November 1, 2006    The Official Newsletter of the New Mexico 4-Wheelers    www.nm4w.org

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Meeting was held at Heights Cumberland Church.  Mark Wolf called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM (cuz Lauri left her wedding rings at the office and had to go retrieved them before the janitor did).

Guests:  Joanne Spivack (President NMOHVA), Lloyd Swartz, Bill Black, Sheree Barnes.

Members Present: Glenn Bontly, Pat & Sue Brady, Keith Chapin, Leon Duggar, Erwin Greven, Heath Hislop, Tom Hurt, Jason Lavy, Cliff Meier, Jerry & Mary Moran, Chuck & Ethel May Peeples, Dan Pritchard, Jeff & Lauri Rector, Phil & Ilene Rodacy, Justin Simenson, Carlos & Laurye Tanner, Paul & Mary Thompson, Mark Werkmeister, Frank R. & Donna Whiston, Frank G. & Beth Whiston, Mark Wolf.

Secretary’s Report – Beth Whiston:  Everybody accepted the minutes as printed in the newsletter.

Treasurer’s Report – Paul Thompson: $4,983.39 is the bank balance.  A $722.00 check was written to Southwest for dues.  Outstanding fines:  Peeples .50 (for not waving to the Tanners), Frank G. .25 (for leaving the Tanner’s behind).

Vice President’s Report – Mark Wolf:  Mark heard of an infraction, somebody was impersonating the Sheriff!  Laurye Tanner received a .25 fine for the impersonation.  Glenn Bontly, at Caballo Lake, .25 fine for his temporary inability to locate his oil dipstick (it was under the welder, said Glenn!).

Trip Chairman’s Report – Frank Whiston:  Gordy’s Hill (Reported by Mark Werkmeister) – Went off as scheduled, 3 vehicle’s in small tire group; 4 vehicles in large tire group.  Water damage was minimal.  They had to do some restacking on Pucker Falls.  It was hard to see the newer routes because of grass and brush growth.  Nice campfire, good weekend, little rain in the evenings.

Red River (Reported by Tom Hurt) – No club members on Saturday.  There were some people from Kansas.  Goose Lake is different, there are no more boulders.  They were all removed.  L  Tom GPS’d Mission Impossible. 

Fall Quarterly (Reported by Paul Thompson) – It was held at the YO Ranch, good time, very well run event.  It was a different terrain.  First evening they signed up in a group and stayed with that group for two days.  It was nice because they got to feel like a part of the group and got to know everybody.  Thompson’s went to the meeting.  Only 7 clubs were represented so it was not an official meeting (8 clubs are required to make it an official meeting).  It was announced that Las Cruces is hosting the Winter Quarterly again.  Nobody has stepped up for Summer Quarterly.  Mary said that we need to have more members go to the “eastern” quarterlies next time!  There was a swimming pool, an opportunity to pet, hunt, and feed a camel.  There are pictures on the website. (The way I remember it, Brady asked if he could shoot the camel; Mary said NO!  -ed)

Caballo Run (Reported by Mark Wolf) – There were 4 vehicles on the run.  It was a good run.  The trail changed a little in the bottom, there was some sand.  They had rain on Saturday afternoon.  Good that they crossed the river and saved a lot of time (the crossing that Glenn found last year).  Palomas Gap was a little tricky…it took time to get everybody through. 

Jemez (Reported by Frank G.) – GPS’d some trails up in the Jemez.  Corey Ryan, Frank and Donna Whiston, Frank G. & Kimberly went and explored a route off of Bales Canyon.  This route took them within a few hundred yards of the top of the Church Canyon trail, but the dense forest is prohibitive to complete the route.  However, following the ridge to the south, it would probably only take a work party a couple of hours to link the trail back into Bales Canyon.  After re-tracing their steps, they continued on to log tracks on a route that skirts the western edge of the Girl Scout camp to link into Trail Creek.  Then they traveled FR20 back out to Highway 550 to return to town.

