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Yahoo!Wilderness News: Fears of a trail system completely destroyed by impacts from the Zaca Fire, winter rains and the early February snow storm seem to be lessening.
Recent efforts by CCC crews in the San Rafael Wilderness along the Sisquoc River and several of the trails leading down into it have re-opened a substantial portion of the backcountry trails. Efforts have focused on a portion of the river trail between the Sweetwater and Jackson Trails that were particularly dangerous. For those of you who know the lower Sisquoc, the area near Forrester’s Leap and been completely rebuilt with the help of blasters from Sierra National Forest.
Outside Insider
Trail monitoring projects conducted through Los Padres Forest Association’s Wilderness Ranger program paint a trail’s network that still faces many challenges. While most of the trails are passable, down trees, gullying and route finding still continue to be problems. Contact LPFA president Jasonn Beckstrand if you have an interest in volunteering for a backcountry project. Look for details about trail conditions on the Indy’s Outdoor site as well my own adventures on the Sisquoc.
Ray Ford
Rik Christensen checks a section of trail along the Sisquoc that is being rebuilt by backcountry crews.
Cold Springs Update: If you’ve hiked the canyon trail up to the power lines recently, you’ve noticed new improvements in the upper trail tread. The work is being done through a Forest Service grant that dates back to 2005 flood damage.
Earlier this winter, the LPFA Trail crew rebuilt the canyon section of the trail as well as the West Fork Trail to the Tangerine Falls turnoff. While work on both of the canyon sections were focused on making the trails safer, the recent improvements have been focused on erosion control efforts, including the addition of dips and slight grade reversals that will force water off the trail.
Ray Ford
Rik Christensen makes his way along a section of trail near Big Pine Mtn. Many of the trails have similar damage.
Not everyone is happy with the work. Several mountain bikers who I met on the trail complained that all of their jumps were being taken away while a number of hikers were concerned about the extra width of the new tread. If you’ve got concerns, email me here at the Indy as I’m the one who has been leading the work efforts on behalf of the LPFA Trail Crew. Check the Santa Barbara Trail Blog for picts and descriptions of the Cold Springs trail work.
New Partners: the City, County and Forest Service have completed the hard work on reaching an MOU for partnering on the management of the front country trails. While the exact language of the Interagency Cooperative Agreement remains to be worked out, the agreement to manage the trails jointly has been approved in concept by the City Council, Board of Supervisors and Forest Superintendent. For those of you who have been following the user conflict issues on the front trails, it may not appear that much has been accomplished thus far but the cooperative agreement represents a remarkable achievement by the agencies and it appears that once it is finalized work will begin soon on efforts to create and implement a Front Country Trail Management Strategy. Look first for new trail sign and education information to be added at each of the main trailheads in the next few months.
Ray Ford
Simon O'Brien chips away at a particular dangerous section of the Cold Springs Trail.
Ultralight Packing: Talking about the joys of going light wasn’t enough for a number of Indy readers. I didn’t realize how many old timers like me were out there who still had the itch to get out but had lost some of their giddy up and go. While you can Google the word ultralight and get lots of hits, more than likely when faced with information overload you’ll be like me and toss it all. Fear not. Head over to Indy Outdoors for details on how to put together a base pack that will weigh well less than 20 pounds.
Attack Mode: a recent article on the Hidden Costs of Mountain Biking brought out the predictable response. Rather than focusing on the issues brought up in the column, the focus was on personal attacks. “Its [sic] people like you that seem to need to push your agenda on everyone else that causes us to have to create task forces and take time and resources to resolve the issues that you help create” one mountain biker commented. “I took up biking because I was sick of fighting for waves. Now I have to fight for trail use? It is ridiculous.”
Whatever happened to a reasonable discussion of the issues? Despite what mountain bikers such as the above think, there are concerns about use of the trails by those on wheels and attacking those who would like to talk about them doesn't help either.
Ray Ford
Hiker heads up the spiny ridge to Cathedral Peak. Off trail exploration can be dangerous.
Heading Off Trail? A hiker was air lifted off Cathedral Peak a few days ago with severe lacerations and ankle injuries. Lucky the person was in a location that could be reached by helicopter. Not too many years ago prominent Santa Barbara politico Lanny Ebenstein was stranded overnight when he got lost in the same area. From my own personal experience when I didn't have a flashlight with me to led me out, it is NO fun spending the night in the brush with no food and little to take the chill off the night air. Take care if you’re heading off trail. Your rescue may not be so easy.
Ray Ford
Lite hiker Paul Cronshaw on a recent monitor project on Hurricane Deck.
