Darrington WA Pit Clean up June 5th

[Highland Lofts]

To the guys in Western Wan I am organizing a pit clean up at the Darrington Pit (435th Ave) on June 5th. The clean up will start around 8:30am. This is also posted on WaGuns and Northwest Firearms. Several people have already commited fo the clean up.
Some of us will be camping Friday June 4th at the camp spot on the Atilly river just below the pit by the bridge.
I will be taking that Friday off to get the site cleaned up and get some firewood cut up.
I will have coke, sprite & water on ice for the clean up and some budweisers on ice for aferwards.

There are two bad spots that really need picked up.

This garbage is at the pit.


This stuff is on the way into the pit.

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

Good for you! I hope you get some turn-out for this.

We have begun to take two big Rubbermaid bins out with us and contractor's bags each time we shoot in the desert. The amount of other shooters' crap we bring back is unsettling.

The abject disrespect shown to the shooting areas BY SHOOTERS reminds me of living in California.

Todd.

 

[Gridley]

I put it on my calendar - may not make it but I'll try to.

 

[Highland Lofts]

Thank you Gridley.
Apache
It is amazing all of the stuff people bring and leave
You just have to keep at it and try to stay ahead of them
Every year some one will dump a load of tires up there.

 

[Gridley]

Just realized I was thinking of the wrong pit - though I'll try to show up anyway.
This is the one off Swede Heaven Road? Never been there.

 

[George P]

Some humans are just plain slobs. I saw a lot of that same crap when I lived in Carson City. Folks not wanting to pay the dump (on the other side of the mountain) would bring TV sets and whatnot and shoot them up scattering trash and glass all over the place. Boy Scouts earned merit badges for cleaning things up.

 

[Highland Lofts]

Just realized I was thinking of the wrong pit - though I'll try to show up anyway.
This is the one off Swede Heaven Road? Never been there.

Gridley it is the pit off of Sweede Haven Road.
In don't know how the number location works but I think this is the right cordnance.
48.283528, -121.651361

GeargeP
Where ever you have a place out in the woods where people do things you will have garbage. There is a place about five miles from the shooting pit where they ride quads & motow cycles that is littered really bad with trash and lots of cars.
I contacted one of the two DNR Law Enforcement Officer for our region about our clean up and about hauling the cars away. He gave me where to contact to get the paper work needed to scrap all of these junk cars.
Our scrap yards here in Washington State can not except scrap cars with out a clean title or state approved junk vehicle paper work.
Which will take several contacts to get. Once the paper work has been obtained it will take a month or two of weekends to haul these to the bone yard.

 

[gobsauce]

I've thought about doing this at the wall. If not cleaning, making signs that lead people in a safe direction there. Or maybe even fill in the pot holes.

 

[Highland Lofts]

I have been cleaning up at this pit for a few years andit never stops. No matter how much you pick up there will be more on the next trip up there next weekend.
Last Sunday was the first time hauling out gravel to fill in the pot holes. I will be doing this every trip up there from now on.

I will be listing some brass to sell to help cover the cost of dumping the trash at the transfer station.

 

[milsurpguy]

Me and another guy have been cleaning up a shooting pit here in new mexico. Picked up thousands of good 223 and 9mm cases.

If a scrap yard won't accept an abandoned junk vehicle, you just need to cut it up into smaller peices.

 

[Highland Lofts]

If I had the use of a backhoe or a bobcat to load the pieces up that is what I would be doing.

 

[illinoisburt]

If a scrap yard won't accept an abandoned junk vehicle, you just need to cut it up into smaller peices.

I enjoy doing car restorations. Abandoned/no title cars are sketchy. Someone still owns it and most states have strong laws protecting the property rights on vehicles. Public land where police can ticket the car and put a tow sticker on it will let you move them. Private property it's a big hassle that can find yourself in bad places, especially if you start taking parts off or try to sell it. I'd recommend sticking with the paperwork hassle.

 

[Highland Lofts]

I will go through the hassle on getting the proper paperwork.
The DNR Law Enforcement Officer I talked to said most of the cars are not stollen
People legally buy them and either drive them until.they die or they buy them for parts, strip them, haul them.out to the woods and abandon them because they never transferred the title over to them and that leaves the bullship on the person who sold the car.

It is just a hoop that has to be hopped.

 

[Highland Lofts]

Any other people interested in attending the clean up on June 5th at 9am?
A few of us well be camping the night before on the Stilly River a 1/2 mile below the pit. I will be at the pit by noon on Friday.
Will cut firewood and set the camp up around 3pm.

 

[Highland Lofts]

We will be cleaning up two shooting pits of the 5th, the 435th Ave Pit and the small pit on the Suiattle River Road.
Both clean up will start at 9am.we will be splitting the clean up crew in to two teams. The Suiattle River road pit needs a lot of trash picked up and will need more help anf atleast two trucks if not three trucks.

 

[Highland Lofts]

This is shaping up nice. Some of the guys will be camping just below the 435th pit next Friday. We should have enought guys there to clean up the 435th pit.
We will need everyone else to show up at the two shooing pits on the Suaittle River Road.
We will have a tractor with a front end loader and a dump trailer at these pits for loading trash. Both of these pieces of equipment are on load from two members on the HuntWa Forum.
A big thank you to these two guys.

