This years cleanup is on FEBRUARY 7th, 2009. From 9am to 3pm!!

IT LOOKS LIKE RAIN IS POSSIBLE THIS SATURDAY. THE CLEANUP IS ON RAIN OR SHINE. :)
PLEASE COME PREPARED. Thanks!

Four Peaks Pickup on TV! Check out this link:
http://www.azfamily.com/video/geaz-index.html?nvid=329237&shu=1


Adler Publishing has ALSO supplied the cleanup effort with some signed copies of their offhighway adventure books!! Thank you!!
Funtreks in conjunction with Disabled Explorers has donated a SIGNED copy of their Arizona offroad adventure book. We'll be giving this away along with more goodies at about 3pm.

Desert Dog automotive is donating 6 free oil changes to some luck volunteers as well as some t-shirts and sweatshirts! If that wasn't enough, they are also going to have some employees up there helping clean up! Thanks Guys!


Thanks to Arizona Clean and Beautiful!! I just picked up a huge load of water and over a thousand trash bags for the cleanup!!
ALSO, KEEP THIS LINK TO REPORT LITTERING YOU SEE:

http://www.arizonacleanandbeautiful.org/LitterForm/LitterForm_page.html

ACB will send out an official letter to the perpetrator. It may be "just" a letter, but it will let them know they are being watched. I think that alone will discourage most from doing it again.


SDHQ Off-road! As soon as the first email was sent out this year announcing the cleanup the owner of SDHQ, Ryan, called me immediately to say that he wanted to help out and contribute even MORE than they did last year. In this economy I expected many folks to curtail their charity efforts. Not SDHQ. They have stepped up and are working with me to secure dumpsters, lunch and giveaways!


Sierra Expeditions. Talk about good people. This family run business was excited to help out in any way they could. By using their talents and an immense amount of time they have secured both a radio interview AND a television interview to help promote the cleanup. This is already more press than we had last year. In addition they are contributing to the give away again this year. Thank you so much Wil, Wendy, and Sierra Expeditions.


Thank you Jessica Lane. A cost that's easy to overlook is the cost of creating a professional looking flyer and printing them in color. Both in 08 and 09 she has stepped up to help create and print these flyers for the cleanup. Thank you so much. Frankly, you rock!

WOW, Thank you Danica Norris. She is a member of the Arizona Wilderness Coalition. We recently met and she was thrilled to do what she can to help the effort! She just let me know that they will be able to provide 2,000 bags and over a hundred bottles of Gatorade for all of the thirsty volunteers! Thank you SO much Danica and AZWild.org.

BIG Thanks to the Forest Service, specifically the Mesa Ranger District. They helped out last year and are doing so again by bringing a dumpster, getting some media attention and helping with the dumping costs associated with all of the trash we are cleaning up!!!

This year I really want to thank Todd at Blue Sky Sanitation Roll-off Services. They are very generously offering up the dumpsters for the clean up at no charge. Lets make sure we fill them to the brim everyone! Pass Blue Sky's info around. Lets give our business to those companies that support things like this!

Blue Sky Sanitation
Roll-off Services
16810 Avenue of the Fountains, Suite 208
Fountain Hills, AZ 85268
602-999-7307

Here are some pics from the Four Peaks and Sycamore area today. 12-24-08.










Still amongst all that, the mountain is still beautiful too.

Tentative Date for Pickup is Saturday February 7th, 2009

More info is on the way!

First off its great to see the sponsors getting some press and print. They deserve every bit of it.
Secondly, I've signed up to be a member of the Blue Ribbon Coalition. You get the magazine they send out, the latest with the cleanup in it, and it makes you feel great.
BRC and Tread Lightly are just great and I want to support them. Enough talking.
The link is below to the digital version of the BRC magazine about the clean-up. Enjoy!!
Tim Huber

Four Peaks Pickup in the Blue Ribbon Coalition magazine.

http://www.sharetrails.org/magazine/article.php?id=1563

Four Peaks Pickup Press!

Say that five times fast!



First off its great to see the sponsors getting some press and print. They deserve every bit of it.

Secondly, I've signed up to be a member of the Blue Ribbon Coalition. You get the magazine they send out, the latest with the cleanup in it, and it makes you feel great.

BRC and Tread Lightly are just great and I want to support them. Enough talking.

The link is below to the digital version of the BRC magazine. Enjoy!!

Tim Huber



Four Peaks Pickup in the Blue Ribbon Coalition magazine.

http://www.sharetrails.org/magazine/article.php?id=1563

TABLE MESA CLEANUP April 19th!!

Get out there and lend a hand and meet some more great people!!!




If you ever enjoy the outdoors for hiking, mountain biking, 4-wheeling, hunting or shooting, then you have probably shaken your head in disgust when others dump trash at trailheads and across our deserts.

Now is your chance to help!

The Bureau of Land Management is hosting a public lands clean-up at Table Mesa on Saturday, April 19, 2008, from 8 AM to noon.

Event sponsors include the Arizona Game and Fish Department, the Arizona Off-Highway Vehicle Coalition (AZOHVC), and the Good Gun Foundation, with additional event support from the Arizona Virtual Jeep Club, Arizona Rock Rats, and Absolute Offroad. The event starts at 8:00 AM with a safety orientation, and then participants will spread out to various work areas.

Wear long pants, long-sleeved-shirt, heavy gloves, hat, sunscreen and eye protection. Trash bags and some tools will be provided, but it is helpful if participants can bring their own rakes and flat-head shovels. Five-gallon buckets with handles are also handy for collecting small debris and broken glass. Another handy device are those little reach extending grabbing claws. Don’t forget to bring plenty of water to drink!

