Santa Ana's trail conditions(BS, Harding/MS/HJ/Trabuco/WHT, etc..,) >Updated 01-18-15

Thanks Gene for RUT patrol...... just to be clear I was not complaining ... just reporting the conditions as I saw them on the MW. It is definitely in good condition.
OTOH I kinda like the full scree at the top (I know others don't) ... for whatever reason I ride that pretty well / relaxed and tend to put distance on my buddies on that section.
But conditions always are a changing we will keep our eyes open. I just seemed to had lots of "run ins" with a bunch of the non-movable rocks this weekend.

 

I rode B* to the peak this weekend. Overall the trails are in great shape. I noticed the work that was done on Motorway and appreciated it, even if I was more timid than normal on the trail.

The Main Divide between Pleasents and Motorway had some sections that were fairly torn up. Some sections were cool because they are basically down to single track with wash outs on the rest of the trail (I assume this is from everyone pre-running for VQ). A few of the downhills were washed out and took a little more thought than usual. Also, one of the normally rutted areas had some REALLY deep ruts and wash outs. The worst was going down into the sweeping 180 right about 14 miles in (fairly fast section). Its hard to describe, but it is by the water tanks? They were bad enough they could really grab someone if they weren't expecting it.

The Forrest service was grading the MD up by the peak on Saturday too. By the time I got to the top they were grading down towards Holy Jim.

 

I rode West Horsethief- Main Divide- Holy Jim yesterday, and the "grader crew" was on Main divide just before I passed the UHJ trail. It looked like they were working on clearing some small sections, but nothing too big.

 

Yup - I rode Maple to the Peak and down the Jims on Sunday, and the grader had been working on MD between Four Corners and UHJ too (and we say the crew and gear between UHJ and LHJ). There were a bunch of short stretches where the freshly turned soil was soft - tricky on the downs and drag city on the climbs.

It won't take too many riders going through to pack everything in well though, so by the time I roll through in 12,071st place everyone else will have made a nice trail for me. Thanks!

 

Here's some pics from Treve of the PO they cleared on WHT

As you can see, the PO head high







Much better than before

 

Rode BS-Motorway, today. Looked good to me, although Motorway raped several of my tubes... :O

 

I'll be heading back up MW to complete that rut repair before next Sat as I picked up a new tool for breaking up hard ground. My pick axe didn't do the job so I picked up a tamper head digging bar

 

Thank you once again for all that you do Warrior's. I still can't believe I'm seeing you guys clear PO without sleeves on! Crazy people.

 

Finished up filling that rut today. That tamper head digging bar did the trick, but it was load to carry up.

Here's the before..,


and the after...,



I added a couple water bars and drainage, so hopefully it'll be fine with any small amount of rain that is forecast. At some point we'll need to completely re-slope it and put drainage up trail so it doesn't keep being an issue year after year.

 

Gene the Machine ....and His New Tool ....Filling the Trench...Nice Job!

 

The Thanks Button is insufficient for all of the trail work that has been done.

 

Thanks guys. Keep in mind, there are still some of the smaller ruts along the trail, but nothing to be worried about. I only took care of the 2 sections I posted in the pics and a couple smaller ones if the dirt was soft enough to dig

 

I rode MW for the first time yesterday afternoon. You must have been there just before me. I didn't notice that big rut coming down. Thanks for all the hard work!

 

Today i rode both upper and lower holy jim, solo, right after the rain. All was in good shape and tacky perfect dirt. Saw a bobcat at the top of uhj. was cold cloudy and windy up tehre!

 

We got a little early gift from the low pressure moving into the area tomorrow. Hard rain around the south end of the range this afternoon. Wed AM ride could be nice...

 

Trabuco Canyon west horsethief to main divide trail blocked?

Exploring some new trails, going up Trabuco canyon, past the holy jim fire dept building, on the single track/west horsethief.. going up nice single track, crossing dry creek as the trail went up the canyon. after a couple of miles, a bunch of felled trees blocked the trail going up the canyon... another trail crossed the creek and continued but up and away from Trabuco creek.. anyone know if west horsethief is blocked to main divide? any good ways to main divide from Trabuco canyon? was a beautiful fall ride w/ no one on the trail... some pictures attached going up Trabuco, think I was on west horsethief...

 

any suggestions on attaching photos .. str says file too large...

 

Probably with the wind blowing the way it was, along with the rain and really dry soil, they fell over.



I am sure sure someone will go out and clear the trail.

Other option would be Holy Jim.

 

holy jim was one tough trail to go up..

 

And Trabuco and WHT are easier???? :bang: