First Look- West Fork Cold Springs Trail

This was the first run I have taken on the West Fork in about 3 months. Just a little different than I last remembered it to be. Still the same was the poison oak just past the Tangerine Falls cutoff trail. Unfortunately the fire did not clean up the large section of poison oak that seems to always be encroaching on the trail in that area.

Once you get near the CS Water Tunnel it is almost 100% brush free until you reach Gibralter Rd. From there the trail itself is in pretty good shape, sure a little dustier than normal, and definitely much looser than before, but still lots of fun. Maybe the biggest difference from before is that you can really see the trail winding ahead up the canyon. The trail to Tangerine Falls seems to be intact but the trail leading to the top of the waterfall was pretty severely burnt.

Interesting things get uncovered when the vegetation is all gone. Former trails which have long been hidden are clearly visible again. Some of these trails were "illegal" trails created secretly and others were old sections of trail that have long been bypassed. Trails created by recent fire fighting hand crews are also very visible about the hillsides. A sure way to identify if a fire crew made the trail is when the trail goes nearly straight up the hillside and brush is cut to make a wide path. All the garbage including- cans, bottles, cars, appliances and other assorted junk is also now uncovered along the trail.

There are definitely areas of West Fork that will not do very well come Winter rains. Steep hillsides funnel down onto trail sections with little or no vegetation for protection. Just looking at it I could see big problems if the rains are anything but light this year. The same could probably be said for most any of the other trails damaged by the Jesusita Fire. Hope for the best but expect the worst.

Big thanks to all those that got out and help clear the West Fork of debris. It is evident that lots of work was put in to bring it into the condition it is in. Dave

The New Trail Head Signage

The Cold Springs Water Tunnel
The Water Tunnel Was Marked As A Fire Shelter For Fire Fighters

This Is What Happens When Fiberglass Handled Tools Are Left In The Fire

Newly Created Fire Line On The Steep Hillsides

The Trail

New Growth

The Switchbacks Which Are Now Visible

Once Hidden Tea Garden Cut-Off Trail

The "Dump" Area Near Gibralter Rd.

West Fork Canyon View

Three Trails Closed By The Jesusita Fire Re-Opened Today!

Dear Trail Users,

We are happy to inform you that Rattlesnake Canyon Trail, West Fork of Cold Springs Trail, and Jesusita Trail to Inspiration Point on the San Roque side only, are now open. Trails starting at the end of Tunnel Road at the Tunnel Trail Head will remain closed for now. Agencies wanted to warn everyone to be ready for possible unstable trail conditions and emphasized that staying on the designated trails was crucial. They also wanted trail users to know that trail closure status may change if the trails become unsafe or if it is found people are traveling "off trail" which will create erosion problems. Come Winter trail status may change due to weather conditions and it is a pretty sure bet that the trails will need work to make them safe for Winter and ready for Spring. Agencies also want everyone to be respectful of the neighbors living in area affected by the Jesusita Fire.

The trails could never have been opened this quickly had it not been for the huge turnout of volunteers that helped repair the trails on June 13th. Thank you to all that attended!

READ THE FULL PRESS RELEASE HERE

Thanks, The MTC

Montecito Hot Springs Property Up For Sale!

What would happen if the property where Hot Springs Trail and the Hot Springs themselves was sold? It's a possibility and a bargain at 18 million! Zoned for six parcels and a day use health spa facility this property has it all- including a bunch of really great trails. Let's hope that easements are created so these trails don't go away.

http://www.coastalranch.com/Properties/462hotsprings/Main.html

7/1/09 Task Force Public Hearing/ Jesusita Fire Trails Re-opening Recommendations

Dear Trail Users,

If you were one of the 20 or so people who attended the public hearing at City Hall yesterday, you missed a long but informative 2 1/2 hour meeting. The opening and most anticipated subject was the trails affected by the Jesusita Fire and when they might be re-opened. The Task Force designated the agency staff from the USFS, County, and City to make recommendations, since they have the most recent information. Staff then recommended that Rattlesnake Canyon Trail and West Fork of Cold Springs Trail be re-opened. They recommended that Jesusita Trail to Inspiration Point from the San Roque TH be re-opened after fixing some problem areas. Because of sensitivity of neighbors in the Mission Canyon area, and construction work, trails accessed by the Tunnel Trail Head at the end of Tunnel Road were recommended to remain closed for now. The Task Force will revisit this issue at the September 2nd meeting and may make more recommendations then.