Death on the Deck Last week a hiker died from heat stroke (it appears) while hiking across the top of the Hurricane Deck with a partner. Both heat and lack of sufficient water appear to be factors. Yesterday's heat in downtown Santa Barbara is a reminder that it is hot out there — way hotter in the backcountry for sure. Now is NOT time time to be exploring the wilderness areas if you aren't extremely experienced with the areas. More later when we have more information.
For more of Ray Ford's outdoor writing check independent.com/outdoors.
Double-clicking on any word or phrase in this story will open a reference window with definitions and links to other reference material.
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Wasn't one of the points of the "hidden costs of mountain biking" the fact that the bikes had tendencies of damaging the trails and surrounding plants? What do you think the guy with the jackhammer is doing? I guess that is beneficial destruction, lol!
maybe they will pave the trail some time in the future to get rid of any more "dangerous" areas.
DBD (anonymous profile)
June 19, 2008 at 9:17 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Thanks for writing about the new "improvements" on Cold Spring Trail. I have been wondering who the heck is using a gasoline powered backhoe on our trails.
I've been hiking and running the front country trails almost weekly since 1988 and why in recent years there has been this need to fanatically improve them is beyond me. God forbid someone might have to step over a rock or duck under a branch.
It's obvious the only reason the trail is being widened so extremely is to accomodate the backhoe that is doing the widening!?! And what is left resembles a wide, level, dusty sidewalk. Or should I say speedway for the downhill bikers.
We already have a lovely set of well manicured, almost sidewalk like trails in our community. It's called the Botanic Garden. Does the entire front country need to be domesticated as well?
The trail maintenence may be well intended, but I think our front country is slowly being killed with kindness.
Ryansbca (anonymous profile)
June 20, 2008 at 2:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Good points in both comments above. Yes, doing trail maintenance, especially in areas where there are serious safety issues does cause an impact though I would argue whether in the canyon area of Cold Springs where all of the work was done by hand or in the upper canyon where the tractor was used, the impacts of the work itself is both short term and needed while user impacts can continue over time.
Much of the damage that is caused when we get the major storms is due to the fact that the water often can't get off the trail, causing gullying and in some cases major trail damage. If you follow the trail down from the power lines you'll notice that the outside berm has been removed so water can sheet off the trail and both dips and grade reversals have been added that will keep erosion to a minimum.
That may not seem like a big deal to add these for some trail users but from a trail care perspective doing so is critical for the long term sustainability of the trail.
I would also suggest that it won't be that long before the dirt compacts, the hillside slumps a bit, the grasses re-grow on the outside edge of the trail and visual impacts of the work will disappear. What will remain, however, are the improvements to the erosion control that will keep the trail is great shape for a long time.
I would also suggest that there are literally hundreds of trail users on Cold Springs every week, many thousands over the year, off all types — families, the elderly, those with dogs, those with young kids, trail runners and yes even mountain bikers. The trail needs to serve all those users not just a select few.
Would appreciate your comments again after the start of next year to see how you feel about the "improvements".
Ray
riveray (Ray Ford)
June 21, 2008 at 8:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"Whatever happened to a reasonable discussion of the issues?"
Maybe, Ray, a reasonable discussion went out the door when you published your one-sided, anti-mountain-biker propaganda on what is supposed to be an objective forum.
That "predictable response" obviously arose from your predictable misinformation campaign and personal agenda that you continue to push.
fearbeneath (anonymous profile)
June 24, 2008 at 1:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Perhaps you can share your point of view in an article in the future. I'd personally invite you to go out on any of the trails with me, whether one like Romero or another that receives heavy mountain bike use like Tunnel Trail and talk about trail issues from a mountain bike point of view as long as you're willing to talk about and respond to issues that other trail users bring up.
These include safety issues, the gullying that appears to result from excessive braking, the widening of the trail in places where bikers go off the established tread and the "high siding" that occurs when they go up on the side of the trails.
We can also look at impacts from the other trail users as well, including hikers, trail runners and those with dogs and talk about impacts all trail users cause.
On another note, perhaps you can point out the "misinformation" which was so characteristic of the article to get a better understanding of where the points being made were either wrong or off the mark.
Email me and let's get together on a trail some time soon. All of the user groups need to understand better the impacts they have on the trails.
riveray (Ray Ford)
June 28, 2008 at 2:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I did a hike/run up cold springs this weekend. I'm kind of confused about your water run off improvements. A lot of the trail you bulldozed through is actually a long narrow trough. Rock and soil piled up on the down hill side of the trail. Not sure where you think the water is going run off. Maybe you're not done yet, but that scares me too. I was also amazed at how the trail is a lot less stable now, ankle breakers (rocks) that have tumbled down after your "improvements" are all over the trail. Sadly, this trail is no longer my favorite. But it's nice and tamed and safe (except for all the loose rock and gravel) for the people who won't hike up that far anyway.
Ryan
Ryansbca (anonymous profile)
July 22, 2008 at 12:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
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