Wade arrived and camped out on Friday evening. Brandon and Peter caravanned to the park Sat morning arriving around 9:00 am or so and went directly to the Sycamore camp group to reserve a spot for the BBQ later that afternoon. John and Eli were the next to arrive at the Sycamore campground around 9:30. We off loaded the rigs and BBQ gear and then headed over the obstacle course. We met up with Mike P., Chris Thompson and kids and Wade at 9:50 am or so. I handed out garbage bags to those that needed them and we decided on where to go first. Off to the base of truck hill we went, picking up trash along the way.
Once we got there we spreaded ourselves out and begun picking up trash. We even picked up a few frame sections of that old yellow Toyota that has been between the base of truck hill and the main road going towards the top of the park as long as I can remember. From here we started to head towards the top of the park but did end up getting split into two groups. One group went to the top of the park and picked up trash. The second group concentrated on the Jungle and surrounding areas. About 2:00 pm folks had their fill as it was really starting to get hot, we had filled the back of Chris’s full size truck with trash as well as had collected around 7 bags of recyclables. Not to mention Chris had other obligations and needed to get going.
So we decided to call it a day as far as the clean up, meeting back at the obstacle coarse to consolidate the trash to be dropped off at the range station and figure out what to do next. When we all got together there were some new faces that had not been there in the morning and it was great to see more folks had made it to help out. We decided to split into two groups again. One group was going to go run the tank trap and the second would go hang out at the sycamore camp ground waiting for the food to be cooked / served. Chris T with the help of Peter took and dropped off the trash at the dumpster by the ranger station. Chris then headed home and Peter came back to the BBQ.
Wade decided to call it a day and head home early as well. Brandon, John, Rick, Paul and Brian all went to run tank trap and we decided that they would be back at camp for the BBQ around 3:45 – 4:00. Heidi and I went back to camp to start the BBQ. At this time I realized most of the food I brought was locked in John’s truck. Mike volunteered to go get the keys from John so we could proceed with the BBQ. I cooked up some sirloin cheeseburgers and started the Ballpark hotdogs and then Heidi graciously took over cooking the hotdogs.
Heidi also made some killer homemade potato salad for everyone. Peter heated up some Bushes baked beans. During this time Mick and his son arrived as they were planning on camping Sat night and wheeling it up on Sun. I also brought some napkins, paper plates, plastic forks and spoons, chips, water, soda and a 6 pack of beer. John S brought another (3) 6 packs of beer. Peter Also brought paper plates, napkins and plastic forks / spoons. Anyway, around 4:00 pm those at the BBQ began to eat. Those who ran tank trap made it back to the BBQ shortly after 5. The delay was due to traffic, breakage and one roll over. We all hung out and talked about this and that, enjoying some good BBQ in great company. At this time folks started to take off for home as they were ready. I was the second to last to leave at 6:20 pm leaving Brandon and Heidi getting ready to leave as well.
I would like to thank you to everyone who made this clean up such a great success. We had a much greater turn out then I was thinking we would and it put a huge smile on my face. “Thank you”
I also wanted to mention that there was some left over food. I spoke to Rick about options on what to do with it and we agreed to give it to anyone who could use it. Brandon and Heidi took the remaining un-cooked package of hamburgers, buns and condiments to the homeless shelter in Santa Cruz and they were very happy for the donation. Thank you Brandon and Heidi for your thoughtfulness and making that happen. What a great idea!
