Whiting Trail Conditions

I saw the park ranger for Whiting (Ev) yesterday as I was riding by the Oakley Factory. There is good news and bad news. The bad news is that he said it will probably be a couple of months before Whiting opens. Apparently Borrego is is horrible condition. Cactus is not so bad but Sleepy Hollow is torn up. He hasn't gotten to Vulture View yet. He had over 30 volunteers a few weeks back that helped clean up and will probably be calling for more in the near future.

The good news is that with the damaged trails, they can start fixing them up and making them even better than before without having to go through a permit process.

 

The Glen Ranch entrance at Whiting was open today. I didn't check the Borrego Entrance.

 

I saw that open earlier this week. I'm not sure if it's for going back and forth with the sandbags or if portions of Whiting are open. I know that the ranger said that Borrego would be closed for a while.

 

From the OC Parks Web Site......



12/28/2010: Extended closure due to storm damage
Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park is closed due to severe trail damage caused by recent storm activity. Restoration efforts are currently in effect and the park will be re-opened as soon as possible. ...

 

I think that's just for the parking lot-- maybe as a staging area for heavy equipment. I saw dump trucks in there a few days ago. All the access gates to the park itself are closed and will stay that way for some time (weeks, if not months).

I did a short trail assessment in there today (as an OC Parks Volunteer), and checked our recent trailwork. Cactus and Cattle Pond held up pretty well, but Borrego, Mustard and Sleepy Hollow are going to need a lot of work.

 

The gate on Glen Ranch is open to allow dump trucks in. They are dumping dirt in that fenced off area near the road. Not sure where all that dirt is coming from.

 

If you look at the pictures linked above, you can tell the Borrego entrance to Whiting is under 4 feet of mud! It's picture number 18.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ocparks/sets/72157625686007198/show/

 

wow that is insane! you cant get a clear picture of how much damage was done until you see pictures like that. incredible. thanks for the link!

 

WOW what a mess! #-o

 

Kioti, or anyone else with connections at OC Parks:
Is there any discussion of re-routing the Borrego Entrance at Whiting so that instead of dropping down through the gate and those first couple of low spots, the trail stays a little further up the slope? I know that trail crisscrosses the creek in many spots and always will, but it seems like the first couple hundred yards of that trail are always the worst after a rain.

Yesterday morning I did a quick loop around Peters Canyon. I saw several spots that were still muddy and deep enough that people were going off the trail and through the grass or bushes to avoid the mud. There are also some pretty big ruts in a few spots. I was surprised the park was open, and wished I hadn't ridden through, and I can just imagine what the harder-hit parks must look like. Personally I hope they start ticketing people who ignore the closures, and I'd like to see them sentenced to community service in the form of trail maintenance

 

I support ticketing too!

 

I've checked about half of Whiting and hope to walk the rest of it this afternoon. I'm especially interested in Borrego, Serrano and Live Oak as they are in canyon bottoms and subject to flooding. There has been talk of rerouting to higher ground and I'll check to see if that's practical.

Mustard Road near between the junction with Borrego and the turn-off for Billy Goat is one of the park's main problem areas. The road completely washed out and is now a river bottom. I assume they'll rebuild it because it provides access to Limestone Park.

Cactus, Cattle Pond and Sage Scrub held up well. Sleepy Hollow washed out in a couple spots and will probably require culverts or bridges, at least on the biggest washout where the pond drains into a ravine. I'll post more info after I finish my assessment and have a chance to talk to the Ranger.

 

"I've checked about half of Whiting and hope to walk the rest of it this afternoon"

We'd love pics if you're back there again. Thanks!

 

I was able to get into Whiting this afternoon to continue assessing damage from the storms. I rode down Mustard and my first shots show how the road is now a creek bed. I then continued down Borrego toward the entrance gate (reverse direction), and took random shots of mudslides and the washed-out trail. There were a lot of mudslides and some of them looked like huge lava flows. The next-to-last shot is looking up canyon near the entrance gate where the mud pit used to be. Borrego and lower Mustard are going to be the biggest challenges in figuring out how to reopen the park.

Over on the Serrano Cow/Live Oak side, there's comparatively little damage. Singletrack such as Cattle Pond, Cactus, Sage Scrub and Vulture View are in surprisingly good shape, but Sleepy Hollow will need extensive repair where the trail disappeared into a ravine.

