By Andy Murphy

On Saturday, July 14, several member clubs of the East Coast 4 Wheel Drive Association participated in an organized cleanup of xxxx Road, just outside of xxxxx, Massachusetts. The effort was led by members of New England Four Wheelers, and were joined by, among others, Andy Murphy and Rich Klein of LIOR. Here is Andy’s story. Ed. 
(Location names have been xxxx'd, at the request of local wheelers, to protect our access rights from over use. The Webmaster.)

We were split into three groups: one group cleaned up xxxx Road, including the north end of xxxx Road, one group cleaned up xxxx Street and the south end of xxxx Road, and the third group cleaned up xxxx and the xxxx in xxxx State Forest. 

The group doing xxxx Rd. took along most of the Jeeps, some with military type trailers, to work the water hole on the 4X4 trail. One of their primary assignments was to block the illegal bypasses that 4X4's have used in the past to avoid the waterhole near the north end of xxxx Road when the water is too deep. 

Working on the waterhole at the north end of xxxx Road 

Also, the road through the water was shored up and is now passable for most 4X4 type vehicles. There wasn’t so much garbage on xxxx Road; the real fun was to follow... 

On xxxx Street we started at the top of the hill with four pickup trucks and a Jeep. We sent 2 other trucks and a Jeep down to the trailhead to pick up a pile of trash we knew was dumped there. This street was a mess. It's an isolated road, skirting a hillside with a steep bank and dense foliage lining the sides; an easy place to ditch your old freezer. Yup, we got one of those out of there! Our intention was to just clear the edges of the road to about 5 feet or so out from the edge of the road, but with the steep drop-off we knew we were in for it.

Trash hauled off xxxx Street 

To make a long story short, we took out 18 tires, a freezer, lots of trash, including a torn plastic bag filled up with nasty, disgusting and well-used disposable diapers. Lots of metal and other large items, like pieces of dishwashers, signs, mattresses, couches and other yucky stuff. All this before we even reached the trailhead! For years many ‘wheelers, on entering xxxx Road, took the ditch to the left of the trailhead to enter, enjoying the challenge of making it through said ditch. For years the owner of the land around the trailhead has been griping about the 4 wheelers going across his land, tearing up his property and causing a massive erosion hazard. However, he has never really done anything but complain about it. So, being the responsible group and good neighbors that we are, seeking to establish and maintain good relations with our fellow earthlings, we blocked off the access to this by-pass about 50 yards up on the trail. If you're heading south on the trail, you'll see it's blocked off and posted. Kudos to Rick Boiros and Andy Vega for supervising this effort. At the trailhead we only defined the boundary line between xxxx Road and the edge of the private land by placing small boulders that can be moved or crossed. This is what the landowner wanted. Do not cross the line of rocks, respect land rights and stay out of the private property, please!