Archive for March, 2008

03/25/08 Warrior’s Society Weekly News

In this issue:

1. 2008 Warrior’s Society Event Update – “The Traverse” and the Toad Festival

2. Important changes to the Warrior’s Society Weekly News email list

3. The SHARE Mountain Bike Club “Pole Climb” event in Crystal Cove

4. The Forest Service needs computer help

5. Animal Behavior and Tracking Presentation

1. 2008 WARRIOR’S SOCIETY EVENT UPDATE – “THE TRAVERSE” AND THE TOAD FESTIVAL

THE TRAVERSE:

Our May 17th event “The Traverse,” a fundraiser for the Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund is sold out.

The Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund honors the bravery and dedication exhibited by Americans in our Armed Forces who have sacrificed life or limb defending our country by providing educational scholarships to their
children:

http://tinyurl.com/2rotck

We will have no waiting list for “The Traverse;” any openings will be posted on the SoCal Trail Riders Message Board:

http://www.socaltrailriders.org/

THE TOAD FESTIVAL:

The Toad Festival will be held on Saturday, June 7th.

Due to the fact that so far the event registrations for the fun ride has been greater than the demand for the race we had planned on the same course the race has been cancelled. Those of you signed up for the race will have the option of a full refund or of having your event fee credited to the fun ride with a refund for the difference.

The Toad Festival Fun ride will have 5 games along the course (helmet toss, horse shoes, darts, dice and poker cards) in which you compete in games of skill and chance for points. Those participants with the highest points win prizes.

We have two fun courses; a long and a short:

– Fun Ride Long Course: ($45) (27 miles w/ 5,000 ft. of total elevation
gain) Start time 8:00 a.m. The Fun Ride will have games along the course.
The person(s) with the highest points wins prizes.

– Fun Ride Short Course: ($45 for adults and $25 for kids 13 and under).
10-miles w/ 500 ft. of climbing. Start time 9:00 a.m. This ride is a great beginners and kids ride through the beautiful tree covered trails of O’Neil Park. The Fun Ride will have games along the course. The person(s) with the highest points wins prizes.

The Toad Festival will be a fundraiser for “Talk About Curing Autism”
(TACA):

http://www.tacanow.com/about_taca/taca.htm

TACA has been VERY important in helping parents navigate the world of autism
– education, therapy, biomedical information and emotional support.

TACA provides emergency financial assistance to families with a child with autism to cover costs associated with housing, utilities, automobile repair, insurance premiums, food, medical care, prescriptions, daycare, and other items.

To print out a downloadble application or to register online at Active.com go to the event web page at:

http://www.warriorssociety.org/events/toad_festival_general_info.html

2. IMPORTANT CHANGES TO THE WARRIOR’S SOCIETY WEEKLY EMAIL LIST

To all our Warrior’s Society Weekly News subscribers:

We are going to be changing the way we send out our weekly news. Instead of sending out the news from Outlook, we will be using the announcement list service provided by our web host.

Because of their strict anti-spam policy, we must ask that you confirm your desire to have your email address subscribed to our announcement list.

This week you will be receiving a confirmation email with the subject “Please confirm your Warrior’s Society subscription” from countingcoup@warriorssociety.org. You may need to add that email address to your list of approved email address in your anti-spam service.

In that confirmation email there will be a link that you must follow in order to activate your subscription to our news.

If you do not receive a confirmation email within a couple of days just visit the “Stay Informed” page at:

http://www.warriorssociety.org/warriors_list.php

Once we’ve moved to the new system you will be able to use the automated system to subscribe and unsubscribe using that “Stay Informed” page.

If you want to be kept informed on our riding events, trail work and advocacy we encourage you to confirm your subscription to the Warrior’s Society Weekly News.

We will send out another reminder later this week.

We thank you for your patience during this transition.

The Warrior’s Society

3. THE SHARE “POLE CLIMB” EVENT IN CRYSTAL COVE

WHEN: Saturday, March 29th, 8:30 a.m.

