Rogers Road/Backbone Trailwork 10/30/10

Call me old fashioned, but I prefer my lemonade squeezed by hand..

Since virtually all Wilderness trail work is done by hand, along with the vast majority of work down here in the Cleveland National Forest, it's hard to see the need for heavy machinery. Especially on an old roadbed.

Pictures would be helpful, but it definitely sounds like OverKill. We had a wonderful brush canopy taken out by bulldozers during the Santiago Fire that'll take years, if not decades to grow back. Changed the whole character of the trail. For the worse.

Good luck with that lemonade. Sounds like you might need a lot of sugar.

 

And, since the section most being discussed in this thread WAS build by hand only a few years ago, and has NEVER been part of the original Rogers Road alignment, it's even a little more puzzling. But, I've seen this before. Sweco-mania has done some damage to more than a few of my favorites, including Lower Sam Merrill and Manzanita.

EDIT: Dusty, I've got big-time respect for you, but I think in this case you're wrong. If you look at the sections that have previously been Sweco'ed on Backbone, they're in worse shape now than they ever were...and I'm talking '20-years' historically. In fact, it can be argued that the bulldozing actually opened the way for the invasion of that tall wheat grass, where there normally would have been the slower-growing sage, yerba santa, sumac, etc.

 

I'm sorry, folks. Still having trouble figuring out which section got mashed up and what's still on the docket. Can someone have a look at this little map I put together and tell us where things have taken place, or are going to take place?

Since we are talking Rogers FR (I think), I numbered various sections of it as 1-5 in blue. Are these pertinent, or is the trailwork happening somewhere else?

Thanks and let me (us) know.

RIGHT CLICK on the pic to blow it out fullsize into its own window for a bit more detail



- shud

 

my understanding is that it section 1 and 2 (and maybe 3) on your map have already been done. It also seems grading the rest is in the works but that is unconfirmed.

 

Ahhhh, too bad. Really.

This is from Section 1:



Fairly overgrown FR that turned into ST that has now been Sweco'ed back into FR I would venture to guess? Damn.

These two I grabbed down somewhere between 2 and 3:





All gonna be FR soon. Damn.

- shud

 

I just read through all this and am baffled by one question: Why does this work need to be done; what's the justification?

 

Between the end of section 2 and the start of 3, there is a part where the trail is seriously rutted and could've used the work. They could be more fun at speed. Section 1 was single track and was the best part.

 

I cannot imagine what would possess anyone in their right mind to bulldoze, grade, flatten, trim, alter or change section 1 in any manner whatsoever. It plainly does not need any maintenance. As for the rest of the trail, it does get over grown in sections during the spring but is usually perfect by summer. You may not be able to carry as much speed into the rutted sections as you would like, but so what, it's a challenge to see how fast you can go. I would take it the way it is (was) over a flattened graded state any day.
As far as who is footing the bill, I am perplexed. The state has no money - this park was even on the closure list. I can't imagine this Dale guy is doing this out of the kindness of his heart for no compensation. So where is the money coming from? Earth moving equipment is not cheap.
I know of few trails, if any (unless you're talking fire or mud/rock slide damage) that would benefit from a dozer. I do a lot of hiking and backpacking in the Sierra Nevada and have never seen those trails graded. I see the CA Conservation Core out there all the time with their picks and shovels and the do an outstanding job maintaining those trails. Would anyone really want to hike, bike, horseback ride on a road when they could do it on a narrow trail? I mean isn't one of the reasons we get out into the wilderness to get away from the urban landscape.
thistrailisntlegal?, I like that you're so positive about this, but I don't think I can be so optimistic. Sure, it will be great to make some berms and doubles on the trail - that would be awesome. But can it really happen? Do we have carte blanche to build whatever we want? Regardless, I am definitely down for helping out. I am available Friday afternoons and the weekends. PM me and let me know what your plans are.
I'm going to try to ride it over the next few days. I'll post some photos.

 

I'm just guessing here, but I'd say the best way to prevent this kind of work being done (unless absolutely necessary) is to let the Rangers or other managing authorities know that we (mountain bikers, hikers and trail runners) will voluntarily maintain the trails in question. There may be times when re-routing or grading is the best way to solve certain trail problems, but one person's "sustainability" is another person's sterilization.

Old trailwork technique (before mountain biking) was to out-slope as much of the trail surface as possible so water run-off would spill off the downhill side of the trail, rather than run down it and create a rut. In-sloped roadbeds exaggerate this problem. But trails built and maintained for mountain bikes are improved by including banked turns, which keep tires (and bodies) on the trail and are more fun to ride. When trail managers are aware of the benefits and sustainability of banked turns for mountain bikes, and assured that the mountain bike community will maintain the trails, less unnecessary and ill-conceived trailwork will be done.

