use of

the Spider Lake – Little Sluice Area adjacent to the Rubicon Trail, a popular

recreational trail located in the upper Sierra Nevada within El Dorado County.

A significant amount of human fecal waste has been deposited within this area

creating a health and safety threat to the users of the Rubicon Trail, and a health

and safety threat to adjacent lakes and streams, which in turn flow into the

American River Watershed. The unsanitary conditions of this area of the

Rubicon Trail have resulted in the degradation of an environmentally sensitive

area. Effective today the Spider Lake – Little Sluice Area will be closed for

recreational use for 120 days. The closure will not affect the use of the Rubicon

Trail as a thoroughfare.

well that takes care of that :(

man, thats harsh- but I am not suprised. Too many yahoos up there mess'n the place up.

That's shitty!

But on a serious note, is this due to the amount of organized runs through the Rubicon as of late? I know that tyhere are multiple "cleanups" of the trail each year and that at least on of them include a large DOODY patrol. Is this just not enough? I live in Phoenix and have not yet had the chance to wheel the con. I would like to at some point in my life and this doesn't help my case for waiting. Is it possible to organize and construct restroom facilities at the most populated areas?

some clubs have built facilities in the past but within a months time they are full of beer cans, trash, and,of course, shit. there is no way to pump them out and there is no respect given to the work put into them. time is coming for us to carry porta potties or some other method of hauling out our own crap. i am only surprised that it took this long to happen.
butch

i wonder what process took place in order for this to happen......or i wonder who actually saw it and made the call........it was bound to happen.

big eye opener :eek:

let's learn the lesson at hand........haul it in, haul it out....no matter how gross it may seem at first ....it will become second nature after a while, like changing diapers :D

glenn

don't know what you got till it's gone! :mad3: :(

on one side, most of us saw this coming a long time ago. on the other, fawk all you lazy useless bastards that can't pack your crap out. who the F are you to fawk it up for everybody else?! :mad3: :mad3: :mad3:

and yes, i'm religious about packing my crap out an i attend the cleanups. heck, during rubithon we filled up a whole trash bag just while waiting at the end of the line and picking shit up on the first day.

next time you go up there and end up in a traffic jam, start picking up trash. it'll be for the best of the "comunity"!!!!!!!!! :)

Well I feel for you guys that live out there and treat the trail right, if you don't treat it right, shame on you.
One of your locals at Cruise Moab around the campfire one night stated the he wished they would gate it and charge a $25 or so, and maybe that would save it....he knew something like this was coming as did most of the guys that knew the situation......
Heck all we got is private fee areas here......
Butch

That's a creative spin.

I would like to see the bacteria report to back up the clame.

There's not much doubt that it could be considered a health hazzard. Shitloads (no pun) of little TP flowers all over the secluded areas of the rocks, with no soil to absorb the poop. Sierra thunderstorms will wash the effluent into Spider on a regular basis. Hopefully this is an eye opener and people will become aware. The 120 days effectively closes the Spider Lake party/Little Sluice viewing area for the year.

And Butch, all we have is free areas here!!!! :flipoff2: :flipoff2: ,they're just poopy free areas! Hopefully to become poop free areas!

Kent

Well does that mean that Jeeper's Jamboree and the Jeep Jamboree will not have access to it? That org. has a lot of clout! Maybe they will fly in porta potties for those events?
Another question, how will they close it off? Set barriers? Post signs that will be ingored?

how will they close it off? Set barriers? Post signs that will be ingored?

Hell of a question. I'd assume we're going to really start seeing the deputies out. I'd hate to see barriers set, as that'd be one of those things that would be REAL hard to lose in the future. I haven't seen a mention of when it will take effect.

As for the Jamborees, I think they all go to the Springs for Camping. But I don't know, never been on one. (don't have a Jeep, you know!!)

Post signs that will be ingored?


Ingored????
Is this something a bull might do to ya'?

i wonder if you could use one of those diaper genies to crap in??it would be a lot cleaner than crappin in a bag that can't be sealed all the way.. :eek:

Maby somthing good will come of this. In the way of opening eyes. 120 days aint shit at least the trail is still open. Truth being though, there are a fair amount of retards the like to go up there and Fuc it up for everyone else.

There are several companies that make porta potties that are cheep. Not much of an investment to help the trail out.