WHERE: Crystal Cove State Park – El Moro at the bottom of Poles Trail (by “I think I can”).

WHAT: Poles Trail Hill Climb

ENTRY: $20 for non-members and $15 for members (includes 1 raffle tickety).

Sign up on www.active.com (Keyword: Pole Climb) or the day of the event!

For more information go to the SHARE MOUNTAIN Bike Club site:

www.sharemtb.org

4. THE FOREST SERVICE NEEDS COMPUTER HELP

Dear Volunteers,

The Trabuco Ranger District is looking for volunteers with advanced computer skills and who are comfortable creating web sites, blog sites, and using others such as myspace.com, facebook.com, and youtube.com applications.

We are seeking volunteers able to provide guidance, volunteers willing and able to help with writing and inputting the content, and also volunteers helping to monitor the site. Our goal is to be more than the “backdrop” of mountains seen from where you live and we’d like to interest and intrigue the younger generation with all the (legal) opportunities on the district.

We would like this site related to trails and volunteer activities on the Trabuco District. We’d like to include everything from trail experiences (video and photos), updates on trail conditions, and volunteers in action.

If this is a project that might interest you, please let me know if you are best able to meet on a weekday or weekend, daytime or evening. We are hoping to plan our first meeting for the second week of April.

Thank you for your consideration.

Debra
***************************************************
Debra Clarke – Wilderness / Trails Manager District Volunteer Coordinator Cleveland NF, Trabuco Ranger District
1147 East Sixth Street
Corona, CA 92879
(951) 736-1811 x 3227
(951) 736-3002 fax
email: drclarke@fs.fed.us
***************************************************

5. ANIMAL BEHAVIOR AND TRACKING PRESENTATION

Corona, CA, March 14, 2008…The Cleveland National Forest, Trabuco Ranger District, and the Santa Ana Mountains Natural History Association (SAMNHA) would like to invite naturalists, trail guides, researchers and others interested, to a presentation on Animal Behavior and Tracking, Saturday, April 12th, 8:00 a.m. to 1 p.m.

This five-hour class will help prepare you to identify the tracks and behavior of any animal you might find in the forest. You will learn to observe tracks not even visible to most people. In addition to studying animal tracks, we will examine what else leaves its marks in the dirt for us to observe. Track patterns, gaits, methods of locomotion, survey methods as well as scat identification will be covered.

More than half of this class is in lecture format and will be taught under a shade canopy in Fremont Canyon. The rest of the time will be spent crawling around on your hands and knees studying and measuring actual tracks, patterns and pressure releases.

Attendance is limited to 12 adults only and you must pre-register.
Directions, additional information and suggested reading lists will be sent to confirmed attendees. This course is intended for naturalists, trail guides, researchers and others interested. Access to the site is gained through Irvine Regional Park in Irvine. Rain or wet trails will cancel this class.

Naturalist and tracker Dick Newell is the instructor for this class.

For more information and to register, contact Debra Clarke, Trabuco Ranger District Wilderness/Trails Manager at 951-736-1811×3227 or drclarke@fs.fed.us

www.fs.fed.us/r5/cleveland

Santa Ana Mountains Natural History Association at www.freewebs.com/santaanamountains

Shimano is the Major Component Sponsor of the Warrior’s Society

Rock N Road Bike Shops and Sho-Air Racing are Major Sponsors of the Warrior’s Society

Cytomax is the Official Fluid Replacement Drink of the Warrior’s Society

Clif Bar is the Official Energy Bar and Gel of the Warrior’s Society

The Warrior’s Society is a Blue Ribbon Coalition (BRC) affiliated organization

The Warrior’s Society is a Tax Exempt Organization under 501 (c) 4 of the IRS Code

“Far better it is to dare mighty dreams, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take the ranks with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in that gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat!”

