El Moro/LCWP/Bommer/Shady/Quail(IRC) Trail Conditions(merged)

I have a 4X4 truck and should be able to make it on the 16th. Just let me know where to meet up. I will bring a few other volunteers with me.

 

If you meet me at the El Moro visitors center at 8 am (Look for the SHARE trailer) we can load the tools up. I'll give you a key to get in the Ridge Park and Red Tail gates and you can meet us at the campground. I will send you a message with my phone number and I'll just need a description of your truck to give to the park rangers at both El Moro and LCWP since you will be driving in that park to get to the back gate.

 

most of the repair's where cool but why did you take out the whoop? that was one of the best part's of FL.

 

That's a natural water shed that was not draining because the dip was getting too deep. Several days after the last rain it was still full of water and mud. With the high level of traffic the dip was getting deeper and deeper. Hopefully it will now drain a little more effeciently. This follows the trail maintenance basic rule "keep water off the trail, keep people on the trail".

 

I was wrong. I wasn't able to compact this spot enough before the rain and it turned into a sloppy mess. I am the first one to admit when my trail work fails. I will get back out there and take another stab at it.

 

Current El Moro/LCWP/Bommer/Shady/Ouail(IRC) Trail Conditions

I did my TAV Sunday as well and like Doug said, there is no sign at the top of Redtail/Rattlesnake, but there is a closed sign at the end as you come to Mach 1. The ranger said it is open but the sign has not been removed yet.



My route was No Name to Ticketron, Redtail/Rattlesnake, Mach 1, I think I can, BFI, then back to lot.

Ticketron is a bit overgrown and could use a good brushing and some light tread work as there is minor rutting...,





...., and some section that need better drainage.


This is the section after coming down Ticketron on the way to Deer Canyon camp ground.




Here is a picture of Redtail. It's not completely overgrown, but will be soon if it doesn't get brushed.


This section is after Rattlesnake and heading to West Cut Across aka Mach 1




This is what the fire road looks like right now.


Really overgrown



There is a rut that runs along most of the section and then crosses the trail here. I placed my bike in it so you know how big it is.


The climb towards the top of Mach 1 is really overgrown.


I spoke to the ranger and he said they will clear the mustard and grade it like they did with I Think I can and No Name/No Dogs. Not sure when they'll do it, but be prepared to bush whack if you come down Redtail/Rattlesnake.

There is a trail work day set up for Sat the 16th to brush Ticketron: http://www.socaltrailriders.org/forum/trailhead/57413-el-moro-trail-maintenance-4-16-a.html

 

If we get enough volunteers we'll get to all the damage on Deer Canyon and Ticketron but we won't be able to do anything with the bottom of Rattlesnake this time. I'll try to get up there in a couple of weeks.

 

I hiked up Rattlesnake yesterday. Place is a complete mess. Sad

 

Complete mess?????? As in torn up and techy? Sounds like fun.

Complete mess?????? As in sanitized and non-techy? Doesn't sound like fun.

 

As in way overgrown at the top and bottom. The techy part is even more techy which is good except that there are new 1-2ft deep ruts that could damage you .

 

As somebody who has ridden this in the last week or so, I have a few details to add. This primarily applies to the section from the bottom of Rattlesnake to Mach 1.

- There was a "trail closed" sign at the bottom - but not at the top...
- The overgrown brush is about 7-8 ft tall in some spots.
- There are some washed out sections of trail, and some are actually difficult to see because of all the brush
- There are some spots where it's actually hard to determine where the trail goes. At which point, be careful of those aforementioned washed out sections.

 

Yup. Check the 1st post for pics.

SHARE did work on Ticketron so that trail should be fine now. I let the rangers know about the conditions of Mach 1. They told me they will be clearing and grading it soon.

 

Did my first evening ride of El Moro for the season...dang I forget how nice it is to ride there in the late afternoon.....

 

Agree. It is the best time of the day for a ride IMO. I was also at El Morro this evening. We rode from Quail Trail, through LCWP, El Morro, and back to Irvine trough the newly opened Bommer Canyon connector.

 

Grrr. That happened to Binh/Sherpa and me as were climbing up Old Emerald in Laguna Coast last Wednesday. It's not the easiest trail to climb, and we had 4 solo guys blast past us (including that RADS dude that only wears camouflage shorts :-k). We stopped--or had to stop--for all of them, and got a total of one thanks (I think he had an STR jersey). Nice...I know it's a fun trail to rip on, but plenty of people climb it--including a couple with horses.

Also, while TAVing last Sunday in El Moro, Genny and I found the remains of an illegal campfire in Deer Canyon. I emailed Ranger Winter, and she said they've had some problems with poaching campers and would be stepping up patrols in that area. Please keep an eye out in that area if you're TAVing.

 

Didn't anyone tell you not to be a tattletale??

And BTW....we all know that some people who ride MTB don't quite get the trail etiquette thing. Let's move on....

 

I hope this was not said seriously (maybe you are riding friends with dirtvert). If you can't complain in a forum of riders who are interested, where can you complain? Don't make someone feel like they are a lesser person for posting a legitimate complaint.

 

I'm hoping this was sarcasm. If not....

TAV = Trail Assistance Volunteer. In case you didn't know, some MTB'ers give back to the trails. Not all are against "the man," some try to work together to build a better trail system and ride situations. :wave:

 

Has anybody been down Rattlesnake lately? I want to check it out, but I'm not sure what kind of shape is in. I talked to some riders a couple of weeks ago and they mentioned it was still very overgrown. I was thinking of a Bommer/ El Morro ride this afternoon...

 

When I rode it on 5/5 it was terribly overgrown and beside busting my wrist I had a bunch of scrapes and allergy stuff from all the Mustard and bush scraping.