The clean up starts at 9am but there will be a coupke of guys there early to secure the pits and get a early start on the clean up.
We will have coke, sprite & bottled water on ice for you guys.
After the clean up we will be hosting a BBQ at the big pit on the Suaittle River Road.
We will have some Buds on ice at the BBQ.
We will also have a fun shoit at the Big pit after the BBQ.
For pistol we will set eggs up at thirty yards. One shot off hand. Who ever hits an egg gets $10

For rifle we will set eggs at a hundred yardsn one shot off hand. Who ever hits an egg gets $10.

For shotgun we will shoot clay pigeons. Keep shooting until you miss. Who ever shoots the most clay pigeons gets $10.

We will have some donated items to be given away at the BBQ. We will give out raffle tickets at the BBQ and then call the numbers out.
If you have anything to donate please bring it with you to the clean up.

To get to the pit take 530 into Darrington. Right in twon at the stop sign take a left towards Rockport. Go 8 miles and the road will run parralel with the Sauk River and it takes a hard right curve and crosses a steel deck bridge over the river then the road takes a sharp left curve.
Right after crossing the river the Suaittle River Road cuts off on the right. Take that right and the small pit is half a mile up the Suaittle River Road on the right.
Go another mile and the big pit is on the right and has a yellow gate.

I met one of the clean up guys yesterday and we took a ride to the 435th pit. On the way out we stoped and loaded up most of a cut up fiberglass boat. Didn't have enough room for all of it. We will pick the rest up next Saturday durring our clean up.
It weighed .43 tons and cost $47 to dump it at the Arlington transfer station.




This is what we didn't have room on the truck for plus a tree fell on a pice of the boat. Saturday I will take my chain saw and cut the tree off of the fiberglass panel so we can grab that too.

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

Holy COW!

Our clean ups.... even back in the days of the Angeles National Forest areas above L.A. - never amounted to anything like that.

Looks like you busted up a squatters' camp.


Good work.

Todd.

 

[Highland Lofts]

I think tweekers were living at this spot. There was a couple of big black contruction garbage bags we filled up with the rubber they striped off of copper wireing and there was about ten tarps mixed in with the other trash.

 

[troy fairweather]

We cleaned up a sand pit about 12 years ago, was a great party spot. We were some of the few that didn't make a mess, tho the farmer really didn't mind so long as didn't drive in the planted fields. Was a great spot about a 1/4 mile round bowl of sad, walls were a good 100 feet high only a good 4x4 could get in or out. Had a nice 2-3 acre pond at the bottom and was like a sandy beach all the way a round.

That big clean up I think we brought over 60 tons of scrap between the 10-12 trucks and trailers that weekend, maybe had 50-75 people helping. There were many burned cars old trailers all kinds of junk. We collected all the money made from scrap, which was a lot since even light iron was like $250 a ton back then. Forget the about but the farmer had enuff for the taxes that year.

sadly the farmer died 3-4 years ago, his family got it and sold the farm and sand pit. About 1500 acres from what I remember.

 

[Highland Lofts]

Cogs contacted the DNR today and they will be putting a combination lock on the gate to the big pit on the Suaittle River Road and give us the numbers so we can get the trucks & dump trailers and tractor with the loader in the pit for the clean up.

If any one from the Everett area is coming to the clean up we will need a few more clean up magnets from Harbor Freight. I bought the last one they had at the Harbor Freight in Mt Vernon today and the Marysville Harbor Freight does not have any.
If any one can pick them up please send me a PM.

 

[Highland Lofts]

I picked up the four magnets from the Everett Harbor Freight after work today.
Tomorrow I will pick up a couple of boxes of contractor garbage bags from Lowe's.

 

[Highland Lofts]

Things are shaping up for the pit clean up. We acquired two dump trailers. One is a 6'X10'. The other is a 7'X14'.
We will load all the steel rifle & pistol cases in large 1,000 pound nylon feed bags. And load them on the 6'X10' trailer. We were going to have to take them to the transfer station, but I found an outlet for them so we will not have to pay to dump them.
Scuffy went to the small pit on the Suaittle River Road the other morning right after work and raked up a bunch of trash with his tractor. He said that that will fill the big trailer up. So we can load that early and get to the transfer station by 9am, dump it and get right back for another load.

Four people will be coming to Darrington mid afternoon tomorrow and will be camping up there. If any one wants to come and camp or just to come for a visit by the camp fire your all welcome.
Send me a PM and I will give directions to where we will be.
The DNR guy is checking into getting the 435th Ave gate opened for Saturday.

I'd like to thank everyone who bought brass, gave donations and helped out on obtaining equipment and helping to organize this event.
We tried to make if fun for everyone who comes to help out and stay for the BBQ and fun shoot after the clean up.
Having the tractor with the front loader and dump trailers will make loading & unloading the trash so much easier.

 

[Highland Lofts]

We have the gates open and the small pit on the Suaittle River Road cleaned up. So please come to any pit tomorrow.

 

[Gridley]

Sorry I couldn't make it - hope things went well!

 

[reloaded_in_pa]

I'm opposite end of the country so I couldn't make it, but I hope it was a success. I've helped with some local range cleanups. You meet the good people and feel a little better about society. Thank you to everyone that helped.