 

This Blows!! Loved that section of BB....

 

Track Of The Cat

Do you remember that not-quite-excellent drama starring Robert Mitchum, Beulah Bondi, and Tab Hunter? You know...the one where the intolerance of the mother, the alcoholic denial of the father, and the arrogance of the son basically destroy the family? Oh, yeah, and Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer stands by silent and helpless...

Well, I can't quite figure out how to connect that with the rest of the post, but I know there's a common theme in there somewhere.

Anyway, I did a ride on the upper part of the Rogers Backbone on Sunday, and I must say I was mighty disappointed. The first bit of trail was just as I fondly remember, but that tiny crystal of happiness was shattered by what came next. The Sweco had been here. They drove the thing up the fiirst fire break, then proceeded to do their worst. Fortunately, on this section of trail, which was lovingly hand-built by bicyclists, the cut was only one Sweco wide. They obliterated the fun rock garden, and smashed the corners off the big boulders that choke the trail at that point. The cut continued all the way to the saddle where the trail meets the old roadbed of Rogers Road...and there it got just plain ugly!

If the intent was to maintain the trail, then they completely f#(<ed it up big time. If the intent was to build a fire road, then they did a piss-poor job of that, too. Seems the only logic was 'not any narrower than 2.5 meters' with many sections about twice that wide. I only rode as far as the high point on the end of the first ridge traverse, and didn't bother to go any further. It was just too damn depressing.

Here, I will end my rant and provide visual evidence of the heinous destruction.


View from north, with Pacific Ocean in background.
Red path is Backbone Trail, blue path is Temescal Fire Road.
Yellow boxed section is the narrow cut, purple boxed section is the severe cut

 

I been pretty torn up about this destruction as well. Apparently it was a unilateral action by an overzealous and seriously misguided maintenance staff member who also works for the Santa Monica Trails Council. The ranger in charge of the area, Lynnette Brody, was not consulted prior to this "maintenance" and has been quite contrite and apologetic about the destruction.

If it's any consolation, the grading actually stops shortly after where you turned around and there are no plans to destroy the rest of the trail.

 

Thanks. Good to hear they will not finish the job. As it is, it's kinda like they cut off a few fingers and stopped when the victim sat up screaming.

 

Winter rains should help obliterate the "destruction."

 

Jeez, I can't even recognize any of the trail! Looks pretty bad right now. Hopefully rain and new growth will take their toll and the trail will get back before too long. One can hope...

Thanks for posting yer pics.

- shud

 

My guess - it's the dysfunction that was over whelming yet no effort made to change it is the connection that seems to elude you.

(Note: there is a whole thread in the defense of this on MTBR...and here as well, but your pictures bring the lunacy to light.)

 

Those pictures do look really bad. All I can say is that 'they' graded Sullivan and Westridge singletracks a couple years ago, turned the singletracks into 100 yard wide fire protection. Some of us spent time on Sullivan Ridge and made the trail better than it was previously. There's no excuse for the rangers to do what they did and thank god they stopped before going all the way to the bottom but I'll stand by my previous thoughts and say that the trail will be back in no time. Better yet, it would be awesome if Corba could arrange a couple work days to help reshape the singletrack. I sent Corba an email requesting a couple trail days or at least the contact information for the Rangers. If anybody is interested, please contact Corba and ask for help, too.

[email protected]

 

I concur, it really doesn’t look that bad, think of it as a clean slate to do as we please.

 

Yeah, that's exactly right. I personally know of about 10 folks who contacted the Ranger. And it stopped the second day of "maintenance" that was planned.

Anyway, I still don't understand the perspective of the folks who defend this kind of trail destruction as a way to make lemonade. This trail is NOT sullivan ridge, an unnofficial trail that is generally left untended where most things seem to be tolerated. Nope, it's part of the Backbone trail, a multi-use trail that, although the particular section that was graded gets more bike use than anything else (it's relatively remote), also has loyal users among the horse, hiker and trail runner crowds as well. The point is that folks are flat out delusional if they think state parks is gonna let any berm or jump construction take place on a trail that is designated for multiple use and used by multiple user groups. And honestly I don't blame them, it would be totally inappropriate.

 

Update:

Final word from the ranger is that the backbone trail from Temescal Fire Road all the way to Will Rogers park will be managed as a multi-use singletrack trail with a nominal target width of 3'. Although a sweco may occassionally be used to maintain the trail and deal with drainage issues she was very clear that the "maintenance" that was performed was completely inappropriate and will not be repeated nor continued.