Hi everyone! I wasn't sure if I should post this here or under the general section, but I figured it is an event so here it is. I just got an email from my friend Tim who organized the AMAZING clean-up at Four Peaks last year....well he has decided to do it again!!! For those of you not familiar with this event I will tell you a little about it. Tim is an avid outdoorsy kind of guy: hiking, mountain biking, dirt bikes, and 4wd exploring. Last year he and his girlfriend jumped in their 4runner and headed out to spend the day at Four Peaks driving around and enjoying the day. By the time he left he was so disgusted with the condition of the area he just had to do something about it. So he organized the clean up.
From last year: Over 250 people from all walks of life came together on February 9th 2008 to clean up a high use, off highway area near Phoenix, AZ. More than 7 tons of trash were picked up and 30 clubs represented.
The idea to do something about the mess came to a group of local outdoor enthusiasts recently. The Four Peaks area, north east of Phoenix, is a beautiful natural area that hosts all sorts outdoor lovers. The sight of burnt out cars, water heaters, TV’s and computers in addition to loads of smaller trash prompted them to act.
Groups from all walks of life were contacted and the response was nothing short of amazing! Clubs, companies, online forums and enthusiasts offered their support to make a difference. Included in the volunteers were groups of responsible four wheelers, shooters, hunters, hikers, mountain bikers, dirt bikers, and general outdoor enthusiasts. The day started out with over 250 volunteers signing in and heading out to one of 10 pre-mapped targeted clean up areas with trash bags in hand and trailers in tow. The support kept pouring in all day! There were even a few Harley’s and Mercedes that made the trek out the dirt road to the clean-up! The dumpsters were filled and a large pile of trash began to form at the clean up headquarters.
After hours of filling bags, loading up trailers, and meeting great people the volunteers headed back to the pickup headquarters for burgers donated by Border Construction Specialties.
Not long after, the give away commenced. An impressive array of prizes from concerned companies were handed out including items from: Racer Offroad, The Good Gun Foundation, SDHQ Offroad, Total Chaos Fabrication, Icon Vehicle Dynamics, Overland Journal, Overland Video, and Sierra Expeditions.
The Forest service was able to donate the use of dumpsters for the event and even provided trash bags! Also, several Maricopa County Sheriff Officers were in attendance to participate as well. The Maricopa Sheriff sponsored rock buggy, built by Hunter Offroad, was a huge hit with the crowds and everyone appreciated them being there to keep it safe and fun!
So...lets do it again this year!! Tim is already working hard to get more donations for the raffle this year and for supplies for the event and hopefully to feed everyone again!! This really is an amazing feat, and anyone who has been out to Four Peaks knows how busy and trashed it can get....not only that but this is the only local event I know of where EVERYONE from the outdoor community gets together to help our environment without pointing fingers. We all have a common goal and that is to help maintain our environment we all enjoy.
So if you only go to one clean-up event this year, it should be THIS ONE!!!! Saturday February 7th!
I know I can't link to any outside sources here but there is a blogspot page that will have updates on the event, eventually with maps and more info. Just google Four Peaks Pickup. Thanks and I hope to see a ton of HikeAZ members out there!!
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Last edited by Weezerbot on Dec 17 2008 7:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I'm guessing most of this cleanup is focused towards the Rolls area where there's alot of off roading? I would love to participate in this as I almost wanted to cry when me and my buddy were out there 4 digging around.......so much trash. Glad to see last year had such a good turnout for you guys and hopefully it will be even bigger this time around : ) I am totally committed for this one though....I always try and do my own part to pack out trash I see on trails and would love to participate in this massive cleanup. Would be nice too if we could organize something like this later down the road for the more popular trails in the Supes.
Fantastic! Last year we had 12 clean-up sites mostly along Cline Cabin to the east and across the Beeline on 402...of course the more people we get the more area we can cover. We too always end up bringing more trash out of areas than what we bring in whether its when we hike, camp or off-road. It is truly disgusting how people treat these areas and don't even think about what they are doing.
