Whiting Trail Conditions

Discussion in 'Trail Conditions' started by krishno22, Jan 1, 2011.

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  1. kioti

    kioti Active Member

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    ^^

    Good seeing you out there, Teebird. I'm glad you like the changes we made. There's a premium on singletrack in Whiting, and I think it should be fun, or peaceful, or tough and challenging based on the overall nature of the trail. Sleepy Hollow has always been a fun little jaunt through the woods, and with a third of the original trail permanently closed, it seemed reasonable to make the most of what we've got left. Before the fire, it was a great trail for hikers only, and now it's fun for everyone.
     
  2. j3rmz

    j3rmz New Member

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    I was also out there yesterday afternoon with 2 other buddiees. The trail as a whole wasn't as bad as I thought. It needs to see some more traffic so the terrain becomes more natural though since a lot of it has been bulldozed/bobcatted (or whatever you want to call it). We were only able to bike through about a 3rd of the sandy section in the beginning. Cactus was nice and packed like 2 years ago, and Sleepy Hollow was also a blast.
     
  3. krishno22

    krishno22 New Member

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    I rode the Borrego side of Whiting today. As I rode I kept thinking about all of the changes and thought maybe I'd tap into the teacher side of me and give the new layout a progress report. The following grades are based on Whiting and not comparable to other rides.

    Borrego - D+. Previously I would have rated Borrego a B+. It was a great way to start Whiting with some nice cool shade, the short but treacherous sand pit, and the balanced uphill switchback. Now it has so much sand at the beginning that you have to HAB. I'm normally pretty good in the sand with my 29er but the distance you have to travel is so long and deep that I was looking for David Hasselhoff playing a lifeguard and Pamela Anderson running in slow motion. There are a few interesting changes but the trail is definitely wider and they've removed the uphill switchback (as seen in previous pictures).

    Cattle Pond - A-. Previously I would have given it a B. Lets face it, Cattle Pond is just a quick extra credit that goes by almost as fast as the first time you have sex. The downhill is fun. It has a great flow, some bumps that you could take or roll over and has really smoothed out. I'm sure this will change as more riders take it and apply their brakes on the downhill.

    Mustard - B-. Previously I would have given it a B-. Still a fire road with less rocks now. Great to climb it again but I'm preferring Dreaded nowadays. I'm looking forward to combining the two. Without it there would be no cardio in my bike rides.

    Sleepy Hollow - A-. Previously I would have given it a B-. I'd ride it every now and then but always saw it as a way to get my ride done faster. Now I wish the entire place had that flow. It's too bad it ends so quickly. Any chance you could make Cactus feel that way? I'm going to have to figure out a way to be able to do Vulture and still get back to Sleepy Hollow without hitting traffic. Good work!

    Well that's my update. Not sure if it will mean anything to anyone else since everyone has their own grading system in their head. I really appreciate everything the rangers, Kioti, and all of the other volunteers have done.
     
  4. kioti

    kioti Active Member

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    ^^

    Thanks for the report card, Krishno. I rode the whole park myself tonite, to see how it all fits together. I had to HAB Borrego, too.. for about 150 yards. There were also a couple stream crossings where the entries and exits could be better lined up.

    I'm hoping to get some rain (and maybe a dump truck load of dirt) to finish the berms on Sleepy Hollow. The current ones on a couple turns will probably get blown out. Otherwise, I agree that both it and Cattle Pond are more fun than they used to be and over way too soon.

    Live Oak and Serrano Cow were in great shape (thanks to the Rwanda trailwork?).
     
  5. Revalimage

    Revalimage Active Member

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    Great RR-card. I have dragged out 2 begginers through Whiting and love the changes to Cattle Pond and Sleepy Hollow. The opportunities for air on Cattle Pond are fun. Yes Borrego is a bear - but just in the first couple 100 yards. Then it get kinda back to normal. The tight switchback is gone, but there is another that is working itself into a tough turn and climb up some babyhead rocks. I have definitely noticed a big drop in bike traffic with Borrego being so sandy.

