Jesusita Fire Recovery, 5 Years Later

Within the 8000 + acres burned by the Jesusita Fire contained some of Santa Barbara's beloved and historic trails.  These trails including Arroyo Burro, Jesusita, Tunnel, Rattlesnake, and West Fork of Cold Spring all played an important role in the development of our city and continue to be enjoyed by thousands every year.

We are proud to present photographs showing the recovery of the Jesusita Fire on our mountainsides along some of these historic trails.  Taken over the past 5 years you will see the hillsides collapsing upon themselves with "dry ravel" to grassy undergrowth to the rebirth of the chaparral so commonly found associated with the front country.  To some, these hillsides may appear to have achieved a full recovery but the photos show that there is still quite a bit of growth yet to go.  Until the recovery is complete, every wind storm blows over dead trees killed by this fire every rain storm brings unwanted rock and mudslides from the fragile hill sides above.

SEE THE PHOTOS

Jesusita Fire - 3 Years Later, The Recovery Continues

Volunteers rake ash and "dry ravel" off of Tunnel Trail in June of 2009

Same Location, 4/2012

View the entire photo album

Jesusita Fire - Two Year Anniversary Photos Of The Trails Recovery

See The Rest Of The Photos

Jesusita Trail Berm Busting Bonanza

Most of our Front Country Trails have erosion damage in one form or another. Below is a typical type of damage-berming, which happens from water drainage problems and lack of basic maintenance. The solution, install proper water drainage features and bust that berm.

Berms are so common on our trail that some people believe that are natural features!

Before
After

Jesusita Fire- Photos Of The Front Country One And A Half Years Later(almost)

The Original Tunnel Trail Found!

Following the Jesusita Fire a curious discovery was made- another route off the main Tunnel Trail. It wasn't until recently that a side view of the trail was possible to see the extent of this "other" trail. As the two panoramas below clearly show, a second original "Tunnel Trail" runs on the south side of the mountain where the current Tunnel runs today. When was it last used, who built it, and why did they change the route? All good questions even the FS didn't know. Hit us up if you know the answers. Possible new trail????

Happy Hour Coming To The Connector Trail

Jesusita Fire Trail Repair Project # 3 for 2010!
Join Dave from the Multiuse Trails Coalition for this 3rd "Happy Hour" trail restoration project of the year. This project will focus on the Rattlesnake-Tunnel Connector Trail which lost all of its
vegetation in the fire and now has more than the usual amount of erosion from recent rains.
Somebody has got to get out there and bring the trails back to life, why not you? No other
projects are scheduled for this trail so we will be the only volunteers fixing this trail any time
soon.

If you plan on coming, remember to bring: long pants, long sleeve shirt, (bike) helmet,
sturdy boots or shoes, gloves, lots of water, and sunscreen. All tools and training will be provided
to you, meet at the Rattlesnake Canyon Trail Head.

Photos of some of what we will be repairing

More details...



More Info: multiusetc@gmail.com

Jesusita Fire- Tunnel, Jesusita, and Rattlesnake Canyon Trail Recovery Photos

Jesusita/Rattlesnake Trail Clean-up A Success!

This past weekends trail repair project brought out 30+ people all eager to get our trails into tip top shape. After a quick introduction and description of the task at hand we split into two groups, one headed to Jesusita Trail and one over to Rattlesnake Canyon. The main objective on both trails was to repair damaged trail sections and improved water drainage. Special thanks to all that attended and an extra big thanks to the Santa Barbara Chicken Ranch for hooking all the workers up with grub at the end of the day. Below are some photos from the Rattlesnake Canyon Trail work. -Dave

Rattlesnake Canyon slide removal

Highly Rutted Wash- Before
After

Severely Damaged Trail- Before

After

Same Area- Before

After

Titus and Matt bustin' up rocks

Kickin' Canines

The Rattlesnake Group

Titus, Matt, John, Jeri, and Ken

Nothing Better Than A Chicken Ranch Picnic!

West Fork Of Cold Spring Trail Gets An Unexpected Makeover

*CAUTION*

West Fork of Cold Springs may have substandard trail conditions due to recent storms- hike, bike, and ride with care.

