Hulda Crooks (merged threads)

Do we have anyone local who is certified in trail building who could lend their expertize? We can repair it to make it rideable but wouldn't it be better to make it sustainable? Russell I like your suggestion of building a trail that is climber friendly and if we could direct this away from the ravine and more on the sides of the hills we will have trails that'll last years. I've taken a couple classes/lectures on trail building but in no way am I fully versed in sustainable trail building. I'm very willing on putting in some time here and we have some guys from work who ride here who will probably help out too.

 

Wow Russel, those pics are crazy. The reason I know it's bad is that you can't even remember exactly where some of the pics were taken from. We had that place memorized and I'm sure before this happened you would be able to know exactly which section of trail a picture would have been of. Now it's all mud and ditches and landslides. I had to take off for the parents house before I could go up and check out the damage so thanks for the pictures, although it's a little depressing knowing what is back home waiting for me.

My guess is for a rebuild project like this we should go ask the city, even though we might have skipped this step for past, smaller projects. They might already have some plans to work on up there, they need to make an accessible road at least to four corners would be my guess for access to their power line roads, they'll probably want to dig out the big pit at the bottom because even much smaller storms will fill that up a lot faster and Mountain View will be a river every storm. If we work with the city it would probably make it easier to hold larger trail building days sponsored by STR, Jenson and other LBS in the area. Otherwise someone might not be to happy when 100 guys with shovels show up and start building trails that aren't sustainable and will just cause more damage then good the next time a big storm rolls though. We wouldn't want to build trails if the city is just going to plow them over in a few weeks to make an access road either. Who knows, maybe they have some funds set aside for projects up there and they could supply some larger equipment to speed up the process. Maybe they could even step up enforcement of no moto-bros up there, they would just tear up all the fresh cut trails. OR maybe we let them cut the trails for us then kick em out haha.

As a Loma Linda resident and frequenter of Hulda Crooks multiple times a week I'm more then willing to help out with this and hopefully get it done right so we can have better trails then before and built in a way that they stay quality through all but the worst of storms, because no matter how correctly a trail is built if it's in a landslide you're screwed.

 

As far as the trails up there...... They have survived MANY eyars of rain without issue. I dont think anything as far as certified trail building would have helped in this storm. I went riding this past thursday up on Loch Lev.... its bad too.

Sometimes Mother nature just decided to reclaim what is hers. This looks to be the case here, and that we will jsut have to take time and rebuild.

As far as the city goes, Loma linda has always been ok with trail work up there, just dont go overly crazy and its all good. Fact in case, there are alot of trail users up there, and any volunteer work would be appriciated by the city.

Just remember when working the trails, if we want this area to stay open.... remember that hikers are up there alot too.




Thanks for the pics....... That was what I was afraid of as to the damage.....

 

I agree with what everyone is saying. I think that trails in Loma Linda, while fun have not been built very well and could definately use some guidance when being rebuilt. Asking permission could go a long way to getting better policing of the moto guys out there. It would also likely mean that I wouldn't be able to drive my truck out to four corners to dig on Robert's jumps. :-k

After surveying this damage I don't think that any trail through any part of the canyon, no matter where it was on a slope would have completely survived this rain. There are very few hillsides that did not have at least one slide on them. Pretty much any trail that was not on a ridge-line would have taken extensive damage. IMHO I think it's the nature of the dirt out there.

Margaret and I are going to be out of the country (New Zealand bike trip!!!!) for almost all of January so we will be pretty much useless when it comes to organizing or helping to dig. I hope that the community can get together to clean up out there. The more people we can get to put a shovel to dirt as a cohesive unit the better off we will be.

I will be out there a little bit this next week and Sunday/Monday this week and will try to do a bit of shoveling on some of Robert's trail.

 

We didn't make it out yesterday. I think we are going to head out today around 1:30 or so and hike to Jedi and try to do some work on it. Nothing fancy we just want to get a way up to the top cleared.

 

Hulda Crooks being destroyed by city...

Well, if you thought the flooding trashed Hulda Crooks, just wait until you see what the city of Loma Linda is up to. They are grading Scott's Canyon trail (the semi-fireroad trail to get to the base of Jedi). Two large earth movers were out there today. I called the city of Loma Linda to find out exactly how much they plan to ruin, but the guy in charge was not in, and his coordinator had no more information.

This is very unfortunate, since the flooding actually had reshaped Scott's canyon into more of a singletrack, which was shaping up to look pretty fun with increased bike use. (small silver lining since Jedi, Return of the Jedi, Snail, and Jackrabbit got trashed!)

Please call 909 799 4400 to voice your opinion to the city. This grading is going to result in a sandpit which will in all likelihood remain for the next year.

 

This is pretty typical for them up there. They actually re-do the fire road yearly up to 4 corners. I think they need to maintain the fire road to have access to all the electrical towers up there.

Good thing is that they usually leave anything beyond 4 corners alone, and there are some single track sections off the main fire road below 4 corners.

 

I rode up there yesterday and it was actually rideable all the way up Jedi! Well almost, maybe some of the mt. goats on this forum could have done it. Thee was also a lot of riders up there and even a guy hauling his kid in a trailer ( mad respect to you sir). I went down jackrabbit and was surprised how well this trail fared. It looked to only need work in a few minor spots. It's a shame about Return and that other one that drops into jedi, but I think this is a good opportunity to improve upper Jedi. I also think that middle Jedi has been improved and is now a lot more technical, but I do miss the jumps. I'm free pretty much all weekend if anybody wants to organize a shovel day.

I also have a question about moto cutting the side hill trails:

Could a mx bike actually be beneficial in cutting trails? I mean if you ran the trail a couple dozen times and goosed it over some of the lumpy stuff, you could then go over with shovels and be working with looser dirt and the motorcycle already did half the work. Even if you rode the motorcycle to cut into the side of the hill this could help to widen the narrow cuts right? I will donate myself and trusty KDX to the cause, plus I can lug all the equipment up a lot easier too

 

Yep. Moto's definately help to cut the trail but it'll eventually turn to sand with prolonged moto use.