Future Runs:

Lauri Rector has a run on Saturday, October 14^th McMillan and Church Canyon.  Meet at the Conoco 550/528 at 9:00. 

Glenn Bontly is leading Tank Trap on Sat, Nov 11^th.  Meet at the Conoco at 8 am.  Note earlier time.

The Club needs to think about the Christmas Tree run.  (As of this publication, Justin Simenson has volunteered to lead this trip on 2 Ded.  –ed)

Director Environmental Affairs Report – Mark Werkmeister:

RS2477:  Rep. Pearce (NM) has introduced the RS2477 legislation.  It is a short bill that is very important.  We would like to let Pearce know how we feel about this bill.  Mark Werkmeister would like everybody who feels compelled to do so, sign a petition to support this bill.  A petition was passed around.  Mark will collect the petition at the end of the meeting and give it to the BlueRibbon coalition.  Mark will send out contact information on Monday. 

Santa Fe National Forest Travel Mgmt Plan:  SFNF Travel Management plan has been extended to January 15^th.  Pat Brady is point of contact for collecting these tracks.  Please get a copy of any tracks to Pat Brady.  We need to also remember to ID some routes that have never been opened or had trails on them.  There are many opportunities.  Use our time wisely.  Once it starts to snow it will be more difficult.  It can’t hurt to thank the SFNF for extending the deadline. 

Mark Wolf pointed out that members can receive points by going to these meetings.

Trackways Bill:  Fred Huff flew to D.C.  The last of the oral and written testimony has been submitted on the Trackways Monument bill.  This legislation will get taken up again when Congress reconvenes in January.

Dona Land Use Bill:  There will be two public input meetings that the City of Las Cruces has advertised.  Any attendance would be greatly appreciated, but Mark realizes it is a long drive.  Mark has already submitted his input from the point of view as SWFWDA representative.

Program Chairman’s Report – Jerry Marx:  Not present.

Historian’s Report – Laurye Tanner:  She received pictures from Paul and Mary; already posted online.

Mark Wolf volunteered to head a committee to celebrate the Clubs 50^th year Anniversary!  He will be looking for help. 

Web Master & Editor’s Report – Glenn Bontly: He has something!  Anybody interested in Tank Trap next month?  Do we have a date and location for a holiday party? 

Old Business: 

Community Service Project:  Beth Whiston suggested/presented an idea about the APS Title I Homeless Project.  This foundation helps out the 300-400 homeless students registered with Albuquerque Public Schools (APS).  Most of these kids live along Central Ave, between downtown and Louisiana Blvd.  The program really helps these children out.  Money that is donated to the homeless project goes into a foundation.  It is different from the everyday money that APS operates on.

Things the money is used for:  Clothes for H.S. students.  Many of the H.S. students are living on their own!  They need food and clothes (an APS employee with the homeless project will take students shopping for clothes).  Provide money for cap and gown so seniors can participate in graduation.  Provide financial help for the students who wish to participate in sports.  Money for a uniform or the fee to play.  Underwear and socks for all students.  They run a preschool and after school tutoring program during the school year and summer for the 300-400 homeless children registered in APS.  Non-perishable food/snacks that will be sent with the children at the end of the week to provide food during the weekend.  Toiletry items for the students.  School supplies.  Just a huge variety of things as the need arises.

Christmas Party:  Last year’s hosts volunteered to do it again!  Thank you Phil & Ilene Rodacy!  That is so kind of you.  The Christmas party will be Saturday, December 9^th starting at 5 PM.

Donation for Church: Paul Thompson said that we are way overdue for giving a donation to the church.  He suggested $300.00, all were in favor. 

Finances:  We owe SW Land Action Fund $70.00; do we want to increase that amount?  There was a discussion.  It was decided to give $500.00 to Southwest Land Action Fund and $500.00 to United.  All were in favor. 

New Business: 

Mark Werkmeister suggested another NM4W Rockin’ New Years at Gordy’s Hill.  He would like to get the clubs support in inviting members from other clubs.  Everybody agreed and thought it was a great idea.  Mark will place it on the calendar.

