April 3, 2004 - Annihilator Cleanup

The cleanup goals were to scrub the rocks of spilled fluids, replace the warning sign that told people to not use the bypass and to unstack the two major waterfalls.  The trail is restored to a true 5.0 rating, so please do not attempt it unless you meet the requirements in my trail rating.  Also, the second waterfall will most likely require a winch if you have tires smaller than 40's.  If your group needs a winch point, have one person go into the trail from the exit (it's short) to be a winch anchor. 

(Click for larger images)

The before and after picture of the 2nd waterfall.  This obstacle is much tougher than the first.

It took a good 4 hours to clear all the rocks out.  We made a line of people and just passed them along.  When we got down to the really big ones we tried moving them with pry bars and brute force but that only worked up to a point.  I eventually drove my rig down the 2nd waterfall and we used the winch to pull the two largest rocks back out of the chute. If we would have left them in there they would have trapped sediments.  As it was I would guess this obstacle had collected close to 3 feet of dirt due to all the rock stacking.  Once the rocks were moved we applied a layer of peetsorb to the dirt.  This product is designed to trap oil and hold it.

Now I had to get back out of the trail. Notice how this obstacle now swallows my 37's?  

I eventually had to pull the winch cable, the mud and rain made traction non-existent.  As you can see in the second picture I drug my frame, links and driveshaft on the way up.  

The first waterfall was also in very sad shape after months of rock stacking.  It used to be hard just getting up to the main climb but now it is flat.  When we were done the two 3 foot ledges in the middle of the chute were restored.

We also replaced the sign warning people to not use the illegal bypass that is off to the left.