mtnbikej
J-Zilla
Back out to the mountain for the restoration of Trabuco Trail.
Today we were able to access Trabuco Trail at the top via Main Divide.
None of us had seen the condition of the trail. We knew that the trail had not seen any maintenance since before the fire.....that means 5-6 years. I did see the very top of the trail back in Oct. 2021 when the original fire closure lifted.
We started off with 6 of us, then another 3 joined a bit later. We expected it to be hot, but I was hopeful that the first mile of the trail is under a nice canopy of trees.
It was brushy up near the split for Trabuco/Los Pinos. At one point we felt like we were not even on the trail bed. Then we came around the corner and saw the metal posts and knew we were on the right track. At this point it looked like the trail was pretty open. That lasted about 25 steps
Doesn't Look Too Bad....
The Canopy Is Gone......
The Old Growth Forest Is Mostly Gone.....
Looking Back At Main Divide......
We were hit with an immediate wall of brush. Where does one begin? It was like being dropped into the middle ocean with just a spoon to bail yourself out with. We only made it about 6' in when we reached the first couple of downed trees. The chainsaws would get quite the workout today. The brush was thick......
We had aspirations of making it down about 1 mile today.
@Lost Kiwi at one point mentioned something about maybe he should have volunteered for the easier HJ trail day.
It was slow going. Did I mention the brush was thick.....really really thick. Poodledog Brush is growing out there. Some was dead, some was not. Poison Oak and Ticks were not an issue today.
We pushed on, eventually getting to the edge of the burn scar where the trees were once again living. By that point all the power tools were dead. We were getting into an area where trying to cut brush with loopers and folding saws would have been pointless. A bit of earthwork was done by hand as we brought no earthworking tools. We were gonna hike down a little farther to see the condtions, but a minute later we were once again against a wall of brush. End of work. We got about 1/10th of mile of trail cut. The walk back to the truck was under 10 mins.
Bottom line is, it is gonna take more than 6 people to get this back up and usable. With a much bigger crew, we may have been able to get farther down. At this pace we may have the trail cleared in another year or 2. Thanks @Lost Kiwi for coming out and playing in the bush with us.
On a positive note, the trail bed was in great shape.
We made it to the 1:20 mark of this video:
Today we were able to access Trabuco Trail at the top via Main Divide.
None of us had seen the condition of the trail. We knew that the trail had not seen any maintenance since before the fire.....that means 5-6 years. I did see the very top of the trail back in Oct. 2021 when the original fire closure lifted.
We started off with 6 of us, then another 3 joined a bit later. We expected it to be hot, but I was hopeful that the first mile of the trail is under a nice canopy of trees.
It was brushy up near the split for Trabuco/Los Pinos. At one point we felt like we were not even on the trail bed. Then we came around the corner and saw the metal posts and knew we were on the right track. At this point it looked like the trail was pretty open. That lasted about 25 steps
Doesn't Look Too Bad....
The Canopy Is Gone......
The Old Growth Forest Is Mostly Gone.....
Looking Back At Main Divide......
We were hit with an immediate wall of brush. Where does one begin? It was like being dropped into the middle ocean with just a spoon to bail yourself out with. We only made it about 6' in when we reached the first couple of downed trees. The chainsaws would get quite the workout today. The brush was thick......
We had aspirations of making it down about 1 mile today.
@Lost Kiwi at one point mentioned something about maybe he should have volunteered for the easier HJ trail day.
It was slow going. Did I mention the brush was thick.....really really thick. Poodledog Brush is growing out there. Some was dead, some was not. Poison Oak and Ticks were not an issue today.
We pushed on, eventually getting to the edge of the burn scar where the trees were once again living. By that point all the power tools were dead. We were getting into an area where trying to cut brush with loopers and folding saws would have been pointless. A bit of earthwork was done by hand as we brought no earthworking tools. We were gonna hike down a little farther to see the condtions, but a minute later we were once again against a wall of brush. End of work. We got about 1/10th of mile of trail cut. The walk back to the truck was under 10 mins.
Bottom line is, it is gonna take more than 6 people to get this back up and usable. With a much bigger crew, we may have been able to get farther down. At this pace we may have the trail cleared in another year or 2. Thanks @Lost Kiwi for coming out and playing in the bush with us.
On a positive note, the trail bed was in great shape.
We made it to the 1:20 mark of this video:
Last edited:
). Thanks for the ride up the hill, its much easier in that beast of a truck than it is pedaling 
.
