SummitPost.org

Now go home.

Over a year after The Station Fire...the closure continues until at least September 2011
Strawberry Peak closed
Mt. Lawlor closed
Condor Peak closed
Mt. Lukens closed
Hoyt Peak closed
Fox Peak closed
Mt. Pacifico closed
Mt Lowe Closed
Echo Mountain closed
Inspiration Peak closed
Tujunga Canyon closed
Trails closed throughout burn area

And not to mention:
Crystal Lake area closed
Williamson Rock closed
Pacific Crest Trail closed

I can deal with avoiding certain areas, but it must really suck for people who have PCT plans that have taken months or even years of planning to find out they can't do it by the book.

Closed, but not air tight.

i've asked this before and i'll ask this again... but any lawyer-types interested in a test case of all the public land closures in socal?

SpiderSavage wrote:Closed, but not air tight.

True. (5x...wink, wink, nudge, nudge...say no more!)

http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_15861588

Marty Dumpis, deputy forest supervisor of the Angeles National Forest:

"It's not just safety but also we have to allow the area to recover because if we allow people to start trampling over regrowth then they've just set it back another year. We hope people will be patient enough, allow natural recovery to begin, and then we can get some of these areas open."

These guys spend their time in offices in Pasadena. Sometimes I wonder if they ever even go into the mountains to see it for themselves. The idea that people are going to trample on plants is absurd, what an idiot that guy is for saying such a stupid thing. Doesn't he know people use TRAILS and FIRE ROADS to hike and bike on? I guess he thinks people will go running all over the hills trampling plants...damn public, gotta keep 'em out!

Gary Schenk wrote:

NancyHands wrote:I can deal with avoiding certain areas, but it must really suck for people who have PCT plans that have taken months or even years of planning to find out they can't do it by the book.

Considering the number of fires thruhikers have started with their alcohol stoves over the years, it's hard to have a lot of sympathy for them.

I've never heard this before. In fact I've never heard of an experienced backpacker/hiker or climber being the cause of a forest fire though I'm sure it's happened. Seem unlikely that thru hikers are major contributors to forest fires.

Er...at this point, I'd like to inject a little sanity into the thread.

The FS guy who said 'trample on plants' is a desk jocky of the first order. The bigger concern at this point is invasive species. A few months back there was work being done on the west side of Pacifico, and they had set up this huge contraption in the road called a 'wheel washer', which (you guessed it!) washed the wheels of every construction vehicle that entered the road. All it would take is a few English mustard seeds or Russian thistle seeds, and that whole mountainside would be permanently transformed.

Another concern could be habitat study. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to study what happens in a newly-formed 'snag forest'. Also, there are many species that do not live well in 'snag forests' that have been pushed into the remaining intact forest. This is causing a good deal of stress for these critters.

Another concern could be erosion. Much of the off-trail soil has been softened, making it very easy for people to 'break off' the edges of the trail.

Anyway, just some more thought-fodder...

Gary Schenk wrote: Read some of the books and journals and you'll be amazed at how many have never backpacked before starting out. People show up in Campo with hammocks because that's what worked on the AT and are shocked to discover there are no trees.

I imagine you're right. I've seen a bit of that myself. My goal is to do the PCT with my son the year he graduates high school. I could leave out the Campo to Kennedy Meadows portion, but if you're going to do it might as well do the whole thing.

Tom Kenney wrote:

SpiderSavage wrote:Closed, but not air tight.

True. (5x...wink, wink, nudge, nudge...say no more!)

Has anybody been up to the top of Strawberry Peak lately? Probably a few, no doubt.

Few of the routes we do to the peaks are on trail.

Which ones are those? Most of the peaks have well established use trails to the summit. These peaks in the closure area, the "Front Range" as it's called, have been popular with hikers and HPS peak baggers for a over a hundred years.

Another concern could be erosion. Much of the off-trail soil has been softened, making it very easy for people to 'break off' the edges of the trail.

I think most of the trails have been repaired. I know there was quite a lot of work done by volunteers last spring.

I'm strongly of the opinion that the forest should be open. But, in truth there is quite a bit more work to be done on the trails . . .

In the conversations I've had with forest service folks (mostly during trail work sessions), the biggest single concern seems to be safety/liability. I wouldn't expect the closure to be lifted any time soon either.

(ps. this was my first attempt to post a picture - hope I didn't screw it up.)

Gary Schenk wrote:Few of the routes we do to the peaks are on trail.

you walk straight through yucca?

agreed

labgloves wrote:

I'm strongly of the opinion that the forest should be open. But, in truth there is quite a bit more work to be done on the trails . . .

In the conversations I've had with forest service folks (mostly during trail work sessions), the biggest single concern seems to be safety/liability.

I agree with your sentiment. I wonder how serious they are about liability. they opened the forest this year on Memorial Day, and within two weeks a man died because he can't find the trail and there are NO signs, NO websites or other resources to find trail conditions, and NO ONE can tell you anything if you call the FS station. In fact most of the time you get voicemail messages that say all the mailboxes are full and you can't leave a message.

I found the dead hiker and it is very clear to me that the awful trail condition (you can hardly find it even if you know where it is) was a major factor in his death.
http://sangabrielmnts.myfreeforum.org/i ... highlight=

The poor man ended up in Vasquez creek, missing one shoe and his glasses, and descended unsafely down eight waterfalls before he died. You can get water here but you can't get out. Sadly, had he found the right trail, there was also water available there on the west fork of Vasquez creek. The trail has weeds over your head and more trees falling all of the time. We trampled some with search and rescue, but it is terrible.

I also hiked fox-condor trail, and the condition down from fox to stonyvale is pretty sketchy too.