Lloyd Swartz let everybody know that the Cibola National Forest is having a meeting on Nov 12 about travel management.  He believes there will be 6-8 meetings over the months.  Please let him know if you have any trails that you think he needs to know about.

Mark Wolf has a points sheet.  Check it to make sure everything is correct. 

Wolfie asked Sue to stand up and everybody gave her a big round of applause for always making sure we have a meeting room for our winter meetings!  Thanks Sue!

Leon thanked everybody for all the help with the baby girls.  He had hoped to have the raffle tickets for Chile Challenge.  He will have tickets at the next meeting.  Feb, 21 - 24 is the Chile Challenge.  Buy some tickets next meeting!

Thank you to Paul and Mary for hosting the meeting.  It was such a nice set-up with a Halloween theme!  

Meeting adjourned at 8:13 PM.

Next Month’s Hosts:  Mark & Joan Wolf

Another month and another blurb from your friendly president – Woo! Hoo!  So many things come to mind through the month; and right now… not so many.

Let’s see….The Holidays are right around the corner.  This can be a very busy time for us all.  And the Santa Fe Forest has tentative dates for November for the next set of meetings.  Again they will be held in each district, so there are many meeting for us to try to attend.  Yet, then again we can think of it as many opportunities to earn points to get the Desert Rat gift certificate next summer.  As I write this, the first Cibola meeting will be tomorrow night (26 Oct).  Keep checking the web sites and see if there is anything that you can do to help.

There have been a couple of changes since the last meeting and more details will be provided at the next meeting.  One is that Bob Telepak has agreed to volunteer for a “liaison” team to represent the 4-wheelers interest in the Cibola National Forests, and I volunteered to assist him.  And another is that the Governor of Utah has repealed the Bush ruling on the Roadless Act (actually, I should have reread the emails before I wrote anything on these topics – so, I do apologize if I’m off some).  I took both of these as really good things – maybe small – but anything positive on keeping trails open is really good at this point.

Back to the Holidays….  I would like to give out a huge THANK YOU to Phil and Ilene for volunteering their home again for the Christmas party!!!!  Such a brave couple!!!  Also a big THANKS to Justin, we just read his email saying that he was volunteering to lead the Christmas Tree run.  If you need a tree – don’t miss this run!!!!!  I need to remember to mention the gift exchange at the meeting and I would appreciate it if someone could organize it this year. 

That’s all for now – more blurbs to be in next month’s news letter.

Friday evening, October 6^th saw some only two vehicles arrive for the assault on the Caballo Mountain trail near Truth or Consequences.  Joan and I arrived about 4:30 PM and found that the restrooms at the front of the park were closed (bad decision on the park’s part!) and that’s why so many unused spaces were located at that location in the park.  Before we could get into a space, Glenn and Jan pulled in.  We chatted about the limited space and decided we would park in one of those shared spaces, only away from each other by one space.  That was all that was left!  The place was full!

The weather wasn’t too bad that night (a little rain overnight) and it was actually a beautiful morning.  Jerry & Mary Moran had sent me an e-mail earlier in the week and asked how long it would take to get there.  I told them two hours, but arriving after a two-and-one-half hour drive, I realized I had misled them.  Joe Wilson also said he would be either going on Friday evening or Saturday morning.  Not long after we got up and started getting things ready did Joe and his daughter Chelsea arrived up in his TJ with a new long arm kit installed and ready to go!  Joe had been here before and knew how much time he needed to get there on time.  We finally pulled up to the entrance of the campground and waited for Jerry & Mary to come along.  They got there a little before 9:00 and we immediately headed out for the other side of the dam to air down the tires.

We headed out in a westerly direction and then turned south to get to the road that leads around to the other side of the dam.  It took us about 30 minutes to meander through fields of bright red chile peppers, onions, and cotton to reach the other side.  Once there, we all stopped and aired down our tires for the day ahead.  Glenn would take the rear and be our “Tail End Charlie” this trip.