Directions: From Phoenix, take I-17 north to exit #236.

Exit and turn left on the overpass, heading west. Follow road for approximately ½ mile. After the road turns to dirt, look for the wide trailhead on the left.


Volunteer a few hours for a good cause. Keeping our public lands clean ensures that we will be able to enjoy them for generations to come.


For questions, contact Mary Skordinsky, BLM Lead Outdoor Recreation Planner, (623) 580-5586 or Nena Barlow, AZOHV Public Relations (928) 274-0570.

Channel 12 News Coverage for Four Peaks Pickup

***Click HERE for the video***

Press Release

(For immediate release)

Four Peaks Pickup: A great success!
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!

On behalf of the volunteers and organizers we would like to thank all of the sponsors including REI, The Daybreak Deli, Tyson Crews Development, Stardust Country, Hunter Offroad, M&I Bank, Copper State Cruisers, The AZ Virtual Jeep Club, AZ TTORA, AZ Xterra Owners Club, and everyone already mentioned above!
For future cleanups check out www.fourpeakspickup.blogspot.com

Others Pictures of the Pickup

http://picasaweb.google.com/redfinmoab/NewAlbum21008917AM

http://www.jeepanywhere.com/4peaks/main.php

http://www.expeditionswest.com/adventures/2008/Four_Peaks/2008/index.html

http://s252.photobucket.com/albums/hh16/azskyrider/4peaks_cleanup/

http://www.kreationkrawlers.com/Web/Albums/2008-Feb-9_Four-Peaks-Cleanup/index.html

Four Peaks Pickup, from my point of view.

It was an amazing couple of days. I received a call from Channel 12 news on Thursday. Once again, someone took their time to help the effort.
They sent a heart felt email to Nicole at Channel 12 news. Unbeknowst to any of us Channel 12 had been considering doing the story. I was shocked when the call came in.
I was meeting them at 5:00 AM Friday morning at the dreamy draw park near my home. It was a cold morning!

I sure was nervous, but I knew it was important to get the message out there so I tried to pull it together.

We headed out after work to get the site ready and signs posted.


A wonderful friend had posted notice of the clean up Thursday night to make sure we got the site we needed.
Not long after we pulled in a great group of folks pulled in. We spent the night around a camp fire getting to know our new friends and their dog Paco. What great people. I've never met so many wonderful people, seen so many old friends and had so much fun in one 24 hour period.
The set up crew, driven volunteers, worked hard to get everything ready.


Not long after, the volunteers started to arrive. I must admit, I was in a bit of a zone all day. I was so focused on making sure we pulled it off. PHEW! I wish I could have spoken to everyone more. Danica and I met so many hard working responsible outdoor users.
For many, it was their first clean up. That is wonderful. It was also MY first clean up! First of many I hope. I'll make sure to post on this blog to support other efforts that I hear of. There are so many great efforts from hikers, bikers, wheelers etc!
I was so pleased to see Hunter and his Sheriff mobile out there. A big thank you to the other Sheriff's that came out. It gives such piece of mind especially considering that the clean up areas were primarily shooting areas. Also, thank you to the EMT's. There was a lot of glass and sharp metal out there. We were so pleased to have you there as well!

When I say we had just about every group there, I'm serious! Take a look at this Mercedes Unimog. Just a work of engineering art.


BEFORE SHOT:

After:
Its hard to believe that this is where a burnt out FJ Cruiser and thousands of pieces of trash used to sit. Notice the black marks from the burning FJ on the large rocks.

Enthusiastic workers filled trailers literally to the breaking point. Several were damaged in the name of cleaning up. Thank you.

Some great folks we call the flying family were out in force. Here Flying baby takes a quick break from cleaning to relax in the shade!

This area had some of the worst trash. The volunteers said they walked around for a few minutes in a bit of awe. Where to start...
Before:

AFTER:

Some of the many great volunteers

The mountain was crowded in the best way with great people.



Some of the guys have a warped sense of humor, just like me. :)
Hehehe!!



This is some hard work. I was lucky and spent most of the day running around. When I did spend some time shoveling and raking I felt even more indebted to these great people.

People came and went all day. Just like I had hoped for. If you were headed to somewhere or back from somewhere thats just fine. The fact that you came and filled even a single bag makes a difference!!
Thank you for every minute you spent out here. From one to 480 minutes! :)
Here is a great Aerial shot! A great fella named phxtoad couldn't make it to the clean up, but he got some great shots from the sky! I told everyone he wasn't trying to bomb us. :)


Here is a great shot of a full dumpster and the pile begining to grow!

We did a lot of give aways and ate some burgers! This little kid won $200 cash!!! Thats a lot of candy!

My number one volunteer!


As the day came to an end we tore down the camp and made a last round of the cleanup sights to take a look and get the signs.

It was so beautiful. The desert seemed to be smiling, less ashamed than it looks when covered in litter...



I always feel that the outdoors are so much more clean and pleasant than even the cleanest home or city.

On our way up the mountain I noticed a group of folks that I saw early that morning. We stopped to say hello. They had just finished hiking Four Peaks! That sounded like a good time. Since some communities of outdoor lovers can be more difficult to locate I was excited to meet some new folks. I'll be giving them a call to invite them to the next clean up.

I can't thank you all enough. I can't owe you enough. I can try to do it again and promise to work hard. Thats the only thing I can think to do to show my thanks.

Good night.