OK, the board doesn't have spell checker, Taxican! :laughing:

it was going to happen

Maby somthing good will come of this. In the way of opening eyes. 120 days aint shit at least the trail is still open. Truth being though, there are a fair amount of retards the like to go up there and Fuc it up for everyone else.

There are several companies that make porta potties that are cheep. Not much of an investment to help the trail out.

Porta potties have to be emptied.........where?

How much trouble is it to dig a hole, is the soil rocky so you can't dig?

How about the pit type, where you have a large open septic tank crapper on top, with lateral lines, they stink, but do the job intended..........These could be constructed with volunteers.....

Butch

Porta potties have to be emptied.........where?

How much trouble is it to dig a hole, is the soil rocky so you can't dig?

How about the pit type, where you have a large open septic tank crapper on top, with lateral lines, they stink, but do the job intended..........These could be constructed with volunteers.....

Butch

I think the whole Idea of the porta pottie is to get the crap back to a treatment plant or someplace that can deal with it. Not to just crap in a bucket then dump it somewhere else on the trail. People are usually up there 2 to 3 days that not much to pack back to town in a sealable bucket.

I know in my line of work I spend an average of 120 days out on fires. Crapping in the woods is a daily ocurrance. We fallow a few simple steps to keep the impact to a min.
1.Never closer than 200 feet to a water way. Stream, lake, whatever.
2.dig a hole. About 6 to 8 inches. Much deeper than that is no good cause the soils baceteria wont break it down as fast as the top 8 inches will.
3.If we have a spike camp there is usually a big hole that everyone uses then when be break camp its covered in lie then burried.

Its better to pack your shit out but there are times its not realistic. I do a fair amount of wilderness backpacking as well and its not always realistic to pack it out on a long trek so fallowing the above steps helps. But if you have a rig driving you around its no biggie to take it back to town with you.

I do like the Idea of a septic tank with a leach feild that people could dump into at the end of the trail or where most people wind up.

Everybody check out PETT Toilets...http://www.botac.com/pett.html I think it is time we all suck it up (hehe...not literally) & do the right thing!! Or eat something that will plug you up for a few days.... This system (PETT) has a powder that gells up the crap & deodorizes it also. The bags are biodegradeble & the whole system only weighs 7lbs. Times are changing...we HAVE to do this.

How much trouble is it to dig a hole, is the soil rocky so you can't dig?

How about the pit type, where you have a large open septic tank crapper on top, with lateral lines, they stink, but do the job intended..........These could be constructed with volunteers.....

Butch

Well intentioned thoughts, but. I frankly can't see how a guy (or gal) that can't be bothered to switch their expired cigarette from their left hand to their right, to put it in their ashtray, would stop to consider much of anything except immediate gratification. It is obvious from what they ingest that they don't care about their own bodies, so it should come as no surprise they care even less about what's outside thier body.

I see this 'world is my garbage can' attitude every day in LA; these people didn't adopt their careless attitude just for the Rubicon. It's one of my pet peaves, and one my family worries I'll end up in a fight over. I've walked up to these types and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't get the memo" After their initial look of confusion (they are REALLY clueless) I say, "the one that says the world is your personal garbage dump." Then they usually proceed to show me (in sign language)their IQ."

Frankly, I'm so fatalist about this that I don't think that if there were facilities every 500 feet that you would stop people from doing whatever they want AT THE EXACT TIME AND PLACE THAT THE URGE STRIKES THEM! :mad3: :mad3: :mad3:

You post signs to explain the situation. After a few beers, the signs look like range targets!

The way these things usually end up is that the off-road community, caving to the possibility of outright closure, agrees to a fee system that will supposedly finance 'improvements'. Inevitably a vault or pit will be built, and serviced by very expensive (read: raise my user fees) helicopter service, while the a**hats, determined to get their money's worth for the fee will proceed to leave all their garbage they used to haul out clustered around the new facilities, figuring they have paid for that service. The downward spiral continues! :(

Sorry for venting. I've been fighting the fight for over 20 years, and it's just OLD.

Good find! I need to get a link of a place that has good portas made in Colorado. Good prices and small.

Well intentioned thoughts, but. I frankly can't see how a guy (or gal) that can't be bothered to switch their expired cigarette from their left hand to their right, to put it in their ashtray, would stop to consider much of anything except immediate gratification.