    Gotta the flow on Sleepy Hollow and the reroute at the end keeps you on you toes - was used to flying through there with the little bumpy section - but the berm Gene and Jim built works great to get you back on track ;)
     
  6. krishno22

    krishno22 New Member

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    I went out and walked Cactus, Sleepy Hollow, and Sage Brush with Kioti the other day. For those of you that don't know, Kioti really is an amazing trail builder/maintainer and without him I think that Whiting wouldn't be as good as it is. He has so much knowledge and vision for the trails. I hope that the new park ranger will listen to his ideas for the park. Thanks for opening my eyes to what it takes to maintain the trails, I don't think I'll ever take them for granted again.
     
  7. kioti

    kioti Active Member

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    Thanks to all of you for the support, whether in positive posts, discussions out on the trail, phone calls and PM's, or helping with the actual trailwork. As many of you know, I was happier with the trails in Whiting before the Santiago Fire. There were more of them and they were a lot more challenging. I'd love to see the return of the old Cactus, the reopening of mini-Cholla, the return of the full length of Sage Scrub including the hill at the top and the stream crossing at the bottom, and the reopening of Upper Pond trail. I've lobbied hard but so far without result.

    Since that hasn't happened (yet), I've done what I could to make the existing trails as fun as possible. If a reroute had to be made, I've tried to make it flow. If water had to be diverted, I've tried to avoid speed-bump style waterbars. I've replaced off-camber turns with banked and bermed turns, and rebuilt them after they were destroyed. Because of the multi-use designation on most of the trails, the goal has been to make the park more fun for bikes without doing anything that would detract from the hiker's and equestrian's experience. Hopefully we've found a good balance.
     
  8. Lefty Kev

    Lefty Kev Exiled Brit

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    What I want to know is if Borrego is not sustainable after major storms, why the decision makers wouldn't be open to the idea of rerouting the trail at higher ground like it has been previously suggested? Surely this is the way forward? :?:
     
  9. kioti

    kioti Active Member

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    That seems like the quickest and least expensive fix, but I don't think it's going to happen. Gene Frial, Ken Rands and I walked the trail with the acting Ranger and the Trail Maintenance Supervisor last week, and it was certainly discussed. It does look feasible that a trail could be built on the slope, but I think they want to try to make the sand more rideable.

    The entry gate area will probably stay where it is, but be raised to keep it dry. There's a second sandy area farther up the trail, and a short detour may be built onto the bank to get around the worst of it. Otherwise, Borrego's in fairly good shape.. at least until the next big storm. ;)
     
  10. no worries

    no worries Member

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    Finally rode it last night. Thanks to the rain that morning, most of the sand was pretty packed. I had to HAB the starting beach but that was it.

    I can tell a lot of work went into getting the trail back open, thanks so much. I was almost nostalgic riding it again last night; I learned to MTB on that very trail 2 years ago. I missed some of the features already :(

    Unfortunately there are many many episodes of packed sand that will by June be beaches themselves. This was the case every summer before, except now these sections are much longer and have fewer rocks to help push through. Without some major re-routing in a number of areas, I don't see how this part of the trail will be rideable by summer. And with next year's wet season it'll be a new problem every year.

    Kioti, how do you mean "make the sand more rideable"? Import soil/rocks? Boards?
     
  11. Lovin

    Lovin Calmer 'n you are

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    I rode Whiting today. Up Borrego to Mustard/CattlePond, Up Mustard, Right and Up to the bench, Down Cactus and Sleepy Hollow and out.

    There are only short sections of deep sand on Borrego. It was great to ride in the park again and climbing Mustard was particularly fun. The park is recovering nicely and the trails show the sweat that has been put into them.

    Thanks for all the hard work!
     
  12. kioti

    kioti Active Member

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    That's a good question. There was talk about bringing in some decomposed granite or trying a soil hardener. We talked a little about boards, but they'd have to be 6-8 feet wide and go for about 200 yards. That's a lot of wood (especially when it could all wash away again..)!?! But I'm not sure it's out of the question.

