Off-road fans to pitch in on land cleanup

BOUNTIFUL — Ellis Robinson has a Cruiser with a GM 350 V-8 engine, a model 44 front axle and a reverse cut Dana 60. He's got a 700 R H automatic transmission and a 241 transfer case, and the whole $12,000 off-road package is sitting on 35-inch Goodyear Wranglers.

The 21-year-old loves to play off-road in the foothills and rugged terrain around Utah, but on Saturday, he and dozens of off-road enthusiasts will head to the hills to help clean trash and abandoned car carcasses from public lands.

The Utah 4-Wheel Drive Association (U4WDA) and 22 member clubs are participating in events across the state at 12 sites in honor of National Public Lands Day, the nation's largest hands-on volunteer effort to improve and enhance public lands.

"We're going out there to clean up the garbage that gets left behind," Robinson said. "It shows the BLM and people like that we really do care about our trails."

In 2005, nearly 90,000 volunteers across the country worked public lands, according to a statement from the Utah 4-Wheel Drive Association.

This week, Robinson drove several miles above the Bountiful "B" up Old Ward Canyon Road to scope out the wrecked, rusted pile that was once a 1994 Nissan Pathfinder.

"We're going to torch that into pieces and pull it out," said Robinson, land-use manager for the Utah 4-Wheel Drive Association.

It's a big 4,000-pound hunk of metal now. The vehicle identification number has been scratched off, the tires are gone and the windshield was smashed out on its way to the place here where it rolled to a stop.

Nearby, in a gully below the stretch of road known as Dead Man's Curve, crashed pickups and trash litter the ground. There are mattresses and a refrigerator and car parts scattered from their crashes.

Two Utah off-road clubs will coordinate with local land managers on the removal of several abandoned cars in the Ward Canyon area. Robinson is heading up the Pathfinder project.

While he surveyed the wreck during a beautiful fall day, Robinson talked to a friend about how to get the rusted hulk out of there.

We'll chop it into pieces, he tells his friend, stick it between two roll cases, strap it down and winch it up to an I-Beam. Robinson has some sort of off-road trailer contraption just as rugged as his Cruiser, and the parts can go out the trail — over boulders and holes — on that.

"It'll be fun," he tells his friend. "It's gonna be a lot of work, but it's gonna be fun."

For more information about the Ward Canyon Pathfinder project, call Robinson at 232-4805 or Jeff Turner, 390-9018.