Note: The first two photographs that you see on this page are of the major
erosion problem that was reported followed by a photograph showing the final
repairs after the volunteers were finished for the day. Is that awesome
work or what?!
The next two photographs show the major rock fall at around the 2.25 mile
point as work on fixing the problem started, followed by a photograph
showing the trail cleared and the soil retaining rock wall built.
To see the large boulder you must click on the links offered below. To see
Trailbuilder volunteer Bernie lending a hand cleaning Forest Service windows,
a link is also offered below (volunteers are awesome!)
Today was really the first major volunteer effort in the San Gabriel
Mountains since October due to
the heavy
rains that we have been experiencing in Southern California, and
though the morning started off mildly cool, the day shaped up to be have
excellent weather for what we needed to do today!
Last week the
San Gabriel Mountains
Trailbuilders received reports of difficult problems along the first
2.25 miles of
Upper
Bear Creek Trail, problems which included extensive erosion, rock
slides, a heavy rock fall, and one very large boulder weighing about 5,000
pounds or so, all of which needed to be fixed quickly before next week when
the trail needs to be accessible to
horses and
mules. (We also wanted to
show the Forest Service how quickly and professionally the
Trailbuilders leap in to action when problems are reported.)
Looking at the photographs of the major problems (offered below in the list
of photographs) I had thought that we would need maybe 3 days of work before
the trail could be cleared enough to use safely. The photographs did not
give a good impression of the extent of the blockages, however, so my
initial belief that
feathers and
wedges would be needed to break up rocks was mistaken.
The morning began at 7:00 a.m. with Ben from the Trailbuilders lurking in
my driveway. Since he was awake at 2:30 this morning, he got an early start
on the volunteer day!
After tossing water in to an old Army ruck sack, Trailbuilders Ben, Bryan
and I headed to the
Gateway Information
Center located at the base of the mountain on
Highway
39 around survey marker 17 where over the next hour or so more
volunteers gathered before 8:00 came, then we headed North to the
Rincon Fire
Station.
At the fire station we collected
McLeods,
shovels, rock bars, a
Pickaxe and various
other tools (I brought a coil of rope just in case) then we called
Los
Angeles County Dispatch to let them know where we would be working.
From Rincon we drove further North along Highway 39 to the trail-head.
Ben, as always, offered the daily safety run-down, covering the
Job Hazard
Analysis for the day as well as an overview of the tools we would
be using, the hazardous local flora and fauna, and other safety issues
we might encounter during the day's volunteer efforts.
After the safety review we hit the trail, spreading out somewhat with six
volunteers heading toward the major boulder fall about 2.25 miles up, and
other volunteers heading toward the major erosion spot where a deep runnel
had formed along a section of about 40 feet of trail.
Since I was in the forward group heading for the large rock falls I did not
get to see how the major erosion problems would be handled. That would come
later on the return trip but for now we hiked up the trail at a fairly brisk
rate since we wanted to ensure that all major objectives would be achieved
by the evening.
As everyone who has hiked Upper Bear Creek Trail before knows, the first
mile is fairly steep but after the first mile things level off and the
rising gradient is easy to hike. A number of volunteers pointed out that
the first mile was a lot longer than the second mile. LOL! It
certainly feels like it.
Along the way we got to look at the problems that were reported and at the
major erosion problem we paused to wonder how the volunteers were going to
handle it. Part of the solution is not just filling in runnels but also
installing Water bars
to divert running water off of the trail so that future rains do not remove
the repairs that take time and effort to perform.
We finally got to the first area that the forward crews would handle. This
site was the location of
previous
work performed by the Trailbuilders to blast a suitable trail under a
granite rock face where
the rock is highly fractured and was expected to continue to
calve (ice calving)
basically forever (since the San Gabriel Mountains rise on average some 2
inches every year.)
Some of the boulders weighed maybe 200 pound or more so maneuvering the
rocks and boulders over the side took considerable effort, more so when
some of the boulders we needed to keep to re-establish the retaining rock
wall that had been damaged in the fall.
It is so very often the way that 90% of the work gets done within the first
hour, and the last 10% goes slowly with much more effort than the rest of
the work required. The volunteers spent a great deal of time picking through
the rocks and boulders available, selecting rocks that would interlock on the
outside edge of the trail so that soil retention of a fairly wide trail could
be established, one that would last.
It's easy enough to clear a trail of rocks, boulders, tree limbs, downed
trees, standing water, choking brush and such, but the Trailbuilders spend
a great deal of their efforts trying to ensure that things they fix stay
fixed for a reasonable amount of time. That requires thinking about and
discussing ways to do things so that they last, and today was no exception.
When we were finished with that rock fall and the retaining wall had been
established and the trail raked clean, we were left with an awesome repair
job -- and just in time for lunch!
Lunch for me was Ritz Crackers and about half a gallon of water. Some of
the volunteers looked for cool places in the shade to have lunch, and Mike
looked over and rejected a spot with
poison
oak which does not have leaves at this time of the year but still have
stems that should be avoided. Since I like poison oak, after eating
my crackers I cleaned out the nearby stream of poison oak that was
encroaching on the trail, and I cleaned out the clogging so that the water
would flow a bit more more quickly off the trail.
Probably tomorrow or the next day I'll break out but for now as I type this,
no overt signs of poison oak poisoning are apparent.
The rock fall was a major job however further up the trail was an even
bigger job though it was only three or four boulders. The biggest one,
however, was easily 5,000 pounds and flat enough on all sides that it
could not be rolled.