Note: The trails affected by the Jesusita Fire including Jesusita, Tunnel, Rattlesnake, and West Fork of Cold Springs are still closed but some are recommended to re-open.

2nd Note: Because of loss of vegetation on hillsides in the burn area, trails may be subject to future closures due to water runoff issues come winter.

We will post any trail openings on our website and of course will send out emails when those openings are to occur. It is without saying that these recommendations to re-open trails closed by the Jesusita Fire could not have been made had it not been for the large amount of volunteers that came out on June 13th to help clear the trails- Thank You!

Other topics of this public hearing included status of the FCT Recommendations. The Task Force spent a long time discussing the management aspects of the rec's which include assessing current trail conditions, developing a trail classification system, trails planning, policy, regulations and trail use designation. Staff also unveiled new trail head signage to be installed at all the local trail heads. See the new signage HERE.

Trail maintenance including the June 13th event was summarized as were other recent trail work events. The Task Force unanimously approved use of the UTAP trail assessment system but recommended that the company who created UTAP, Beneficial Designs, do the assessment. Several public speakers shared their opinion that volunteers not take part in the trail assessment. We agree this should be done by professionals as some of this data may be used for future trail access issues and we want this information to be as accurate as possible. Trail surveying may begin as early as October 2009 but some discussion remains on what data will be collected during the survey process.

Finally a schedule of public hearings was announced for the rest of the year. There will be two more meetings this year, September 2nd and December 2nd, both at 5:30 PM to be held in the city council chambers.

*Task Force Changes: The Task Force welcomed new members City Parks Commissioner Scott Burns and County Parks Commissioner Judith Dale who replaced Chair Steve Forsell and Commissioner James Hickling. Suzanne Perkins is now the chair and Beebe Longstreet is the vice chair.

Thank you,

The Multiuse Trails Coalition,

http://www.multiuse.org/

New Santa Barbara Front Country Trail Head Signage Unveiled

At this weeks FCTMJ Task Force meeting, newly designed trail head signage was shown to the public for the first time. These 2' x 3' (approx) signs will be mounted at all of the local trail heads and give information about trail use etiquette. These signs are part of the FCT Recommendations that are now being implemented. Look for these new signs at your favorite trail head soon!

National Trails Day Report and Photos

It was a beautiful sight to see so many cars pour into Skofield Park this past Saturday AM. You always wonder if the turnout is going to be enough to get the goals accomplished. In this case the turnout was so great just about every last tool available was being used. The main objective of the day for the 100 or so volunteers would be to clear a shale like material or "dry ravel" covering the trails and repair water drainage structures in preparation for the upcoming rains.

The crew of 14 I led was dropped off at the bottom of Tunnel Trail and we worked on Tunnel between the trail head and Rattlesnake Connector. It is extremely tiring work cleaning a trail following a fire. Beneath piles of rubble lies the trail, getting to the trail required pulling tons of this shale material and rock from above the trail to prevent future slides and then off the trail itself. Most of this work is accomplished by using Mcleods, which is a tool that was invented for wild land firefighting but has become a staple in trail building. Vegetation that was lost in the fire clearly had a huge role in the stability of these hillsides. My hat goes off to the 14 who helped on Lower Tunnel and the other 80+ volunteers that worked on Upper Tunnel, Jesusita, Rattlesnake, and Cold Springs- all trails effected by the Jesusita Fire.

We were proud to participate in this event sponsored by the USFS, City, and County who did a excellent job of organizing it. The agencies told the crowd at the beginning of this event what factors are going to be taken into consideration before re-opening the Front Country Trails damaged by the Jesusita Fire. They included a re-evaluation of the trails to determine the safety of the trails and further maintenance, whether or not a "hydromulch" is to be used on the burnt hillsides, and respect and privacy of the homeowners near the trail heads who are still trying to recover from this fire.

