Aliso Trail Conditions

Early New Year's morning, 12 people decided to forego the couch and pick up a shovel and start the task of cleaning up Aliso Woods. They say that a journey starts with a step... that's what we did... baby steps. The idea was to uncover the bridges on 5 Oaks that had been buried in the mud and debri. Just getting back to the trail head was a little challenging as there was still plenty of water running in the park.At one point we had to stop and shovel the mud away in order to get the trucks through.


Hiking up the trail, we found the first bridge was fine but from there on up Mother Nature had re-arranged the scenery. In addition to the mud, it looked as through busy beavers had built 3 to 4 foot dams made out of logs and branches.


It took chain saws and a lot of muscle to pull these piles apart.


But apart they finally came.


The bridge just before the stairs still has some mud and branches on it.


The rest of the trail seems to be in fairly good shape.

Most of the other trails held up pretty well although there is still a lot of work that needs to be done through the park and no estimated time for it to reopen as long as the rains continue to come... hopefully within the next couple of weeks. At least we made a dent!

 

Heres some pics from the work we did at Aliso today. The bridges leading to Coyote Run and Wood Creek trails were both washed away, so we made a path across the creek.





This part astounded me. There was a flood of water running down between two ridges that must have been 30ft wide and 15ft deep. It ran from the ridge, parallel to the telephone lines, and washed out into the creek below:







It's gonna be a while until this stuff is repaired.

 

Ya, it's amazing the power that rushing water has. It just destroys everything in it's way as evident in all the pics of many of the trails we all know and love to ride. Thanks for getting out there and helping get these trails back in shape.

 

According to the rangers at Aliso, it may be some time before the park opens. They are waiting for heavy equipment (dozer) to come in and fix the fire roads. Unfortunately, (as you might suspect) this same equipment/operator is heavily back logged and they don't know when they will get it in the park. They are hoping for it next week and open the next day.

Also: Please stay out of the park. If something happens to you, your insurance will not cover you since you are there illegally... and they can ticket you... just say'n...

 

I've got my finger's crossed.....

 

There was a good sized group at Aliso this morning lead by Ranger Doug and Ranger Portia, we worked until about 11:15am.....Wood Canyon trail is clear and ready for the tractor to hit it with a blade. There were a few spots where we eorked that still have water is oozing up through the soil.

The scenery has undergone some major changes, thats for sure, the entry into Coyote is almost unrecognizable and all the small foot bridges are gone. In select areas, trees and brush have been displaced (in huge amounts) revealing some canyons and areas not readily seen from the trail before. In the ravaged areas, the amount of damage is amazing, however some areas are pristine and untouched. In a nutshell, the power of Nature has shown itself and it's really quite amazing.

We saw a few hikers/runners and mtn biker trail poachers in there too, they were informed 'Parks Closed' and asked to leave. Those idiots were not heading the 'Trail Closed' signs posted at all the park entries. Please spread the word, closed means closed. The Ranger's were being patient and kind, asking the idiots to leave. At some point maybe they should just start issiung tickets....

 

Just got back from the trail work we had a small group that headed up to take care of Rock It... trail is good now from the bottom of the slab on down. still a ton of water out there and as mentioned above, the canyon has changed quite a bit. we hiked up coyote to get to the bottom of rock it and you can tell that everything was under some fast moving water at some point. All of the grass in the meadows was laid flat in the direction the water was moving. Absolutely amazing to see. Remember the park is closed, we ran into a few riders and hikers both.

 

Ranger Ed did say at some point they will get tired of talking and start issuing tickets.... amazing how people just think that "closed" doesn't apply to them... thanks guys for the hard work.

It looks like we'll have another work session next Sat. Will post as soon as Doug advises.

 

We were a part of the group that was clearing brush from the main trail, but broke off to do some work on Five Oaks. The trail actually held up really well considering how much rain we got. It is still pretty wet towards the bottom (before the stairs), so there wasn't much we could do there, but as we got up the dirt was perfect for working. We filled a few ruts and added water bars to the S-turns towards the bottom. The rest of the trail was not much worse than before the rain so the work went quickly. Mostly filled in ruts and smoothed a berm or two.

 

Great turnout today at Aliso. I didn't get a head count but I would say there were over 25 or so. 6 of us which included Jeff aka J_Sims, Mark aka MohammedInABearSuit formally known as HooverMD, James aka TBlazen, Chris aka hookup, his son and myself headed towards Rock It.

After a briefing with Doug to find out what needed to be done, we heading in from MILF Park and hiked in. As you can see, there are signs posted to let users know the park is closed.


This area just below Lynx always ruts and really too deep to fill at this point. The heavy equipment will come in and grade this as soon as one is available.