I think it'll be difficult to reroute Borrego onto higher ground because of all the mudslides and because the canyon walls get steep in some spots. But the canyon floor has large areas that are mostly sand, and in other areas the old trail is buried under huge amounts of mud or is now a stream.

 

Most of Mustard Road held up pretty well except near the bottom where it's adjacent to the creek. There was an incredible amount of run-off due to so much rain in such a short amount of time, and perhaps lack of mature vegetation because of the Santiago Fire. The creek simply overflowed and took out the road, then continued down Borrego. The rest of Mustard (80 to 90% of it) had been regraded fairly well and there was little damage from the run-off, just a few ruts and some small mudslides in spots.

 

wow whiting looks pretty bad! Cant wait for it to re open

 

Found this pic. Just a comparison. Looks like two feet of mud to me.

 

Whiting Ranch: Sage Shrub Re-route 1-21-11

I met up with Jim aka kioti and Chris aka onefinecatch aka #13 ; )

I had some errands to run earlier so by the time I got there, they had starting the re-route and a good portion of the clearing was done. Why the re-route? It seems that when the rains came like most parks, it washed out part of the trail where Sage and Sleepy Hollow come out and merged onto Whiting Rd.





As you come from either Sage or Sleepy Hollow in Sleepy Hollow will still closed even after this section open due to trail damage. Here is that section coming from Sage/Sleepy Hollow junction:


and what it like before as you continue straight


The new section will turn right just before the Oak tree and send you towards the creek where Jim is and cross.


Not to much to clear here as Jim start to gather some on the branches




I continued work on the turn and shape it up a bit. Eventually, it'll get a berm and banked more.




Looking more and more like a trail here.


...and finally the finished product




Next the crossing. In order to continued the trail across the creek, we needed to gather some rocks to build a foundation.

Before


After


Once across the creek, it'll continued up the trail until you join in onto Whiting Rd.




It'll take some time, but this trail will have a nice flow after coming from Sage or Sleepy Hollow and more important is that it should hopefully be more sustainable.


The section of fire road that connects Whiting to Concourse to the left and Serrano Cow to the right is still a bit messy and sandy, but will pack in eventually.




There is another trail work event scheduled tomorrow morning to clear the hill slide on Whiting Rd. This will complete a lower loop since Borrego/Cattle Pond/Mustard loop section will be closed until Borrego can get cleaned up and repaired.

If you're interested in helping tomorrow, here is the thread: http://www.socaltrailriders.org/for...rk-needed-1-22-11-open-whiting-1-23-11-a.html

If all goes well Saturday, Whiting may open on Sunday and you could do a loop starting at Glen Ranch lot or Wahoo's to Line Shack, up Whiting Rd or Dreaded to 4 Corners, over to the Luge then re-enter at 4 Corners down Cactus/Sage or enter Stables and do Vultures View to Sage, Serrano Cow and Live Oak and out to Wahoo's or take Raptor to Glen Ranch parking.

 

Got 'er done. Nine of us showed up this morning and rebuilt the trail through the BIG landslide on the top of Whiting Road. It was hard work and we moved A LOT of dirt. If the Rangers are comfortable with flagging two washouts that took out the side of the road lower down, then it should get reopened.

After today's trailwork, I think everything ON THE "CACTUS" SIDE will be open-- with the exception of Sleepy Hollow. I heard at least two camelbaks bottom out. The Rangers will complete signage and flagging for hazardous areas, and the closed signs will come down later this afternoon.

Thanks for your patience in staying out while repairs were being done, and props to the Rangers for putting a rush on and getting at least half the park re-opened and rideable. Thank you to all of you who came out this morning and worked in the sun.. :bang: :clap:

 

So when you say Cactus side will be open, will the loop be something like entering Glen Ranch and going right to Coyote Brush road (the electrical tower)-Line Shack-Whiting Road-Cactus-Vulture View and back? Or is Dreaded the way to Cactus?

I'm linking a map since I had to look up Coyote Brush and Whiting Road names and I'm guessing some other riders would like a visual
http://www.whitingranch.com/images/stories/Files/trails.pdf.