Archive for the ‘Santa Monica Mountains’ Category

84 Drains! Report on June 8 Pt Mugu State Parks Trailwork after the Springs Fire, and photo gallery

Monday, June 10th, 2013

IMG_4590This past Saturday, 22 CORBA volunteers, along with others from the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council, Calabasas Day Hikers, a local boy scout troop and Coyote trail runners, hiked up the Wood Canyon Vista Trail, part of the Backbone Trail system, in Point Mugu State Park, to repair the trail after the Springs Fire a few weeks ago, and prepare it for the fall and winter rains.

The trail had already been cleared of fallen chaparral, so the goal on Saturday was to build new drains and fix existing ones to get the water off it as quickly as possible. With many hillsides completely devoid of vegetation, any heavy rain will wash ash, dirt and other debris down onto the trail, turning some sections into piles of silt, and others into huge ruts. To prevent that, we built or rebuilt 84 drainage “nicks” along the 1.8 mile trail.

Though normal use, a trail becomes “cupped;” the edges are higher than the middle; the higher outside edge is called the “berm.” Water that flows onto a cupped trail, whether it falls on it directly as rain, or runs down from the hillside above, will run straight down the trail like a bobsled chute, carving a deeper and deeper rut as it gains speed and volume on its way to the bottom.

A drainage "nick" diverts water off the trail

A drainage “nick” diverts water off the trail

A nick is a shallow, oblong depression on the trail, offset so the deepest part is at the downslope edge of the trail and cuts through the berm that would otherwise block the water from running off. The nick should extend into the trail just far enough to include the deepest part (the section that is most cupped or rutted). Water running down a trail will run out the nick rather than continuing down the trail.When constructed properly, the nick should not be noticed by most trail users, and will be gentle enough that mountain bikers might notice a small bump, if anything at all. It should definitely not be a hazard that could buck a biker off the seat.

I prefer to build nicks with a small “ramp” just downhill of them. A ramp is a very shallow mound of dirt that raises the height of the trail an inch or two just below the nick, helping to keep water from running down the trail by diverting it out the nick. A nick with a downhill ramp doesn’t have to be dug as deep as one without. Unfortunately the dirt was so dry, a ramp would be just a pile of dust that would be scattered to nether regions as trail users passed through.

IMG_4566Overall, we built 84 nicks. About 2/3 of them were new; the rest were old ones that were cleaned out or rebuilt. Of those, some already had downhill ramps; I think they will turn out to be the most effective and resilient.

You can see photos of the volunteers and the work they accomplished in our June 8th Trailwork Photo Gallery.

After the work was finished, we had the customary mountain bike prize giveaway followed by a lunch provided by CORBA to show our appreciation for our volunteers.

Thanks to everyone who came out to help keep our trails in great shape and survive the winter rains!

June Skills Clinic photos published

Thursday, June 6th, 2013

The photos from the June 1st Skills Clinic at Malibu Creek State Park have just been posted on this website. You can see them in the June 2013 photo gallery.

GirlzGoneRiding News for June

Friday, May 31st, 2013

2013-03Logo_GirlzGoneRidingGGR News!

We are now excepting sponsors/supports including more demo bikes for the GGR Rocktober 20th annual event! It is FREE for sponsors to attend in lieu of product donation! Email wendy@girlzgoneriding.com for details. The Rocktober event is also a CORBA fund raiser and a CORBA Membership drive! ½ of the proceeds from the raffles and silent auctions get donated to CORBA. Registration will go up in September & will include the membership/renewal drive.

Pedal Driven night! GGR is hosting a Pedal Driven night at GGR girlz Kim’s house! This movie is a documentary about mountain bikers and land managers. Sign up here to attend, limited space: https://www.facebook.com/events/392185227566743/

Springs Fire Trail Repair in Pt Mugu State Park on June 8th

Friday, May 24th, 2013

P1220118Join CORBA, the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council and others as we repair the trail damage caused by the recent Springs Fire. Initial efforts will focus on removing debris from the trails (fallen trees, rocks, small landslides, etc) so they can be safely used by park visitors. Later work will involve repairing drainage so that rainwater running off the denuded hillsides will not wash the trails away.

The trail we work on will be determined by State Park Staff a few days beforehand. This is the first of two work days we are scheduling to help fix up the trails.

After the trailwork is finished, CORBA will have prizes for some (or all) lucky volunteers, and treat you to lunch after that.