We got to the trailhead without a mishap or getting lost.  Once we turned on to the easterly roadway, you could tell the wash had run significantly during the rainy summer season, but the ranchers had graded it nicely and it was almost smooth!  We headed off to the east to get to the trail head, which is about 3 miles from the dam.  Once we reached it, we all turned left and headed to the northeast, following along the trail.  The trail meanders through the desert until it finally dumps into a wash and continues to the northeast.  This wash was deeper than in the past and the roadway was a little hard to identify.  But, thanks to Glenn’s new, fancy GPS unit, we knew the trail was farther east than I thought.  Once you reach the spot where it turns out of the wash, there’s an immediate washed out part of the trail that causes some air under the tires and heavy leaning to the right side.  You can’t roll over here as the bank is too tall on the bottom side preventing you from having a bad day.  I could tell no one had been up this trail since the rains, as there were no tracks whatsoever.

We shortly reached the canyon bottom and started the drive up.  Glenn tried and conquered the difficult option and he was very proud of himself.  That is the first time he has tried a difficult option and went through it without a scratch or bent a something-or-other!  We continued the trail along the canyon bottom.  I noticed, and especially Jerry noticed, that the rocks were well exposed as the sand had been washed away from them.  However, the first real hard spot was more difficult with the rocks preceding it than the actual hard spot.  We finally had to tug Jerry a little here as the big rocks got to his Rubicon Unlimited’s low-hanging skid plate.  But, he was actually starting to have some fun and was glad he made it.  There were several places in the wash that had large rocks exposed and a couple of them caused us to tug and jack Jerry’s LJ up to retract it from the rock gods.  It appeared at one time, just before you go up out of the wash, that he had crunched his fender flare, but it was plastic and automatically reshaped itself when it got loose from the rock.

We stopped at the first right turn again for lunch.  It seems that I always make it this far for lunch.  It was about 12:30 when we stopped.  After a brief half hour, we got going again.  The sun was pretty warm now, but not too hot.  It was a long, bumpy ride to the top of the hill.  That roadway was not graded this time and there were quite a few washouts.  But, everyone made it just fine.  We did have to stop and wait for Glenn a couple of times as he was letting Jan drive (a big mistake, now she wants to drive all the time!).

When we got to the towers, there was only a slight breeze and lots of sunshine.  We all looked around for a few minutes, helped Glenn tighten his track bar, and then got back in the Jeeps and headed towards Palomas Gap.  We turned off the main road and headed into the cow pasture, making sure to close each gate that had been closed.  Once we got to the cattle pond, we had to navigate around several cow pies.  I called out over the radio how fun it was to run through an obstacle course of cow pies and was immediately awarded with a response from the young lady in Joe’s Jeep (see Quote of the Month in this issue).  It made me laugh, as I am a farm boy at heart!

The trail was washed out in a couple of spots and once I fell into a ravine on my side!  I hate that!  Joan had only a couple of things to say (no swearing), but we made it out okay and got going again before the rest could catch us.  Well, almost anyway.  I guess Joe was forced to wait a few seconds.  Sorry for the delay!  We went along fine after that and finally got into the wash again.  It was getting to be about 3:30 PM and the clouds were in the west.  We crept through the wash, trying to straddle, drive on, or miss the boulders that had been washed out into the open.  Finally, Glenn called out that he was stuck.  Before I could get to him, he was unstuck.  Jerry once again had to manipulate the rocks with finesse as his 245 tires were the smallest of the group and they kept getting him stuck.  It came up a lightning storm and then the rain started while we were in the wash.  I hate lightning, but kept going to get out of the wash as quickly as possible.  All of a sudden, Joe called out he was stuck!  I thought, how could a guy with 35’s and a long arm kit get stuck when my Jeepster with only 33’s was going along fine?  Seems he and his daughter were looking for frogs or turtles, and he failed to pay attention!  He paid for it though, as he had to strap his long arm up so that it wouldn’t droop, and then jack up the vehicle to pile rocks underneath the tire while it was raining!  Jerry watched this and made sure he took the right line.  About a half-hour later we were at the entrance to Palomas Gap.  This “Gap” is an early stagecoach and trading route between the Rio Grande River and to the east.  It was nearly 4:30 PM and time to get off this mountain.  We continued to the canyon overlook and got out to look at the steep walls and the waterfalls that had run during the rainy season.  It is here that we actually ran into some guys that were camping there and some that were on an ATV of sorts looking around for the day.  We continued along and eventually got down off the mountain.  Glenn told us to listen carefully as he would let us know when the turn to cross the river was near.  It was along the river bottom that this appeared.  The pathway along the river bottom had been hard hit by the rains and vast parts had been washed away.  It was at one of these washouts that the turn came upon us.  Glenn told us to wait and he went to explore the river conditions and the turn.  We had looked at the river from various vantage points along the way was not sure we would be able to cross it anywhere.  Caballo Reservoir was full for the first time in a long time and the river was still running pretty well.

