DPC board treasurer Larry Klaasen is leading a cleanup of the parking area/trailhead for the popular Domelands/Wind Caves hike for the Sierra Club, in conjunction with the BLM and Border Patrol Scouts. After a morning cleaning up the parking area, the group will hike to the Domelands. The area is 2 to 2-1/2 hours east of San Diego (and just a few miles north of the community of Ocotillo). Full details below.
Visit the San Diego Sierra Club’s website for a full list of outings.
Event
Outing * — Dayhike (Medium Difficulty, 4 miles round trip, elevation gain between 500 and 1000 feet)
Title
WIND CAVES/DOMELANDS CLEAN UP & DAYHIKE.
Description
Leader: Larry Klaasen - Assistant: Pat Klaasen
The Domelands near Ocotillo are a collection of wind-sculpted caves, marine deposits, and mud hills. The trailhead parking area gets a lot of abuse. We'll work with the BLM and Border Patrol Scouts to clean up the trash in the morning. Afternoon, we'll hike to the Domelands to learn more about this unique geological area. Meet at 8:30 a.m. at the Wind Caves Trailhead. Bring lunch, water, gloves, hat, sunscreen. Sign up by telephone or e-mail.
Contact
Leader:
Larry Klaasen
lklaasen at sbcglobal dot net
619-582-7407
FALL RESTORATION OUTINGS
Participants at the 2007 National Public Lands Day cleanup of Table Mountain, organized by DPC's Larry Klaasen and BLM staff, and including DPC president Nick Ervin, third from left, and "friend of DPC" Pat Klaasen (center). Photo by Larry Klaasen. (click photo to enlarge)
Under DPC Treasurer Larry Klaasen’s leadership, DPC assisted in three restoration events in San Diego and Imperial County deserts this fall. On September 29, a group organized by Larry and BLM staff picked up a truck load of litter in the Table Mountain area. On October 13, a Sierra Club group led by Larry removed tamarisk from a spring in the Boulder Creek area near Mountain Springs and Interstate 8. And on November 3 and 4, a small group of three people (Larry, his wife Pat, and DPC communications consultant Larry Hogue) backpacked into the “Jacumba Jim” drainage in the Carrizo Wilderness to remove tamarisk.
The Jacumba Jim outing was a “mop-up” operation, following up on the work done by a much larger group of volunteers Larry K. organized in 2003. After the drive up Carrizo Wash, the benefits of the tamarisk-removal efforts in Jacumba Jim were obvious. Where the invasive trees choked out nearly every other form of vegetation in the larger wash, Jacumba Jim was nearly free of tamarisk. This meant that native palms, cottonwoods and willows could thrive in their natural environment.
Jacumba Jim really is a hidden treasure in BLM-managed wilderness adjacent to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. The outing featured a visit to an outstanding pictograph panel in Carrizo Wash, an easy scramble up a dry desert waterfall, a 5-star dinner provided by Pat, exquisite desert silence, and a star-filled sky punctuated by several meteors. Overall, the fun outweighed the work.
We hope you’ll consider joining us on the next restoration outing you see posted here.