I see this 'world is my garbage can' attitude every day in LA; these people didn't adopt their careless attitude just for the Rubicon. It's one of my pet peaves, and one my family worries I'll end up in a fight over. I've walked up to these types and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't get the memo" After their initial look of confusion (they are REALLY clueless) I say, "the one that says the world is your personal garbage dump." Then they usually proceed to show me their IQ."

Frankly, I'm so fatalist about this that I don't think that if there were facilities every 500 feet that you would stop people from doing whatever they want AT THE EXACT TIME AND PLACE THAT THE URGE STRIKES THEM! :mad3: :mad3: :mad3:

You post signs to explain the situation. After a few beers, the signs look like range targets!

The way these things usually end up is that the off-road community, caving to the possibility of outright closure, agrees to a fee system that will supposedly finance 'improvements'. Inevitably a vault or pit will be built, and serviced by very expensive (read: raise my user fees) helicopter service, while the a**hats, determined to get their money's worth for the fee will proceed to leave all their garbage they used to haul out clustered around the new facilities, figuring they have paid for that service. The downward spiral continues! :(

Sorry for venting. I've been fighting the fight for over 20 years, and it's just OLD.




Good vent, and well said.

i Have The Solution!!!
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I can honestly say I have never contributed to the problem. I get constepated when I get stressed out and weeling stresses me out! I allways think Im gonna break shit :)

for those of you that have never been to the rubicon, Its an AWSOME place and a beautifull trail. but there is those spots that are the "attractions" (LS) where things get out of hand. I mean, I would be the first one to say tree hugging, wistle blowers be shot in the face, but when you see areas like the sluice with its fields of poo(100' in any direction) and litter, dip shits winching rocks around, fuck, its no wonder shit hit the fan. its a matter of time before its a hiking/bike trail.

I can't believe that all of you styling rock crawliin' guru's don't have one of these already. If you icons of off-road had one of these on your rides this would never had come to this. Being a trendsetter has responsibilities and somebody has dropped the ball. http://www.bumperdumper.com/ and if you check out the main page, it comes with a plastic baggie. How about one that takes a 5 gal. bucket? Seriously, what a drag.

Porta potties have to be emptied.........where?

I think they meant the pack it out type. Roundeyes has a bunch of field sanitation stuff.
http://www.roundeyes.com/index.php?cPath=36_44

How much trouble is it to dig a hole, is the soil rocky so you can't dig?

Pretty much solid granite, Butch. You should check it out sometime! ;) ;)

How about the pit type, where you have a large open septic tank crapper on top, with lateral lines, they stink, but do the job intended..........These could be constructed with volunteers.....

Butch

Gotta agree with Mark on this one. No truck access and an invitation to dumping. Packing it out is probably the most viable solution, but the folks that go up for the show at Little Sluice tend not to be prepared to do so.

Kent

I could not believe the unsanitary conditions around Spider this year. :barf: I hate to see an area closed off to the people who respect it, but there are idiots in all walks of life who screw stuff up.

I personally don't want to police anybodys actions but if I would have caught any one of the people who carelessly shat on a trail to the waters edge and decided it was okay to throw their shat soiled paper in the bushes for all to see, all 135 lbs of me would have rubbed their noses in it like a dog.

I was amazed at the carelessness of these actions and I think we all need to help find and uphold solutions for the best interest of the sport and our beloved mountain resources.

The whitewater community has been dealing with this issue for ages and most commercial outfitteres ar required to haul out as a condition. One I'm very familiar with uses what they affectionately call a "groover", that is actually very simple and slick. It's a small military surplus ammo can with a diaper bag liner. The term "groover" is very appropriate when you think about how you would use it, but it works great - easy to close, odor free, can handle over a week of use, easy to pack in your gear, easy to pack out to your favorite bush, etc.

The whitewater community has been dealing with this issue for ages and most commercial outfitteres ar required to haul out as a condition. One I'm very familiar with uses what they affectionately call a "groover", that is actually very simple and slick. It's a small military surplus ammo can with a diaper bag liner. The term "groover" is very appropriate when you think about how you would use it, but it works great - easy to close, odor free, can handle over a week of use, easy to pack in your gear, easy to pack out to your favorite bush, etc.

Was just about to post something like this. On the rivers we've used a combination of groovers and the PETT system- which usually depends on the company. PETT system is very slick and works out to about $2 a bag after buying the initial frame (and tent in our case).