 On May 20th 2001 the
Trailridge Runners 4WD Club had a work project on our Adopt-A-Road,
Gillespie Gulch. This year we went in via Gold Lake. The gate for 102J
had not been locked yet, so we could enter this way and get to the site
of our first bit of work fairly quickly. The Boulder Ranger District of
the USFS had asked us to place two Wetlands Restoration signs near
wetlands that had fencing placed around them earlier. The intent of the
signs is to explain why these areas are important and the need to
protect them from vehicle traffic. After some organization, our group
stayed at the first site while the rest of the club and the Forest
Service representatives went to the other site. Our most difficult job
was sinking the holes for the sign posts. You would think that a
wetland would be easy to dig in, but we seemed to find large rocks in
each hole. After trying about a dozen test holes we found an area that
allowed us to get the required two holes a descent distance into the
ground. With the number of "construction" type people in our group we
had our sign perfectly squared and installed level to the earth in
short order.
 We
headed up to the other
site to help put the finishing touches on the work they were doing, and
then had lunch. We got both signs installed and repaired some of the
fencing that had been damaged. After splitting with the Forest Service
and a few of our stock vehicle driving members, we headed on toward
Nugget Hill and "The Rock". On our way along the ridge, before we
reached the Gillespie turn off, we found a jeeper that was in a
predicament. There was a tree across the road, and he had tried to go
around the end and had slid off the road with his back end down hill.
He had his winch hooked up, but the angle of the embankment and the
stump under his frame kept him in place.
 Darrel
Turner was in front, so he got to do the
winching. After a few attempts to find the right tree to snatch to, and
with the arrival of other vehicles from the other direction, we finally
got the right line and the extra pull to get the red Wrangler back onto
the road.
 We
continued on and made our
way to "The Rock". Three went down. Matt Meester, Richard Boddy, and
Ray Comeau. With the roughness of this obstacle now days, it has become
a test of vehicle articulation. With Ryan Boddy spotting everyone down,
all three descents were flawless. The return climb back up didn't give
our three any trouble either.
 Even
though it was getting late, we headed on to
the summit of Nugget Hill. We stopped at the top and viewed the towns
beyond the foothills. Our stay was short due to the late hour, so we
headed down to Gillespie and dropped into Jamestown.
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