Pinyon Ridge Trail Work and Rest Bench

Today the San Gabriel Mountains Trailbuilders and students from Mount San Antonio College joined with Eagle Scout candidate Samuel Sliger to do some heavy maintenance on Pinyon Ridge Trail and to complete an Eagle Project which replaces a destroyed rest bench along the ridge line overlooking the vast San Gabriel Valley to the South.

There were three things that needed to be done today. For a number of years I have been wanting to have the historic rest bench on Pinyon Ridge get replaced with something that would offer families a place to stop and rest along the trail. The old bench had been doing that for decades yet it was badly damaged and was getting worse year after year to the point where it could not be used. Today's Eagle Project would have the old bench footings dug up and carted out of the forest and a new bench with a back rest would be installed.

Another thing that needed to be done was basic brush cutting, plant removal along the trail, widening some sections, and further defining two areas where the trail kind of disappeared. Since Pinyon Ridge is a mile-long loop, the point where the trail splits and comes back to itself is in a riparian meadow which makes the Y in the trail difficult to locate if the trail is not maintained regularly.

One other part of today's effort was a fairly large number of dead trees and tree limbs down across the trail and a small number of tree limbs that were hung above the trail and needed to be brought down to improve general trail safety conditions. For that we would need two trained and certified sawyers today and a minimum of 4 older volunteer swampers who would also be required to suit-up fully with Kevlar safety chaps, hard hats, face shields, ear protection, long pants, long shirts, and gloves.

As always the Trailbuilders checked the Project Activity Level (PAL) before heading out to the Gateway Information Center (1960 North San Gabriel Canyon Road (Hwy 39), Azusa, CA) at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains above Azusa where we gathered for a while telling each other improbable lies. When 8:00 a.m. came we packed in to our vehicles and headed North on Highway 39 to the Rincon Fire Station.

At the Fire Station we gathered our tools, materials, and equipment, made a head count and radioed our Angeles Dispatch Overlords to let them know where we would be working and then we headed further North and in to the Crystal Lake Recreation Area and to the Pinyon Ridge Trail parking area.

It was not too cold, it was not too hot, all in all the weather cooperated nicely, affording changing Sunlight and overcast which kept us at good operating temperatures all day. In fact everything went well, many of the Boy Scout volunteers were eager to work on the trails, and the San Antonio College students took to the effort with dedication and focus, getting all of the growth at the lower meadow areas removed from the trail, defining nicely the Y where the trail splits, and working the trail along the ridge line.

While that was going on the two chainsaw teams split at the Y and systematically, slowly, and carefully bucked up and removed all of the dead trees and tree limbs that were across the trail, along the trail, or had branches threatening the trail.

At the same time adult volunteers had brought up the parts for the replacement rest bench and had managed to excavate the footing for the historic bench, something I thought would take a long time since the compacted soil on the ridge line is usually dense and difficult and I expected the footing to go down several feet. The remains of the old bench was cut to make carrying out the remains easier since U. S. Forest Service policy requests that such materials be carried down to proper landfills unless the materials can be recycled.

Not too far below us while we worked there were a number of hikers strung out along Soldier Creek Trail, we could see, some of whom I think were waving at us and yelling hello. Just in case they were I waved and yelled back (I found out later that they were indeed waving at us, what fun!)

By around 13:00 all of the obstructions had been removed from the trail, and by around 3:00 or 3:30 pretty much everyone was ready to head back down the mountain. In all it was an uneventful day and everything got done, the trail is awesome from end to end. Joyness!

On the way back down the mountain along Highway 39 we slowed down to take a look at some tire skid marks that ramp right off the edge of the road and in to the canyon below, something that happened a little more than a week ago. It was another reminder that speed along the winding highway is definitely not a good idea.

Back at Rincon we inspected our tools, put them away, let our Angeles Dispatch Overlords know we were finished for the day, then we headed home to hot chocolate and other libations.