Lots of Work Done on Pinyon Ridge Trail

07/Jun/08 -- Lots of Work Done on Pinyon Ridge Trail

Greetings, Internets!

And a nice week end it was in the Crystal Lake Recreation Area working on trail restoration along the Pinyon Ridge Nature Trail. Since we had a number of Boy Scouts with us, we were able to split in to two teams and a whole lot of work was accomplished.

The team I was on was the chainsaw / handsaw team which consisted of Tom, one Boy Scout, Lou, and myself. I think there were 8 trees down across the trail and there was about the same number of branches that needed to be removed since they blocked the trail (or hikers had to crash through them.) Tom and the Scout did all of the cutting with the chainsaw while the whole team worked to pull trees and tree limbs off of the trail.

Freddie (USFS) and the USFS intern worked with the San Gabriel Mountain Trailbuilder volunteers Janette, Ben, and Wayne, and the rest of the Scout troop, working on the trail from the head of the trail (at the foot bridge) and working their way up the Eastern side of the loop (which forms the circular trail) cutting growth from off of the trail and widening the path in areas that had become difficult to determine exactly where the trail was.

[I just read that sentence back and good grief, I don't speak English very well. Difficult sentence structure but then I ain't a poet.]

Pinyon Ridge is one of the neater trails in the Crystal Lake basin since some parts of the year it crosses three streams, at least one of which has enough water for intrepid and unafraid (of contracting a dreaded disease; the USFS warns people not to drink from the streams because they want us all to live) hikers to drink from.

The trail crosses a number of "micro environments" which range from heavy shade to exposed escarpments of San Gabriel granite.

The trail passes close by "Goliath," a 400-year-old oak tree located at North 34 degrees 19.377 by West 117 degrees, 49.884 at 5668 feet altitude (shown in a photograph linked to below.) There is also an overlook that gives a great view generally South toward the San Gabriel Valley and the Pacific Ocean. (The resting bench there has fallen apart and will be replaced some time this year.)

After lunch the chainsaw team broke up, the Scout joining the larger team, Lou and Tom working to clear the mud and rock out from under one of the wood bridges that cross a stream that runs all year around, and myself who worked at the "Y" where the circular trail splits (I was later joined by Jennette working to clear growth from the trail near the "Y.")

That foot bridge, by the way, has long been a concern by the Trailbuilders since many times of the year the water flows over the bridge, flooding out the surrounding trail and hillside. Hikers often must slog through the mud before they cross the bridge during some parts of the year. Fortunately, Lou and Tom managed to dig out the rock and mud from under the bridge and, while it still needs some work, the water is now flowing under the bridge, not over it.

A whole lot of work got done though there were only 14 of us. Actually the regular trailbuilders commented about how much work was accomplished. Since the weather wasn't hot, we were all able to work on the trail steadily and with not much discomfort -- aside from a number of cuts and scratches which is expected for this kind of work.

On the way back to the trailhead, the San Gabriel Mountains Trailbuilders stopped by to look at Goliath and see how the tree was doing. A whole lot of history has come and gone in the time span that the tree has lived on that hill. There are a fairly large number of ancient oak trees in the Crystal Lake basin and they're something that visitors to the area should stop by and see.