    And you're right.. there are other areas of sand farther up the trail. We might be able to avoid most of the worst one, and see how the rest of it looks when it all dries out. It's a cool trail and needs to be rideable.
     
  13. Teebird

    Teebird A band-aid isn't going to work this time

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    Road Whiting tonight on our weekly Wednesday night ride. Our group talked about boards too. My issue would be with the hikers using the boards and getting passed by the bikes. 99% of the hikers on the trail are very nice and move over for the bikes, but being on a wooden path brings with it a sense of not wanting to "get off" some sort of "bridge." I could be totally off but it's something to think about. Moving the trail on the side of hill is the way to go.
    PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: POISON OAK IS HANGING IN THE TRAIL IN SOME SPOTS. BE CAREFUL.
     
  14. no worries

    no worries Member

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    Whiting Report:

    Boreggo is slowly getting worse, even with the recent rain. There are a couple beach sections developing, pity.

    Holy crap Cactus is fast right now. More work has been done (kioti?), opening up some sight lines and smoothing out a lot of braking bumps. It's really, really fast.

    The berms look like they got some attention on Sleepy Hollow, or maybe it was jut the rain. But I saw less tracks pushing through them. More importantly though, the drop down to the creek has been completely torn up and repacked and is way way smoother. You can nail the single switchback at the end.
     
  15. kioti

    kioti Active Member

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    It wasn't me but I'm glad to hear those trails got some well-deserved attention.
     
  16. genrec

    genrec Member

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    Whiting open ...anyone ride it since that bit of rain Sat night??
     
  17. joytron

    joytron New Member

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    I would avoid the western side, but other than that cactus/sleepy hollow were great. The ground was extra tacky but surprisingly not muddy.
     
  18. guero

    guero iFroth

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    Current Whiting Trail Conditions(Merged/Last update: 12-26-11)

    I rode Whiting/STT/Luge today Whiting is still a stinky and sloppy mess near the main entrance. I made it through the slop, small mud pits with no dabs and was proud of myself. It was like a mini skills course, lol. The sand pits are still there, and I dont mind walking them. The little g-outs on the backside of Whiting still have some water in them.

    STT/Luge dirt was in great shape, STT was pretty overgrown in a few areas, other than that, nothing major to report.

    Side note, some lets just call them "not very cordial" guys were descending STT. As myself and some young 10 year old kid were climbing "Puke-Hill" they came hauling ass down, the first didn't even move over to the right. Well as the third guy was approaching, I moved to the center of the trail to hopefully ensure he would slow down and yield to us as we were climbing. As he got closer, he didnt even move over, and to make it worse, I could hear his ear buds blaring music as he passed by us. If a trail is wide enough where a downhill rider can safely continue on by without stopping, that is fine and dandy. But on this section of STT, the s/t was narrow due to the thick foliage.
     
  19. Teebird

    Teebird A band-aid isn't going to work this time

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    I ride Whiting a lot also since I live there and can ride out of my garage. The trail through Borrego and the first part of Mustard has NEVER been worse when open. They just graded up the bottom of Mustard for, in my opinion, no reason. The rangers could easily drive their trucks through that part. The sand pits are getting a lot bigger and now we have sand on the bottom of Mustard because of the grading. It ain't gettin' better, it's getting worse. I'm all up for some volunteerin' to fix it up. I bet a lot of people would be. I'll drag my teenager out there since he needs some voluteer hours. Kioti, when we gonna fix it up?
     
  20. kioti

    kioti Active Member

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    It sounds like they're finishing some work in there that was postponed from last winter. West Mustard, heading toward Vista Point, had some major damage due to the December storms, and maybe they've had to regrade the bottom of Mustard to get the heavy equipment through. We could put in a request to the Ranger that they water and pack the road during the process and see what happens..

    I'm surprised Borrego hasn't been fixed yet. I think the current plan is to use a tractor to scoop up the sand and move it to the side of the trail (or haul it out of the park). The hope is there's firm soil underneath. There's a new Senior Park Ranger, John Gump, so maybe he'll be able to get it done.
     
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