Right away we looked at possible ways to fracture the huge boulder since
after having pushed it as far as it would go toward the edge of the trail,
it could not be budged any further. Horses need to be able to use the trail
and so we had removed large boulders along the way as we hiked but lacking
our largest rock bars, chipping chunks off of this boulder was the only way
to get it manageable.
This boulder was difficult. We spent over an hour chipping away at it with
the tools at hand, using rock bars and a whole lot of effort to slowly nudge
it inch by agonizing inch to the edge of the trail so we could dump it over.
While we were doing this, a fair number of hikers passed, and one hiker
stayed and watched for about 30 minutes, offering to help (which was
politely declined.)
Creating a fulcrum out
of rocks was amusing because the soft friable granite kept breaking apart,
and when we utilized harder granite we would lever the boulder and merely
drive the rock fulcrums in to the yielding moist earth under them.
Using rocks, we placed short metal rock bars across them, used the metal
as a fulcrum, then used the largest metal rock bar as the lever and
eventually we were able to elevate parts of the rock so that we could
shove other rocks carefully under the boulder.
It is amazing what people can do with just 3 metal bars and a whole
lot of sweat.
By the time we were able to literally utilize a lever to bounce the boulder
generally toward the canyon edge, the hiker had given up watching and had
obtained the far canyon trail, so when we finally bounced the boulder to
the edge and shoved it over the side, he missed watching it go over, but the
noise was awesome! Way off across the canyon the hiker stopped and looked
when the noise reached him.
(The other team over a mile away and still working on the major erosion
problem also heard the noise and wondered what it was. Ben thought it might
have been the large boulder going over the side and it was!)
It was around 2:30 p.m. or so by the time the rubble around the big boulder
was removed, the trail raked and cleaned up, the setter wall examined, and
we pointed our feet East toward the trail-head. Along the way back down we
got to see the work that the other volunteers did until we met up with them
still working the trail at the major erosion place.
The rock slides had been cleared, boulders all along the way removed, and
the major erosion problem had been repaired, and in addition to the entire
length being filled in and reworked, the dirt berm along the trail section
had been removed and a number of water diversions had been established to
ensure that the problem would not reoccur.
All of the volunteers gathered at that point, picked up tools, and continued
on down the mountain to the trail-head and back down to the
Valley of
the Moon parking lot just above
Coldbrook Campgrounds.
Once there we collapsed in the shade offered by some cars, noted that two
vehicles had been ticketed for parking in clearly-marked NO PARKING zones,
and then waited for all volunteers to come down off the trail.
Then it was back to Rincon where we examined the tools, put them away,
informed Angeles Dispatch that we were finished for the day, and then we
all headed down the mountain and to much-deserved showers (and for me some
aspirin to deaden the ache a bit.)
What fun it was, too! We should do this every day!
A look at the upper rock fall from across the canyon
A second look shows the hazard better
Another rock fall causing difficulty for hikers
The Big Boulder and offspring
Another look at a rock slide
An awesome amount of erosion caused by the heavy rains that Southern Cal got
Topological map of the major problems which were fixed today
High quality: Major rock slide before work begins
High quality: Another view of this major blockage from the other side
High quality: After the blockage has been removed
High quality: Another look at the first bloackage after being cleared
High quality: Another section along a wall gets cleared
High quality: A whole lot of work can be done by a single volunteer
High quality: The blast site after the rock fall has been removed
An High quality: Another major rock slide before work begins
High quality: That same rock slide in the process of being removed
High quality: The entire rock slide has been removed
We meet at the Valley of the Moon parking lot for our safety meeting
Personal Protection Equipment includes hard hat and visibility vest
The forward crews hike up to the higher elevation work site
We pause to examine the major erosion and wonder how volunteers will fix it
Looking back on the trail we can see pine trees recovering from Curve Fire
The first mile of the trail is fairly steep at some points
Our first look at the large rock fall
The nearby stream is choked closed with poison oak and leaves
Trailbuilder Chris sits atop a boulder to examine the rock fall
Metal rock bars and hard work get much of it over the side
Trail work clears off smaller rubble behind the heavy boulders
Our first look at the Big Boulder and offspring with Trailbuilder Bryan
Tom goes over the side to position boulders in to building a new retaining wall
Each boulder is examined, talked about, and positioned to lock in place
All the rock fall has been cleared, wall built, time to pretty it up!
We gather our tools and backs and find a cool place to have lunch
Trailbuilders Johnathan and Tom shoulder their packs
We take a look from across the way at the new rock wall and newly-cleared trail
Taking lunch in the shade and poison oak
It is nice and cool in the shade with water flowing nearby
One last look at the newly fixed trail -- LOOKS AWESOME! We work hard
Looking across again at lunch and an awesome day in the mountains
Back at Big Boulder we take care of the first boulders
We slowly and carefully nudge the boulder toward the edge of the ravine
A great deal of hard work later, we only have fragments left to remove
The last large pieces of the boulder go over the side
A look at the newly-cleared trail. Wall slightly bent but perfectly okay!
We take a look where volunteers have removed most of a rock slide
The first water diversion at the major erosion work site
This is awesome. This is the erosion point fully repaired
Other water diversions are placed to assist in keeping the trail golden
More of the newly-repaired trail where there was major erosion
More of the newly-repaired trail where there was major erosion
The final water diversion at the bottom of the reworked erosion section
We gather our tools to head back down the trail
At the bottom we find some shade and relax a bit
Trailbuilder Bernie removes dirt from the Gateway Center's windows
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not connected in any way with any of the volunteer organizations that are
mentioned in various web pages, including the
San Gabriel Mountains
Trailbuilders (SGMTBs) or the
Angeles Volunteers Association
(AVA.) This web site is privately owned and operated.
Please note that information on this web page may be inaccurate.