by Adam Mehlberg

The May 19th Gillespie Gulch Signing Project attracted eleven volunteers. This year we would complete last years attempt at signing Gillespie Gulch, FDR331 and Walker Mountain FDR 509.

We left Longmont just after 10:00am and made it to the gate on 102J at Gold Lake Ranch by just before 11:00am. where we met John Oppenlander of the Boulder Ranger District. Our signs at the first wetland area were still in place and in good condition. We continued on looking for trash and old fire rings to break up. Since the closure of 102J at Jamestown and Gold Lake, usage of the road has been low. You can still drive on the section of road along the ridge top, but access is via Gillespie Gulch, or the Rock on Walker Mountain / Nugget Hill.

At the intersection of 102J and FDR509 we began installing carsonit signs with correct road numbers. We continued from the intersection to a side road that has three camping areas that we cleaned up. Since we were in a nice location we stopped for lunch.

After lunch we signed the rest of FDR509 to the intersection with FDR331 where John Oppenlander and a few others headed back to Gold Lake. Eric Steenburn, Shawn Bery, Bill Boitano, Gordon Howe and I headed on down to the saddle below Nugget hill to finish the signing for that leg of FDR509. We then backtracked to Gillespie Gulch and headed down through the rock shut. At the old mine be met two vehicles coming up. We pulled into the mine and let them go by.

Further down we placed signs at the two roads that leave Gillespie and head up to Owens Flat. We also put a sign up at the Forest Service boundary. We hope to be doing more signing of 4WD roads on the Boulder District in the future to help insure continued public access.