I'd still be up for a walk with plates.  Just got my first set and I'm horribly out of shape.  As an added bonus, I'm old as fuck.

@bigstick61


Update on shooting in the Dulzura area.


The fire closure is over, and lots of people were shooting last weekend. My younger son and I went out shooting 1911s and .22 handguns Saturday.


I'll note that the gates were pulled down, so now there are more points of access. You could now drive through the Pink Gate (which is now down) to access the route we walked on. The Pink Gate isn't the only access point that was pulled down.


I'm wondering what the decisions were that led them to pull down the gates. Not simply open them, but remove them.

Wonder if someone "did it for them"

At first when the area became government land (it was previously part of a large ranch) they allowed access and had unlocked gates.

Then they locked the gate, forcing the public to park on the side of the highway. My understanding of the official reason was it was intended to protect archaeological sites, however, it was obvious that those involved would like to block both vehicle traffic and shooters (this was also implied by a BLM ranger I talked to at the time). IIRC, the land was purchased by a trust and then transferred to the feds. I believe the trust's motive was environmental.

There was a local effort to shut down shooting, but the feds (it's BLM land) refused to do that, even though the county ruled against shooting (despite it not being their land).

I'm inclined to think this is a last minute Trump admin BLM action where they make it harder to close the site. I don't know that, maybe it was just a plan in the works, but the timing is . . . interesting.

For those that don't know, in CA with the AWB, CA tried to restrict where you can shoot AWs, and it was done in such a way it could be restricted on BLM land. Under Clinton BLM did a patchwork rule thing, so some areas allowed AWs while others didn't. Under Bush they eventually imposed one rule allowing AWs over BLM land. So it might be that sort of thing.

New hike planned for 3/20.  See original post for more details.  Let me know if you're interested.

I plan to attend 3/20.

I'll bring some steel targets, some target stands, and some 25m bzo targets if anyone needs to sight in a rifle and then we can confirm zero at 100m etc. I've got a couple of optics that need to be sighted in.

Might even come up the night before and camp out.

I'm thinking of camping the night before as well.  I definitely want to try and sight in the new AR, at least to get it in the ballpark.  I'll bring you your stuff, too.  It's all still in the duffel.

They replaced pink gate with a new unit. I was hoping the gates were down for good. LOL.

I assume they replaced the other gate on Marron Valley road by the chicken ranch as well, but haven't been up there to verify.

Sent you a text.

@mleeper99

@Sixtigers

Would either if you be able to make it out to this one?

Not this one.  FIL died last week, still dealing with that.

Sorry to hear that.  Hopefully you can make it to a future hike.

For anyone else who hasn't chimed in yet, and who is interested in going, please post, PM, or e-mail me through Proton Mail before noon tomorrow so I can provide directions and any other info needed. Once I'm on-site, chances are that I will not be able to communicate due to the lack of reception in the area.

How did this go?  After report?

It ended up being just me and HDLS.  It went fairly well, however.  He's going to be sending me his pictures and then I'll put up an AAR.  

It's a pretty optimal spot for the shooting stuff, while being suitable for hikes, bivouac, and doing PFTs if desired.  Usually, there is no one there, or maybe a person or two, but this time there was a decent amount of people out there.

We ended up hiking about 3 1/8 miles with no more than a 270 foot elevation gain.  We averaged around a 2.65 mph pace, so somewhat short of the goal of 3 mph.  Only HDLS and I showed up for this one.  Considering the area's suitability for firearms training and room for different hiking routes (including routes with major elevation gains for more challenging hikes), plus the accessibility to a variety of vehicles and excellent suitability for camping (it is possible for over 200 people to camp there if desired), I think this is an excellent location for repeat hikes and training.  Also, most of the time, there aren't many or any people there.  This wasn't the case on this occasion, but it's also the largest number of people I've seen in over three years.  

After the hike, we set up targets and proceeded to establish BZOs on new weapons, practice pistol shooting, and then practice with our newly sighted-in rifles at 100, 200, and 300m.  Due to from where we chose to shoot and the foliage, we used the vehicles to give us the elevation needed to see and hit the targets.  We had a couple of paper target stands plus two mini-IPSCs with hostage takers, a COVID target, and a couple of smaller plates, set up for use.

We camped out the night before on-site.  Winds were very high at night, and fairly high during the day.  We oriented our range to minimize cross-winds, although a shift in the afternoon meant that we got some cross-wind when we were shooting from 1-300m.

For myself, pack was around 45 lbs with water (37 lbs dry), LBE around 33 lbs with pistol and water (25 lbs or so dry), and rifle about 11 lbs loaded, so I was carrying around 90 lbs., which is the most I've done in a while.

Some photos below:























Also, chugging was attempted:

Had a blast! The rest of you missed out.

Hopefully we can get a better turn out in the future. It really was a good day and worthwhile to head out there and get some fitness training and shooting. It's a great location too.  

I need to weigh my stuff and see how much weight I was carrying, but I think it was significantly less than Bigstick carried. I'm old though.

Beauty spot—good choice.  
Look like a couple of pros!