With permission from the FS on Saturday I went and checked out the recent work on El Prieto. Though still closed, the trail is back! The AC100 crew (trail runners) spent a couple of days up there last weekend reclaiming/rebuilding the trail. It's a lot different to what it used to be. There's more exposure in many more places than there used to be, and there are a two really tight switchbacks that will give some people trouble on a bike. But overall, the trail is flowy and fun. There's a tree down near the bottom that is too low to ride, and the approach to it is steep and loose. Hopefully it will be cut out before the trail is opened, as the approach is steep and sandy and won't hold up to much "last minute" braking. Where the trail crossed the creek previously are where the biggest changes have happened. The creek used to be 5' wide, may 10' at the most. Now it is a flat, sandy stream bed about 20 - 30' wide. The trail crews have essentially just lined a path across the creek with rocks to keep people on track. In one section of the trail now you just ride down a sand wash for a few hundred feet, similar to the sand wash on Art Smith trail. The hillsides are lush with wildflowers, and many of the pine trees are sprouting from their trunks. PO isn't bad, but it is there and coming back strong. In some places it is hard to believe the earth was scorched gray and bare just a few months ago. The climb up to Brown is like single track in some places, with some very large washed out sections and ruts that will need attention, but overall it feels like single track and isn't bad. It has been graded as far up as the radio towers. Communications facilities are receiving top priority in the forest restoration. The sketchiest part of the Brown-Prieto loop is now the fire road from Brown Saddle down to El Prieto. There are some monster sized ruts that have to be hiked (though they could be made rideable with a little work), and some surprises that you can't see until you're right on top of them. A lot of mustard has grown in, along with other wildflowers, and much of what's left of the fire road feels like tight singletrack. This "fire road" is tighter and much more technical than El P at the moment. Until this is cleaned up (or at least the "surprise" washed out sections fixed), the loop probably won't be opened. While up there we shored up a couple of switchbacks with some rock armoring and cleaned up a few spots, over and above what the AC100 crew already did. One of the biggest issues for some time will be the tread condition. It's very sandy and loose, and in many places where the old trail is buried or new trail has been cut, there isn't a firm DG trail tread like there used to be. Climbing steeper sections in the sand will be difficult, and riding near the edge of the newly cut bench will have people washing out and rolling off the trail. When it opens, be careful, and try to ride the center of the trail tread, especially in the narrower (much narrower than they used to be) sections. The next FS volunteer meeting is a week from Wednesday, and we'll probably have a better idea of the forest opening dates/strategies. The local district manager is working hard to get parts of the forest opened up, but has to get the OK from his superiors. Our trail surveys are part of that process. Sunday I looked at Silver Mocassin, Vetter and Chilao trails so look for that report in a few days. Here are some pics from El P: Fire road. This was scorched and gray a few months ago: Low tree, too low for me to ride under: A path through the stream bed: The streambed filled with boulders where a trail used to be, so a new section was cut into the hillside next to the streambed: Exposed, with very soft edges, lined with rocks: The hillside above this section is just as unstable as the gully below it. This may get us through the summer, but will need reinforcement before the next rains: Sandy: Greenery on the return. Another section that was scorched: Part of the trail now just follows the stream bed: Many of the crossings are just paths lined with rocks: A really tight switchback. We put in these rocks above the switchback as a "choke point" to slow riders down. If you hit this too fast, you're going over the side and into the sandy streambed. The fire road climb to the saddle: Don't take the inside line coming down:
Wow, really looks different. Good to see the foliage is progressing as well as it is a few miles away in our backyard part of the fire zone. Thanks Kanga!
Yeah, it looks a helluva lot different to the scorched moonscape that I saw pictures of from December. Very reassuring. By contrast, the Chilao area still looks like a moonscape. It's colder, and the flora got a later start to their germination and re-growth. More on that in the coming days...
I will too. But I won't let that stop me from enjoying the "new" trail. One thing I didn't mention is that there are no longer any different lines. The illegal shortcuts that had been developed over the years. There is now only one option all the way down. In fact at one point a new section of trail that connects a portion of the original trail and a portion of the newer shortcuts has been constructed.
Thanks for the info. It looks like a lot of work has been done, but a lot still to go, especially throught those sandy sections and stream crossings
Thanks for posting the pictures. It's crazy that the fire road is now single track. Why did the runners get to do the trail work? Did they volunteer or just go and do it? Isn't the FS informing trail groups that they need us to help restore the trails? Seeing us all work together would be great! As for Chilao, it's going to kill some of us to see the pictures from that!
Wow! I was reading the blog of an Angeles Crest 100 trail runner. All runners participating in the aC100 they are required to spend 8 hours performing trail maintenance work.
