Tank Hollow Revisited – Again – For the 3rd time

They say, “the third time’s the charm.”

• 2022 Tank Hollow Project
• 2025 Tank Hollow Project

The first time in 2022 a larger group of volunteers under the leadership of Scott Ammerman (then the local Regional Coordinator for Tread Lightly!) put a big dent in the pile of trash that had been dumped over the hillside off Tank Hollow Road.

The second time, earlier this year in the spring of 2025, a smaller group under the leadership of Walt Middleton (of M4 Expeditions) ran into two major issues. First, many of the trash not retrieved in 2022 had fallen further down the hillside. Second, the previous method of winching stuff uphill proved to be woefully inadequate.

Not being ones to quit, our group brainstormed some ideas, put out a request for some grant money from the Overland Expo Foundation, and — as the saying goes — the third time was the charm.

• Project Lead: Walt Middleton of M4 Expeditions
• Downhill Rigging: John Jacobs of New Horizons Overland
• Topside Rigging: Rodney Dewson of Overland Medic
• Vehicle Logistics: Dean Shirley of East Coast Overland Adventures
• USFS Liaison: Plinio Beres of George Washington and Jefferson National Forests
• Grant Funding: Rachael Elseman of the Overland Expo Foundation

With Walt and John rappelling over the hillside to rig the gear, and two more staying topside to handle the heavy lifting, our group of four people managed to accomplish a fair amount given the technical nature of the site. By the end of the day we had retrieved 29 tires, a refrigerator, and a freezer up a 300′ cliff. Oh, and two bags of micro trash picked up along the road and from a nearby campsite.

The solution to our problem was to use a 500′ rope and a pair of pulley blocks rather than the winch. We tossed 300′ downhill for the lower team to rig the trash too. This was fed through a pulley on the back of Walt’s Gladiator, through a second pulley on the back of John’s Rubicon, then back to Walt’s Gladiator. This effectively made the topside rigging a 2-to-1 advantage meaning we could better control the speed of the gear coming hill by leaving John’s Jeep in four-wheel-drive low-range and letting it simply idle down the road. That was my job. Wheelman extraordinaire. The only team member not mentioned so far was Rodney (aka Overland Medic) who was managing the topside rigging and acting as a spotter for both the trashing coming uphill and the massive rope stretched between the two Jeeps.

It may not seem like a much. 29 tires isn’t that many; and two appliances isn’t that much to brag about. That is until you factor in the steepness of the terrain and the fact that both Walt and John were roughly 300′ down the embankment doing all the rigging. It took almost two hours just to set all the gear. A few hours of clearing brush, rigging trash, and resetting the rigging to do it all over again for the next load. By the end of the day we were beat.

We would like to give a huge shoutout to the Overland Expo Foundation for providing grant funding for gear necessary for this project. We acquired four chest-rigs for radios making our communications easier and thus making things run quicker, smoother, and most importantly safer. Grant money was also used to purchase a 500′ length of static line from Freedom Recovery Gear. Not only was it essential for this project, but it is something that will get used again on future projects for sure.

Please considering supporting both Tread Lightly! and the Overland Expo Foundation. Money from both organizations helped make all three projects here on Tank Hollow Road possible. Unlike other organizations that are about “awareness” both Tread Lightly! and the Overland Expo Foundation put their money back into projects that make a difference. Help us make things better by becoming a member today, and help make an impact by joining a future project in your area.