More rockfall to clearNo experience is necessary to help out with trailwork. Tools and instructions on how to use them safely and effectively will be provided. Children must be over 7-years old to attend, and children under 14 must be constantly and directly supervised by their parent or guardian who brought them. And you don’t need to be a mountain biker to help out – Everybody is welcome! For more information on trailwork in general, visit our trail crew web page.

Be sure to wear protective clothing (sturdy shoes, long pants and sleeves, hat, golves) and bring snacks, sunscreen and water. CORBA will provide the tools and training.

We request that you pre-register online so that we’ll know how many tools to provide. Remember, by registering here, CORBA will treat you to lunch afterwards, and enter you in the drawing for mountain biking prizes! We have some great 2.25″ CST tires, for both 26ers and 29ers.

CORBA’s thank-you lunch will be after trailwork ends at 2:00 pm, so bring some snacks to tide you over.

Meeting location and details are on the online registration page.

Pt. Mugu State Park Backcountry Trails to Reopen Friday 5/24/13

Tuesday, May 21st, 2013

SycCynSign_Theune_SMALLFrom Craig Sap, Superintendent of Angeles District, California State Parks:

To allow for a complete and successful post-fire recovery there will be a District Superintendent’s Order requiring that visitors to the back country stay on the authorized system trails and fire roads.    Our hope is to gain compliance through signage and messaging and not have to resort to citations, ejections or closures of areas while the fire damaged backcountry recovers.

Although a park with this much damage would probably necessitate a longer period of closure to allow for restoration and recovery I believe this incredible recreational resource can be reopened if used in a responsible manner.

Current Status for Point Mugu State Park:

Sycamore Campground– Reopening May 24th

Back Country area- Reopening May 24th (with some trails closed for additional repairs)

Mugu Beach-Open

Chumash Trail Head Parking– Reopening May 24th

Thornhill Broome Campground-Open

Sycamore Cove Day-Use-Open

La Jolla Group Camp– Reopening May 24th

La Jolla Day-Use– Reopening May 24th

Springs Fire Trail Repair Progress

Tuesday, May 21st, 2013

By Steve Clark, Trail Crew Coordinator

Twice in the past week at the request of the State Parks trails maintenance department, a group of about 8 volunteers from the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council headed into Point Mugu State Park to begin cleanup and repair of the trails after the Springs Fire swept through just over a week earlier. This work was undertaken before the park is open to the general public to help assess the situation, clear and repair trails to make them safe for park visitors, and to limit damage to the fragile web of wildlife that survived the fire. The initial focus will be to protect park resources and make them safe for visitors. When that is complete, we’ll concentrate on repairing the drainage so rainwater that runs down the denuded hillsides doesn’t wash the trails away this winter.

Outline of the Springs Fire burn area (orange), overlaid on a trail and topo map.

Outline of the Springs Fire burn area (orange), overlaid on a trail and topo map.

The park is currently scheduled to reopen on Friday, May 24, with some trails still closed for further repair. The park will be only open during daylight hours until further notice. When the park does open, please protect the wildlife that did survive the fire by not going off the trails.This is a report of what we saw and got accomplished during those two trailwork days.

The first day (8:30 am to 2:00 pm) was spend entirely on Upper Sycamore Trail. We parked at the bottom of the blacktop hill in the large dirt area on the east side of the road, where the outhouse used to be. In it’s place is a piece of a metal frame and a stain of melted plastic in the dirt. Across the road is the remains of an old oak tree that had burned through the base and then toppled over. The tops of the railings on the bridge have been cut off and the surface planks are chared around the edges. The superstructure is steel so it is still strong enough to support fire trucks, but we drove our pickups across one at a time even so.

One of many trees fallen over the Upper Sycamore Canyon Trail

One of many trees fallen over the Upper Sycamore Canyon Trail

It was eerie on the trail itself. The fire seems to have burned about 10 feet up from the ground so the leaves are stripped off of the chaparral, but taller oaks and sycamores still have leaves in various states of scorched to dead. Being able to see through the leafless chaparral, we discover that there’s a lot of junk lying on the ground near the trail, including a metal windmill that must have fallen over years ago.The tread of the trail was in good shape. The leaves from the overhead trees that normally carpet it were all gone so we were walking on bare dirt. Unfortunately many of the oaks near the bottom of the trail had burned through the trunk and fallen over. Four or five of them blocked the trail and we spent considerable time cutting them up with a chainsaw and hand saws into pieces small enough for us to drag off the trail.

One of the many 'ash ghosts'

One of the many ‘ash ghosts’

There were a lot of ‘ash ghosts’ on the ground: markings left when whole trees or large limbs had fallen and been completely consumed, leaving a pattern of ash where branches used to be.Fortunately not all the oaks fell to the ground, but too many of them did.