Another great site I just found out about at the Trails meeting last week was outdoorvolunteer org Fantastic way to organize clean-ups here in Arizona or to volunteer for one! This may be one place to organize that clean up in the Superstitions you mentioned, and please keep me posted on that I'd be more than happy to help!
the Te-wa will be there representin' :PMIC:
c'mon guys, this is something we all need to be a part of. I wanna see some of you guys from Tucson come up and enjoy our only Sky Island.
Four Peaks Rocks! lets do this!
I've updated the first post with the new map of the meeting area...and we will actually have dumpsters donated to us this year, rather than piling it up and waiting for the forest service to take it away like last year....which they did....eventually....after half the trash had already blown back into the area......
I will most likely be there. I also know Tim pretty well from the local Toyota 4Runner club. I was unable to attend last time, so I will be working twice as hard this time to make up for it!
*****Dirt4Dinner***** - I like anything fast enough to do something stupid on.
Dirt4dinner wrote:I will most likely be there. I also know Tim pretty well from the local Toyota 4Runner club. I was unable to attend last time, so I will be working twice as hard this time to make up for it!
There is a local 4runner club? Do tell, cause I just picked one up!
TTORA has an Arizona Chapter that is pretty active. I have also had a lot of fun with the local FJ Club. AZ FJ is the website that I can't link to. They are both great groups, the TTORA club usually has more extreme trips that my 4Runner can't do, but the FJ club seems to do intermediate stuff that makes me scared, but doesn't hurt my ride.
*****Dirt4Dinner***** - I like anything fast enough to do something stupid on.
Dirt4dinner wrote:TTORA has an Arizona Chapter that is pretty active. I have also had a lot of fun with the local FJ Club. AZ FJ is the website that I can't link to. They are both great groups, the TTORA club usually has more extreme trips that my 4Runner can't do, but the FJ club seems to do intermediate stuff that makes me scared, but doesn't hurt my ride.
Ya I know about AZFJ...I run the website ;)
I didn't realize TTORA was that active, the last time I went to the website it looked kind of dead. Thanks for the info!
Sorry that I have to beg off as I will be freezing in St Louis and IL that weekend. : rein : I wasn't sure if there was going to be a conference I would be going to... and there is.
For me, sometimes it's just as much about the journey as the destination. Oh, and once in awhile, don't forget to look back at the trail you've traveled.
If you want, Weezer, we can send information on this to the members of our backpacking club - you might get some interest. Could you send me a copy of the information so I can be sure to get it right?
----------------------------------- Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.- Barack Obama
Hi Writes, sorry just now getting this message. The only info I have is what I have posted at the top of this thread. I am not the organizer by any means just trying to spread the word to all the forms I am on. There is a website out there but since we aren't allowed to do outside linking I guess I can't really pass that on.
Some of us are camping at the parking area Friday night so we can be there to set up in the morning and start right at 9. All are welcome to join us!
Hike Arizona it is full of sharp, pointy, ankle-twisting, HAZmaster crushing ROCKS!!
Hike Arizona it is full of sharp, pointy, shin-stabbing, skin-shredding plants!
Hike Arizona it is full of striking, biting, stabbing, venomous wildlife!
I didn't see any cars but at least several mattress bed spring structures. Lot's of metal crap about, I guess it adds up fast enough. Probably at least 5 tons of that is shotgun shells and bullet casings. So to those that say people are responsible in shooting their weapons
Hike Arizona it is full of sharp, pointy, ankle-twisting, HAZmaster crushing ROCKS!!
Hike Arizona it is full of sharp, pointy, shin-stabbing, skin-shredding plants!
Hike Arizona it is full of striking, biting, stabbing, venomous wildlife!
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They are both great groups, the TTORA club usually has more extreme trips that my 4Runner can't do, but the FJ club seems to do intermediate stuff that makes me scared, but doesn't hurt my ride.