Theodore Roosevelt

www.warriorssociety.org

03/17/08 Warrior’s Society News

In this issue:

1. The Pow Wow wrap-up

2. Our next event, “The Traverse,” is sold out.

3. The next Newbie Ride, Saturday, March 22nd

4. Petition to show demand for Google Maps to support mapping bike routes.

5. Adventure Racing returns to Orange County

1. THE POW WOW WRAP-UP

The Pow Wow wrap up and finishing times for the Vision Quest and Counting Coup events has been posted on our web site at:

http://warriorssociety.org/events/writeup_powwow2008.html

Dave Whiting from the Orange County Register wrote a story on Debbie Brown who was the winner of the 2008 Pow Wow “Inspiration Award.”

Here is his introduction from the story followed by the link to it:

Sometimes races don’t quite live up to fancy titles. Not so with the Warrior Society’s Vision Quest, more than 55 miles, more than 11,000 feet of elevation gain. But for this woman, and her Trail Angel partners, the race was much, much more.

http://www.ocregister.com/sports/brown-quest-vision-1997503-mountain-trail

Thanks to all our participants and volunteers for making the 2008 Pow Wow a success!

The Warrior’s Society

2. OUR NEXT EVENT, “THE TRAVERSE,” IS SOLD OUT.

The Traverse, to be held on Saturday May 17th is sold out. Our next event after the Traverse is the 2008 Toad Festival Fun Ride on Saturday, June 7th:

http://www.warriorssociety.org/events/toad_festival_general_info.html

3. THE NEXT NEWBIE RIDE, SATURDAY MARCH 22ND

Where: Marshall Canyon
When: Sat. Mar 22,
Time: 9am

Now that another successful Pow Wow is behind us and there is a break before the Traverse, Gene “Guides New Warrior’s” thought it would nice to do another newbie ride. Although future newbie rides will still be scheduled by others on STR, this will probably be the last one Gene organizes as he will be busier with SHARE patrols at Aliso, LCWP and Whiting when it re-opens as well as the ones for the Forest Service.

Here is the link.

http://www.socaltrailriders.org/forum/trailhead/14685-marshall-canyon-newbie
-ride-2.html

Gene Frial
Mission Viejo. CA. 92691
genus5surfrider@yahoo.com

4. PETITION TO SHOW DEMAND FOR GOOGLE MAPS TO SUPPORT MAPPING BIKE ROUTES

This is a petition to try to show Google that there is a demand for Google Maps to support mapping bike routes. It’s a pretty cool idea.

http://googlemapsbikethere.org/about/

5. ADVENTURE RACING RETURNS TO ORANGE COUNTY

WHAT: Orange County Adventure Race

WHEN: April 27th, 2008

WHERE: Irvine Lake, Silverado, CA

WHY: (Silverado, CA) – On April 27th, 2008, Sierra Adventure Sports and Michelle Butterfield will host the Orange County Adventure Race with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training.

Adventure racing is a multi sport event completed by teams of 1, 2, & 5 people. Teams are expected to mountain bike both on and off pavement for 6 miles, hike on trails for 4 miles, raft 1 mile, and tackle teambuilding type “mystery” events before crossing the finish line together.

Approximate distance is 10-12 miles.

Fees are $85 per person before 4/4/08. Every participant will receive a swag bag of goodies, race t-shirt, and a commemorative finisher’s dog-tag.

Food, Beer and a raffle will be available post-race.

For more information contact:

Rick Eastman, Orange County Adventure Race Race Director – 602-448-0933

Info@SierraAdventureSports.com

Shimano is the Major Component Sponsor of the Warrior’s Society

Rock N Road Bike Shops and Sho-Air Racing are Major Sponsors of the Warrior’s Society

Cytomax is the Official Fluid Replacement Drink of the Warrior’s Society

Clif Bar is the Official Energy Bar and Gel of the Warrior’s Society

The Warrior’s Society is a Blue Ribbon Coalition (BRC) affiliated organization

The Warrior’s Society is a Tax Exempt Organization under 501 (c) 4 of the IRS Code

“Far better it is to dare mighty dreams, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take the ranks with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in that gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat!”

Theodore Roosevelt

www.warriorssociety.org