The oaks were not the only trees that fell across the trail. Dozens of large chaparral bushes, about 8 feet tall, had collapsed across the trail. Many were burned completely through at the base so we just picked them up and tossed them off the trail, but others were still attached to their roots, so we needed to cut them through with hand saws before we could unblock the trail.

We had to clear a lot of chaparral that had fallen across the trail

We had to clear a lot of chaparral that had fallen across the trail

The amount of fire damage varied a lot from place to place. In some places the grass and most of the chaparral was almost completely gone. Some places weren’t burned at all, but most were singed to some degree. We could see on the hillsides patches where the fire had burned, surrounded by chaparral, and patches of chaparral surrounded by burn. We even saw a few shoots of brand new growth in some heavily burned areas.All of the collapsed oaks blocking the trail were near its lower end. Further up the trail were a few sections with minor rockfalls that we cleared. We also cleaned out three drains in a heavily rutted segment. The top section was relatively unaffected and we were relieved to see the giant oaks at the top of the trail, where it meets Danielson Road, were singed but not seriously damaged.

More rockfall to clearOn the second trailwork day, we covered Hidden Pond Trail between the bottom of the blacktop hill and Ranch Center Rd, Sin Nombre and about 2/3 of Blue Canyon Trail. We were able to cover much more ground because there were no fallen oak trees to clear and the two large fallen sycamore boughs shattered into pieces that were small enough to remove without using a chainsaw.

The surrounding land was much the same as Upper Sycamore Trail, except there were large meadows here and they were completely burned. It’s amazing to see how many gopher holes there are — it seems like there are several in each square foot!

P1220118On both days we saw animals that had survied. We saw lots of ants, some beetles, a few lizards, one snake, a tree squirrel and even a large bobcat resting in the shade of some sycamore trees. Some areas had lots of funnel spider webs even thought the grass was completely burned, but other areas had none. We saw and heard birds, including a couple of small flocks of screeching parrots.

We also came across a group of about a half-dozen mountain bikers on Hidden Pond Trail. They said they heard the trails were open; they claimed they phoned a park agency and were told the trails were open. However, we know they snuck in bacause the main entry points were blocked off and manned by rangers to keep people out. As an open space enthusiast, I was angered more by the fact that they were in the park when it was closed to the public for their safety and to protect the surviving wildlife than by the fact that they were on a trail that is never open to mountain biking. As a mountain biker, I was angered by the fact that these boneheads were putting into jeapardy the goodwill and standing that CORBA has worked hard to establish for the mountain biking community with the various land managers in the Santa Monica Mountains. These were the only unauthorized people we saw in the park over our two workdays there.

Normally I would provide lots of pictures to go along with an article like this one but we have been asked by State Parks not to publish any photos of trailwork or fire damage until after the parks have reopened to the public. They don’t want anyone to see the photos of people working on the trails and assume that the trails are open to everyone.

As a final note, let me remind you, for the sake of the remaining wildlife, to stay on the trails when the park reopens, and I thank you for your cooperation in helping the open space to grow back to it’s former self!

If you would like to help repair the trails, a volunteer workday has been scheduled for Saturday June 8th. For more information and to sign up to help, please visit CORBA’s June 8th trailwork registration page.

Update Friday May 24, 2013. Point Mugu State Park is now completely open, but there is still some debris on some trails, including fallen trees. Use caution on these trails until they are completely cleared of all debris!

View the photo gallery of trailwork on Upper Sycamore Canyon Trail.
View the photo gallery of trailwork on Hidden Pond, Sin Nombre and Blue Canyon Trails.

Malibu Adventure Games This Saturday May 18

Thursday, May 16th, 2013

poker-rideThe centerpiece of the Malibu Adventure Games at Malibu Creek State Park is the XTERRA Malibu Creek Trail Run, but it will also feature mountain bike poker rides, and CORBA will be providing a skills clinic. There will also be a geocache scramble, climbing wall contests, and a vendor expo. For more information go to malibuadventuregames.com.

NPS To Re-Open Additional Trails Tuesday 5-14-13

Monday, May 13th, 2013

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Now that the 24,000-acre Springs Fire is officially controlled, the National Park Service will re-open trails on the western side of the Santa Monica Mountains Tuesday morning, with restrictions.

“We know the public is anxious to return to their neighborhood national park,” said David Szymanski, superintendent of Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. “We’re working as hard as we can to balance that enthusiasm with visitor safety and protection of our resources.”

