Greetings, SPers!
I have not signed in for a couple of years however I thought I would start participating again, starting with a comment about Upper Bear Creek Trail which has its trail head in the San Gabriel Mountains above Azusa along Highway 39 at mile marker 30 (behind the toilet.)
http://crystallake.name/cs.htm
Volunteers are currently starting the restoration on this trail in the aftermath of the heavy rains that we saw last month, and tomorrow marks the first day of restoration with heavy mudslides and blockages being removed. Some areas of the trail heading up to Smith Mountain Saddle will require retaining walls to be installed and other heavy work.
If you ever wondered what hard, hot, difficult trail repair work was like and wanted to join an effort, we start tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. at the base of the mountain on Highway 39 across from mile post 17 next to the large water tank, meeting in the U. S. Forest Service building which has a bronze statue of two children playing on a tree trunk out front.
I am going to ask the San Gabriel Mountains Trailbuilders to work on the trail every week end so that the trail can be restored quickly as the weather improves. There is talk of Caltrans re-opening the highway this year all the way to the Crystal Lake Recreation Area so I personally would like to see the trail up to Smith Mountain Saddle fully restored by then (since the Trailbuilders are going to be swamped with other volunteer work in the campgrounds.)
Email me at fred@sgmtrailbuilders.org if you want further information. Anyone who wants to volunteer on days that are not scheduled by the Trailbuilders, please email me and let's see if we can get together work crews to form a group with safe numbers to add to the repair effort.
It's fun! It's hard work, of course, but it is also awesome fun.
by 