story and photos by Adam Mehlberg

[Note: Lefthand Canyon is north of Boulder, Colorado and west of Longmont, Colorado in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.]

The Seventh Annual Lefthand Canyon Cleanup was held on April 18th, 1999 on a sunny day (finally!). We had both great weather, and a large turnout of over 90 people to help clean up the targets, trash and spent shell casings left by irresponsible shooters at the entrance of the Lefthand 4WD road. Volunteers included members of the Northern Colorado Trail Riders, the Rocky Mountain Enduro Circuit, Trailridge Runners 4WD Club, Weld County 4WD Club, Canyon Crawlers 4WD Club, CSU Big Wheels 4WD Club, and Mile Hi Jeep Club.
This years event happened to fall in conjunction with the Trailridge Runners 4WD Club hosting the 2nd Quarterly Colorado Association of 4WD Clubs state meeting. We advertised the Cleanup as one of the Club hosted events which brought in a large showing of the 4WD clubs. With the large turnout the cleanup was well in progress by 10:00am. The usual areas were cleaned first and the "No Shooting" signs were again replaced in the lower area that is below the 4WD road. The lower illegal shooting area had less trash again this year, while the upper area was about the same. Darrel Turner brought up his Bobcat and did a few trash compacting efforts before two flat tires put the Bobcat back on the trailer.
A Scout that had been left in the gulch below "five points" attracted a few with the intend of hauling it down. As it turned out, a torch would be needed to dismantle the vehicle before it could be hauled out. An old Dodge or Plymouth four door sedan was much easier pickings and was quickly pulled out to the road to be hauled to a junk yard Monday by a friend of Eddie Householder's from the Canyon Crawlers 4 Wheel Drive Club.
John Oppenlander of the USFS Boulder Ranger District assisted with our project this year. John had an interesting time as many of the four wheelers at this event were concerned with a group of vehicles that were trying to climb a hill that cuts the first switchback on the main. John did talk to someone in the group, but without an official travel plan for the area that designates where the road system is, John couldn't do much more. (A travel plan for this area is in the works).
Once again this year the owners of the Parts Place in Fort Collins, (970)484-9243, brought their stoves, provided hot dogs and chips, and cooked all the volunteers lunch. Lee Abernathy provided drinks, Laidlaw provided the dumpster, and Honda supplied us with the trash bags. Thanks to everyone who took some of their personal time and made the public lands a lot cleaner.