Thanks to all that showed up and helped out at this event, below are some photos from the crew working on Lower Tunnel Trail. Dave on behalf of the MTC.

The Crew(still clean)

Uncovering a Switchback

Shale Removal

Shale Covered Section- Before

Shale Covered Section-After

One Of The Few Plants That Survived- Yucca

Creating Dust

The Crew(dirty)

Uncovering Trail

Hiking Towards Rattlesnake

Lot's of Work

The Trail is Under There Somewhere

One Of The Worst Sections On Tunnel

The View

Creating Water Control Structures

One of Many Sections of Trail That Was Damaged

Rattlesnake Connector

Heading Into Rattlesnake Canyon

View From Rattlesnake

Rattlesnake Meadow

Off Topic- The Whitney Day Hike Adventure 5/31/09

Every year I head out to Lone Pine to tackle the tallest mountain in the lower 48. I like doing the day hike because of the challenge and it's something I can do then be back to work on Monday and tell everyone about. This year was the 16th time I got to the top, 14 of them being day hikes.

The weather was a big factor in this years adventure. I had invited my two friends that just moved to Lone Pine in Sept but had never climbed Whitney. After watching the weather and hearing reports of trail conditions, there were some scattered snow showers but nothing that was creating much of a problem. Sunday, the day of our hike the forecast called for little or no precipitation and reduced chance of thunderstorms from the two days prior.

Starting off the weather was great, sunny and hardly a cloud in the sky. My friends, F.B. and his wife S.B. are good hikers and have had lots of outdoor experience so I was not concerned about the small amount of snow we might encounter on the trail. The trail was patchy in spots leading up to trail camp where there were numerous snow sections leading to the switchbacks and trail crest. You could see the snow level where fresh snow had fallen over the last two days, it appeared to be sticking somewhere around 13,000.

Following the cables S.B. decided that she had had enough, worrying that the snow fields above might be above her level of capability. She turned around as we headed to the top. Somewhere near Trail Crest the trail became completely covered in snow all the way up. We made it to the top just as some clouds decided to roll in and a tiny bit of gropple began to fall. After getting the photos out of the way, F.B. and I headed down(the time was about 12:30 pm).

Just as we got off the top of the mountain off in the distance a flash of lighting was seen followed quickly by thunder. Over the next two miles to Trail Crest the snow fell harder and the thunder and lighting got closer. I was the first to make it back to Trail Crest where I waited just away from the saddle. At this point the thunder and lighting was all around me and a bolt actually struck about 50 feet in front of me near the "Trail Crest" sign.

After waiting out the near blizzard conditions and lightning for about 15 minutes the rest of the summeteers arrived at TC. All eight of us decided it was a bad place to be so we headed back down the switchbacks. I am pretty sure most went down the switchbacks but a gentleman and his son decided to take the chute. It was tempting but there had already been 6+ inches of new snow today and I didn't want to trigger anything loose.

As we descended the switchers the trail became less treacherous and the snowfall began to lighten up. By the time we made it to Trail Camp it was hardly snowing at all but there was probably 3-4 inches of snow on the ground. I felt sorry for those people at Trail Camp who would have to hike up through the probably foot or more that fell on top the next day.

On the return trip the trail was completely covered in snow all the way down to Trailside Meadow. Below that it was pretty evident that it had rained throughout the day. Good thing for my boyscout training that had us prepared with the right gear. My friends were prepared to do the hike in trail runners rather than boots. Had the storm not come in this may have been a possibility, good thing we didn't plan our trip according to the weather forecast. Every year is different up there on Whitney, maybe another reason why I do it every year. -Dave
P.S. Doug please bring the shower back to WPS!

Trail Side Deer

Lone Pine Lake

The Switchbacks and Trail Crest- AM S.B. Contemplating the Cable
F.B. Crossing A Snowfield Below Trail Crest
The Snow Field @ Trail Crest
Looking Up Top
The Hut and Spa
F.B. and Me
The Backside
The Snow Field @ Trail Crest- PM
F.B. Crossing a Snow Field With 6" New
Two Guys in the Chute
The Switchbacks
Trail Camp
The Cables- PM
The Switchbacks and Trail Crest- PM