Rancho Sierra Vista in Newbury Park will partially re-open, but some trails will remain off-limits and the park will close from sunset to sunrise. Due to ongoing safety concerns and trail damage, visitors won’t be able to travel into Sycamore Canyon, but will be able to reach the overlook at the boundary with Point Mugu State Park.

The Sandstone Peak and Mishe Mokwa trailheads will also re-open, as will the Backbone Trail east of the Point Mugu State Park boundary. California State Parks land sustained severe fire damage and all backcountry trails in the area remain closed. (Per an earlier press release, backcountry trails in Pt. Mugu State Park are closed until May 23.) 

Visitors are encouraged to help nature recover from the fire by respecting trail closures and staying on the trail in areas that are open. Foot and bike traffic tramples sensitive soil, vegetation, burrows and nests.

Park officials estimate 70% of Rancho Sierra Vista’s 1170 acres burned during the fire, though the Satwiwa Native American Indian Culture Center and all other structures were protected.

More information is available at 805-370-2301.

Pt. Mugu State Park Backcountry Trail Closure Update

Thursday, May 9th, 2013

SycCynSign_Theune_SMALLFrom the office of the California State Parks Angeles District Superintendent:

All trails and fire roads are currently closed.  This is a hard closure that will remain in effect until May 23rd.  This closure is necessary as crews identify and extinguish hot spots and to assess trail hazards.  After that we are planning to temporarily restrict use sunrise to sunset. 

And below is a press release from the National Park Service with some VERY IMPORTANT information regarding the current closures and traveling in burn areas once they are open:

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — In the wake of approximately 14,000 acres of burned park land, officials from the National Park Service and California State Parks have a few suggestions for how community members can help nature recover. Numerous concerned visitors eager to protect and restore the affected land have contacted both agencies offering their assistance.

“We’re touched by the outpouring of support from the community and their desire to help,” said David Szymanski, superintendent of Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. “We’ll need everyone’s help to ensure the recovery goes as smoothly as possible.”

Though fire is a natural part of all ecosystems, too many fires can harm native plant communities, reduce wildlife habitat and even increase future fire risk. Historically, the Santa Monica Mountains experienced fires only once every 75 to 100 years. When Southern California landscapes burn too often, dry and fire-prone invasive weeds and grasses become established and increase future fire risk.

The fire burned more than 1,000 acres of National Park Service land and more than 12,000 acres of California State Parks land (the remainder of public park land acreage is owned by an assortment of park agencies).

The ecosystem is especially fragile in the aftermath of fire, so park officials encourage the public to take the following steps to help nature make a healthy recovery:

1. Respect the closures. We’re working as hard as possible to assess conditions within the burn area, but the fire is still active and our own staff must be escorted by fire officials. We can’t open the park (or specific trails) until it’s safe for visitors and the cultural and natural resources we protect. We appreciate your patience!

2. Stay on the trail. When our parks re-open, staying on designated trails (not unofficial paths created by fire crews) and minding posted closure signs is critical to protecting the wildlife and plant communities that survived the flames. Foot and bike traffic tramples sensitive soil, vegetation, burrows and nests.

3. Sign up to volunteer. Fire is part of nature, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t give nature a hand along the way. We’re still assessing the damage, but you can sign up now for future opportunities to do habitat restoration and trail improvement.

Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SMMNRA) is the largest urban national park in the country, encompassing more than 150,000 acres of mountains and coastline in Ventura and Los Angeles counties.  It comprises a seamless network of local, state, and federal parks interwoven with private lands and communities. For more information, visit www.nps.gov/samo.

California State Parks is composed of 279 units on nearly 1.5 million acres of land. State Parks is responsible for nearly one-third of the coastline of California, with more than 3,000 miles of hiking, biking and equestrian trails. State Parks receives more than 65 million visitors yearly, making it the single largest visitor destination in the state and second only to the National Park system for the nation. For more information, visit www.parks.ca.gov.

Contact: Kate Kuykendall, 805-370-2343
Contact: Craig Sap, 310-699-1732

Springs Fire Closure Update 5/6/13

Monday, May 6th, 2013

As of 5/5/13, this is the status of State Parks open space and other public facilities effected by closures due to the “Springs Fire”.

-Leo Carrillo SP was reopened Saturday at 3 pm

-Point Mugu-Thornhill Broome campground will reopen later this week

-Sycamore Cove and Mugu Beach day use areas have reopened

-Point Mugu back country will remain closed until further notice

-Point Mugu-Sycamore Campground is planned to reopen before Memorial Day

-Point Mugu-La Jolla Group Camp and Day Use to reopen by May 15th

The burn area perimeter (unofficial):

 

2013 Springs Fire Perimeter