The series of storms last week dumped over 4 inches of rain also turned West Fork of Cold Spring into a flood channel. Having hiked, run, and biked this trail dozens of times over the years I felt like I knew the trail pretty well. Not any more! The trail has changed pretty significantly since the last series of storms hit. Much of the trail that paralleled the dry creek between the CS Water Tunnel and Tangerine Falls is now gone or in poor shape. The trail beyond the water tunnel is in pretty good shape except for several areas where washouts have occurred.

The large amount of water cleared and widened the canyon floor and deepened the once shallow dry creek bed. The water level along the walls of the canyon show flows as high as six+ feet and widened the creek to around 50 feet in places. Because of the unique shape of the canyon West Fork lies in, dozens of small tributaries flow directly into the creek creating mass water flow. Had the Jesusita Fire not burnt up all the brush on the hillsides, this storm might have left the canyon just as it always was. -D

The newly widened West Fork-

It is now easy to follow the wide creek bed far past the water tunnel

Some of the debris left on and around the trail
A unique wall above the water tunnel
USFS says this metal is actually track from mine carts used to dig the CS Water Tunnel.

Force of the recent storms were powerful enough to wrap the metal track around this tree

Storms have weakened the trail and caused several cracks to form

Some of the debris left on the trail

One of the larger washouts on West Fork

Look for a trail maintenance project soon to help repair the damage in West Fork of Cold Spring, contact us to find out how to get involved.

Rattlesnake Canyon Trail And The San Roque Side of Jesusita Trail to Re-Open Friday 11/6/09

Tunnel Trail Winter Preparation, Saturday 10/17/09

The nearly 20 people who volunteered for the winter preparation of Tunnel Trail Saturday were all guaranteed two things, soreness throughout their bodies the next day and a feeling of accomplishment. That is what I took away from it as I helped prepare the trails for winter rains with USFS engineer Garrett Villanueva. Garrett has been hired by local agencies with emergency funding to come and help prevent erosion on trails affected by the Jesusita Fire. Our main objective Saturday was improving the trails outdated water drainage features. The WDF's that currently exist on the trails cannot hold up to the amount of water and sediment that will run down the trails when the rains come. New and improved WDF's will last for a long long time giving our trails protection years after the hillsides have grown back.

We started of right at the base of Tunnel Trail where Garrett had marked the deeply rutted trail for improvement. Garrett then explained and demonstrated all the steps in building a WDF- excavating, rock locating, excavating, rock placement, more excavating, then covering it all up. A typical old fashioned "water bar" we are used to seeing on our trails is about a foot or two in width. These new WDF's are about 25 feet in width but when built correctly they are hardly noticeable by trail users. The key to WDF's also known as "rolling grade dips" or "knicks" is the wide catch area to pull water and sediment from the trail thus preventing erosion damage further down the trail.

What goes into building these WDF's is a ton of work and engineering. No machine or device can help either, this is work that needs to be done by hand and a rough guess of the amount of dirt and rock we moved Saturday had to be several tons of each. The 5 WDF's we completed in about the same number of hours only covered 1/4 mile of trail, there are miles and miles left that need to be done. For the next several weeks Garrett will train and lead the California Conservation Corps out on the trails affected by the Jesusita Fire to try and finish where we left off. Big thanks to to everyone who helped out including: Joani, Sonia, Liz, Deanna, Kristi, Chris, Paul, Rick, Richard, Ken, Greg, James, Jim, Ranger Kerry Kellogg, and of course Garrett Villanueva. Dave

Tunnel Trail and the hydromulched hillsides

Garrett gives a pep talk
Measuring the distance of the WDF

Step two, excavating

Step three, placement of large rock

Finished product

Another WDF-before

After

A small WDF before

The women of the trail- Liz, Sonia, and Deanna building the WDF

After

The WDF of the day was this monster

Same "monster" back in April of 09

Excavating the monster

A well placed layer of huge rocks is key to WDF success

How to we found some of the huge rocks

Garrett taming the monster

The "steps" are starting to take shape

The crew removing the large burm on the side of the trail

Proud volunteers on the tamed monster

The monster from above

From below, quite a difference

Trail scorpion

It's a dirty job!