As mentioned by Jeff, Garrett and others, the water must of been raging as it overflowed it's banks and made it's way down Wood Canyon.








Even the bank turn got some damage


The bridge for Wood Creek as mentioned in previous posts got washed away. Here is what it used to look like:


And now:




The entrance to Coyote also suffered some damage. Here is a before shot:


and a look at it now.

 

We continued up to Rock It. As you can see even without rain for the past several days, it's still pretty muddy.


Here's the Rock It crew. Mark leading the way followed by Chris, son, James, and Jeff


Once at the work area which just below the rock garden, we filled some ruts, created a couple water bars and drainage.










Here we tried to fill some ruts but the dirt was still pretty wet and has lots of clay in it that it just stuck to our tools as we tried to pack it down. Doug is going to schedule another trail work day next Sat. In the coming weeks once the park re-opens, we'll go back and fine tune these sections.


On the way back, I took a couple more pics to show how the water in the creek just came over the banks and washed through Coyote as evident by the grass laying over.




As mentioned in the above post, we encounter several hikers and mountain bikers. All claimed to enter from TOW and said there was no closed sign posted. We all know that if it's not bolted or cemented to the ground, it'll just get tossed over the edge. Please check the website and respect the closures. Thanks

Ya Doug mentioned that they want to set up another trail work day at Aliso. Probably going to work Meadows. If we get enough people out, we can send crews to work other trails as well.

 

Gene, thanks for taking all the pictures.. Today was a great day, always good to give a little to that which gives so much but amazing just to walk the park and see what mother nature decided to change. the looks of amazement on everyones faces around every corner were priceless. Oh DAMN!!!!!!! WTH?????? Where did that come from?? Where did the rest of that go???? she never ceases to amaze me.

Good times

 

Good working with you guys !

I cannot believe the 15ft high Aliso Creek bank overflowed to create a 100 yard wide river up high and the scattering of large trees around like tinker toys.

UNBELIEVABLE !!

 

TW opportunities??

Did I hear rumor of trailwork at Aliso this Sat?

Can someone please put the trail repair opportunities on the Calendar???

There are so many things going on it is hard to find them in a single place...

 

He emailed OMR and I to thank us as well as everyone else. He mentioned about scheduling something for this Sat. Once we get conformation from Doug or Ed, it'll get posted.

 

Aliso Trail Work 1-15-11

Thanks to all those who came out today. We had a good turn out for today's trail event. The Ranger said there was about 55 people which included a crew of kids from OC Correction.

I was a bit late but I guess there were others as well. I rode in with a crew of 3 others ans we ran into Doug and OMR who said there were plenty already on Meadows so we headed towards the bottom of Mathis and where Dripping Cave comes out.

This is a section at the end of Coyote as it comes across the paved crossing.



This part shows how the creek flow was so strong, it just couldn't turn the corner.


We filled it in so it could be ridden through instead of what rider/hikers were doing and going around.


Another area that was bad was the bottom of Mathis as you approach Dripping Cave and the connector to Coyote/Wood Canyon. The water cut into the trail and caused it to wash away. rider and hikers were making 2 or 3 paths to get to other side.


There was a line worn in bit here so we just made it more clear and blocked off the others with brush


Next we worked on the transition to Dripping Cave. This section gave way and now had 2 "G" outs where the water ran through


Looking at the trail as you come in from Coyote or Wood Canyon


We put the small bridge here. It really made a big difference as you come into it cause it was a solid platform as oppose to just a muddy crossing.


Loni, Treve aka Pedalboy, Kathy aka JustSpin, OMR and Dave aka Kish Me benched this section so it's not so off chamber into the creek.


This is where the small bridge used to be, but it keeps washing away and will probable again. The guys who worked Aliso a couple weeks ago already had it stepped. We added more dirt to it and packed it down some.


Tested and approved by Elaine G. :clap:


We had a benched it a bit so that it would not give way again in the next heavy rains




The soil was nice to work, but it'll take a few more hot days to really dry things out.




Doug said he will check on Car Wreck. Apparently the bottom will need lots of work as parts of it git washed out.

See you at the next one. :wave:

 

Nice, I think we had that same biker come down Meadows while we were working it. Tons of people out there today.

 

Is meadows pretty rideable? Thinking about doing it tomorrow. We rode Five Oaks and Lynx today and both trails are in good condition. A few ruts as expected but I've definitely seen it much worse.

(Videos moved to new topic)

 

I was on the Dripping Cave crew so I really don't know for sure, but from what some riders were saying, it's in the great shape after the work done. There were about 30 or so working there.

 

Sorry to have missed this work day. I'd been looking forward to lending a hand, but I think I had a decent reason for missing it #-o