Glenn took only a few minutes to call us and tell us it was easy to cross and was the right way to go.  I followed his tracks easily and crossed the river and the others followed.  Once we got to the other side we hit mud as it had rained harder on this side of the river than the side we had come from.  There was this gate right in the middle of a large mud puddle.  Jan got out to open it without getting wet, but Mary would have to close it!  She cheated (or Jerry felt sorry for her) and Jerry helped her close it.  Neither got very wet though.  We were soon on the road and stopped to air up our tires.  Glenn tore a valve stem somewhere along the trail, and was slowly leaking air, so he put on the spare.  I also had a valve stem problem.  I had hit one of my chrome steel valve stems with a rock and sheared off the top part of it.  Only there was enough of it left that the air was not leaking out.  So I aired up the other three tires and decided to drive it as is.  Glenn, Jan, Joan and I all made a left turn to head back to the campground while Jerry, Mary, Chelsea and Joe turned right and headed back to Truth of Consequences and eventually home.  It was fun day and everyone had a good time.

It was funny when Mary said that my vehicle was so old, but yet had no trouble.  Jerry told her it doesn’t matter how old it is, just what kind of equipment it has.  She was convinced after this trail (a type that Jerry had been wanting to go on since he joined this club) that Jerry definitely needs a lift kit and larger tires.  I guess we can all guess what Jerry will be getting for Christmas!  Joe on the other hand was glad that he had spent the money on the long arm kit as it worked great and he had a great time as well.  My locker never worked the whole time, but I never needed it anyway.  Glenn had a great time also as he got to try something hard and made it through unscathed.  Everyone was happy!  Now that’s a great run!  Hope to see you there next year!

Hello everyone!  There is A LOT going on in the land use arena right now.  This month, I am going to focus on two of them.

The first is the RS2477 legislation that was introduced by Steve Pearce in the waning days of the past congressional session.  As I have said in previous messages, there is going to be a ton of greenie spin and backlash in the media, so it is important that we understand what is really being proposed and why.  If you have the time and inclination, I highly recommend the RS2477 website sponsored by the Utah Association of Counties (www.rs2477roads.com).  There is far more in-depth explanation and analysis there than most people probably want (or need), but there is also several shorter items that do a really good job of debunking some of the greenie myths that will be thrown around with abandon over the coming months.  Be aware that this particular site was created in the late 1990’s when there was other, but similar, legislation being proposed.  Some of the material is outdated, but none of the base concepts involving RS2477 have changed.

Here is how to get to the ‘must-read’ pieces of the website.  Go to the link above and then click on the link that talks about the index.  When you arrive at the index page, click on the link that says

“IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN...
A QUICK OVERVIEW OF THE 2477 ISSUE”

That will take you to three short links that give an excellent and concise background on RS2477.  This issue will be re-introduced when Congress comes back in January, and we must be ready to support this effort.

