Message from WMOTA President

I received a call from Lorna McNeil-Cox at the Forest Service this afternoon. She called to let me know that the forest is now closed to parties of more that 10. Ten people, not ten machines. She wasn’t sure, but she expects this will be a restriction applied to all forests. Obviously, this will impact WMOTA’s activities going forward. She expects this closure will be through at least the end of April. I don’t think anyone would be surprised it may last longer.

Barring some miracle, I think it is safe to assume there will be no club activities (meeting or rides) at least through the end of April. Obviously, our activities as a club are recreational; therefore, non essential. There could be some trail clearing work, but we will restrict this to parities of 10 or less. When I know something I’ll make every effort to let you know. Meanwhile be safe.

CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!

April 18th, 2020 9:30 AM

Ride to Trappers in Taylor

Date of Ride is Saturday April 18th 2020.  Ride leaves at 9:30 AM.  Weather Permitting

 Bring water, snacks and clothing layers for weather conditions.

Starting location is the intersection of Burton Road and Lone Pine Dam Road.   Lone Pine Dam Road can be accessed from either highway 77 (just south of the Transfer Station) or highway 260 west of Show Low.  There is a large parking area at this intersection.

Total ride length is about 45 miles.

Destination is Trappers in Taylor where we will have lunch at approximately 12:30.

We will return to the starting point at approximately 3:00 PM.

Please reply to this email if you are going on this ride so we can give a number to the restaurant.

For questions your Ride leaders are: Karen and Jerry Smith                    480-225-0658

It’s time to start planning for the Yuma Desert Ride.  This year’s ride is scheduled for the first week of February.  The 3rd through the 7th.    We will ride three days, Feb 4, 5 & 6.   The third and seventh will be travel days.  The rides will be a combination of easy desert roads to steep rocky climbs. But nothing technical.  One major change from last year is that the state trust land where the boondocking area was has been changed to a day use only.  NO BOONDOCKING ALLOWED.  We (Dave & Penney – Bill & Cathy) can accommodate a limited number of campers on our properties so let us know when you sign up if you would be bringing your RV.  We will try to provide a space. There are many RV parks in the area as well as hotels.  It’s advisable to get reservation early especially for hotel rooms There are a limited number of spaces for this event, so don’t delay responding to this e-mail.  It’s first come, first serve.  To indicate you wish to join this Yuma trip, please e-mail to the following addresses and let us know how many machines and persons and whether you will need RV parking at one of the trip’s hosts. Batt2Yak@gmail.com; wmeinheit46@yahoo.com; president@wmota.org If you have additional questions call Dave Bachmann. 509-969-8629 We look forward to another fun week in the desert 🌵 🌵 🌵  Jack R. Dyer                                     908 Dreamy DrawShow Low, AZ 85901908.672.4553

From Jack:

I failed to provide a time in the e-mail about the Club’s October ride.  So, it’s 10:00 am.  There will be coffee and donuts before ride.

Directions – From the intersection of US-60 (West Deuce of Clubs) and AZ-260 (S Clark Road)

Go west on AZ-260 for ≈ 31.9 miles

Turn left (south) on FS-51

FS-51 is just about 200’ past Church Lane on the right where the First Southern Baptist Church is located. 

Go 1 mile on FS-51.

The ride staging area is there on the left.

No one indicated they planned to camp, but there are several places to camp along FS-51.  The staging area could accommodate 2-3 campers.  At this point the forecast daytime high should approach 70° with sunny skies and winds about 15 mph.  The early morning low will be near 40°.  If you planned to camp, we suggest you call either Paul 928.240.0427 or me 908.672.4553 to discuss your camping location options.

The ride will be about 40 miles total to Black Canon Lake and back.  We will have lunch at the lake.

Also, we’ve received notice of Ed Collins retirement party.  Some of you have worked with Ed over the years and may wish to attend.  Here’s the notice,  Check the attached file for more information on Ed’s retirement party.

Please plan on joining the retirement party honoring Ed Collins for the many years of service to the Lakeside Ranger District and Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests. 

RSVP should be directed to the Lakeside Ranger District (928)368-2100.

Thank you – Dustie

Flyer sent under bcc: to fs-pdl r3 apachesitgreaves all

The Club’s October ride is Saturday, October 19th.  The ride will stage from FS 51 near HeberOverguard.  It’s about a 40 mile ride to Black Canyon Lake for lunch and back.  We’ll get exact directions out before the ride and put up the Club signs.   We’re looking at two camp areas, both on FS 51.

Of course, in October the question is always to camp or not to camp and the decision is usually weather dependent.  For what it’s worth the long range forecast is calling for day-time highs in the high 60s and early morning lows in the high 30s with clear skies. 

There is a pre-ride on Tuesday, October 15th leaving from the FS 51 staging area at 10:00 am.  Again, more explicit directions will be forth coming.

And don’t forget the Club’s meeting is this Thursday, October 10th and the Show Low Cafe, 5:00 pm for dinner and socializing and 6:00 pm for the meeting.

Dear Members:

We found out late last week that the understanding we had about preserving the dispersed campsites located more than 300 ft from a road was not correct. The forest service plans to close the “user created access roads” to them for motorized travel. Simply stated this would prevent any campers from towing a trailer or driving a motor home to these camp sites, even tent campers who wanted to access them with a car or truck will be prohibited from driving into these sites.  We have suggested these “user created roads” be added to the motorized travel plan, but we need your help. The Forest Service has stated clearly that the more comments it receives, the more weight the input will have.  We urge you to comment yourself in you own words or simply use the comment provided here, but please comment.  Couples should comment independently.  It’s a numbers game and more is better. 

It is my understanding that the Forest Service plans to close the “user created access roads” to camp sites in the forest that are more than 300’ from a road.  This would effectively close these camp sites to anyone using a motor home or trailer for camping.  There has been no survey, but my observation suggests that 9 out of 10 or more of the campers in the forest are using a motor home or trailer.  It would also make it difficult for even tent campers to access these sites, since they would have to pack all their gear, food and water into the site.  Can you imagine a young family packing the necessities for a week camping into one of these sites?  Again, there has been no survey of sites 300’ or more from a road but most sites are more than 300’ from the road.  Who wants to camp next to the road with the traffic and dust?  These campsites have been used for years and even generations and the user created roads to these sites should remain open for all users.  Not including these “user created access roads” will effectively close many of the camping areas in the Forest.  While the environmentalist back east may be delighted with this, I find it incredulous the Forest Service apparently believes, that effectively closing all these sites is an acceptable outcome to the vast majority of the users of the Forest.

Here is the link: https://cara.ecosystem-management.org/Public//CommentInput?Project=22692

This issue effects anyone that camps in the Forest, not just OHV riders.  I urge you to forward this e-mail to persons you many know that do camp in the forest, or are otherwise interested in this issue, and ask them to add a comment also.  Again, more is better.

There may be other issues you or we may find by reading Alternative #2 and looking at the Interactive Comment Map. For example, we have heard the plan reflects a long stretch of the 300 road to be closed(why), it provides for some 50 inch or less trails(why) and the Maverick Trail and the Saffel Canyon Trail, both dedicated trails, are hard to see on the maps(why not highlight them, they cost thousands of dollars of OHV sticker fund money and hundreds of hours to install and maintain). Check these and others issues out on this link: http://www.fs.usda.gov/goto/TMPCommentMap Also, if any of you are having trouble using the Comment form to submit your ride tracks, you may send them attached to an email to:   asnftravel@fs.fed.us   as an alternative, however you need to send in a comment that you have done so