The 2^nd item is the Travel Management Process that is taking place on ALL FIVE National Forests in New Mexico (and every other forest in the entire country.)!  So far, our club has been focused primarily on the Santa Fe National Forest with excellent attendance at the kick-off meetings.  The next step in the travel management planning process is a series of Travel Analysis workshops.  The first four meetings are in Santa Fe on 14 Nov, Espanola on 15 Nov, Los Alamos on 16 Nov, and Cuba on 18 Nov (all dates tentative).  I will send out further details as soon as I have, and I encourage any and all of you to try to attend.  This is a long-term effort, but it is important that our enthusiasm doesn’t flag during the process. 

The Cibola National Forest is also getting ready to kickoff their Travel Management Planning process.  They are using a different approach in that they have contracted a professional ‘collaboration’ company to pilot the effort in the Sandia Ranger District.  Bob Telepak is the official invitee representing 4WD and our club, but THESE ARE PUBLIC MEETINGS and everyone is invited to attend whether you have received invitations from the Forest Service or not.  This first meeting is 26 Oct from 6:00 to 9:00 PM at the Hilton on University Blvd.  There will be others!

Mark, Your DEA…..

Members:

We received the following information from Rob Potts, Santa Fe National Forest (SFNF) Planner today.  This information is tentative, but gives an early indication of what/when they are planning.  I will continue to update you as the schedule firms up.

Mark

Wanted to give you a heads up on Travel Analysis Workshops.  As you'll probably recall, we are planning three rounds:

Round 1: ID User Need, November-December 2006 (10 meetings)
Round 2: Travel Analysis, January-February 2007 (approximately 5 meetings)
Round 3: Develop Proposed Action, March-April 2007 (approximately 5 meetings)

Have tentatively scheduled Round 1 Workshops as follows:

11/14         Santa Fe
11/15         Espanola
11/16         Los Alamos
11/18         Cuba
11/21         Pecos

Dates for workshops in Las Vegas, Mora, ABQ, Jemez and Coyote TBD - probably the weeks of December 4 and 11.  Additional details to follow soon. Communication package is almost ready to go - will include press release, flyers, mailings, and web site.  When logistics are finalized would appreciate your help in spreading the word.

While leading the Caballo run, Wolfie had just negotiated a cow pasture and told the group, “That there was an obstacle course of cowpies.”  Chelsea Wilson, age 12, exclaimed over the CB “I didn’t need to know that!”

Aluminum Cans: Our club saves and recycles aluminum cans.  Money from the sale of cans goes into our club treasury.  Please bring your crushed aluminum cans to each meeting, and somebody will take them to the recycling center.

To Our Guests: If you attend a club meeting or event and provide us with your e-mail address, you will be added to our guest e-mail list, and will receive monthly notifications of when the Trail Tales newsletter is posted on our Club web site.  If you are interested in becoming a member of the New Mexico 4-Wheelers, please contact one of our officers for membership requirements, or visit our web site at www.nm4w.org/join-the-club.htm.

Trail Tales on the Web Site: In a continuing effort help save natural resources and to control costs, you are encouraged to read the Trail Tales newsletter on the Club Web Site in lieu of receiving a hard copy in the mail.  Around the first of each month, the current issue of Trail Tales is posted at www.nm4w.org/newsletters.htm and an e-mail notification is sent to all club members.  In addition, a minimum of 2 years of back issues of our newsletter is also available on the web site.  So if you want to help “save some trees”, please send an e-mail to TrailTales@nm4w.org stating that you do not need to receive the hard copy of the newsletter.  Thanks for your participation in this program.

Submission Due Date: The Trail Tales is published on the first of each month.  Submissions for each issue must be received by the Editor not later than the 25^th of the prior month.  Submissions can be sent to TrailTales@nm4w.org, or Trail Tales, 11404 Oceola Rd SE, Albuquerque, NM 87123.

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Trail Tales
11404 Oceola Rd SE
Albuquerque, NM 87123

TrailTales@nm4w.org