November 23: San Francisquito Cyn to Dowd Cyn Inventory

I inventoried the 2 miles or so from San Francisquito Canyon to the end of the HDR segment ('Marv's Chute'). Found that the trail is fine, and added a few water bars just in time for the first storm. The brush is probably ready for a cut, mainly just in San Fran Cyn as it climbs the hill, and the first 100yds or so south of Marv's Chute. Click on the pic to enlarge.

Nov 15 Back In Dowd Canyon

Pete and the Trail Gorillas, some High Desert Runners, and an Outward Bound crew worked Dowd Canyon hard last week. The gap is closing on the HDR's adopted Spunky-Dowd segment!
I was out with Steve Henrich and a crew of volunteers on Saturday for followup work. A reporter from the Antelope Valley Press accompanied to take photos and do interviews.

Bear in Camp

Here's a great series of photos from the PCTA Trail Gorillas' May project up by Golden Oak Spring, in Section F in the South Sierras.

Misc Places

• Ray Drasher reports clearing all blowdowns between the sag pond southbound to Burnt Peak Junction. That includes the ones the PCTA volunteers didn't get in the Horse Camp area.
• I walked the very upper portion of Spunky Canyon on March 16 and can report that it looks in good shape.
• While not in Sec E, a crew of PCTA / American Hiking Society volunteers led by Dave Fleischman did some great work in Sec D at Vasquez Rocks two weeks ago. They installed waterbars and a great set of stone steps. Much of the park burned in a fire last year, so so re-signing was also called for. I was out on Saturday and helped with some finishing touches. Some photos are here.
  

Horse Camp

Pete and a crew of PCTA volunteers worked to clear blowdowns at Horse Camp last week, but a few remain across the trail above the camp and so another project will be planned this spring to complete the trail-clearing.

Dowd Canyon Feb 25

This week, Pete and a volunteer crew brushed and cleared 0.29 miles of trail in a single day! Status map now shows just 1.22 miles remaining to brush in Dowd Canyon.

ALSO: Pat Aubuchon reports working the northbound stretch above the Green Valley FS last month, with TrailBosses. Section E has awesome volunteers!

Bouquet Canyon - Southbound

I hiked up to Pelona Ridge on Sunday - one of my favorite local hikes, and hikeable all winter. This stretch would be a good candidate for some improvements to the ORV traps. While the south side of the ridge gets the worst of the ORV traffic, this side still has had all four traps circumvented. These photos show the traps in place, but they could use some shoring up. This would be a good one- or two-day project.

Tejon Ranch Update

Ray Drasher reports that he rode the Tejon Ranch segment yesterday and cut out the fallen trees (like this one) including a few more since my last inventory. Ray also reports that the segment needs treading in places, as the winter weather has done more tread damage since the October inventory. Sounds like a candidate for re-inventorying before it gets hot. This stretch burned in the 2004 Pine Fire, so we'll continue to have work. Big thanks to Ray for this report!

Feb 9 in Dowd Canyon!

Most all the work was finished by Pete and the PCTA volunteers before the High Desert Runners and I got out, but we treaded and enjoyed the sunshine. It's sure green out there these days.
Now that we're beyond midway between access points, it's once again a short walk to get to the work. Here's the status map (everything in green or purple is at least cleared, and much of it treaded), and the customary group photo. Also it was great to get to work with Ian McGarrough again, he made that awesome sign in Bouquet Canyon last year, and helped a lot at Trevor's Eagle Project workday last month. Section E has awesome volunteers!

Eagle Project at Horse Camp

Trevor Fry and the rest of Troop 146 of Quartz Hill worked two days at Horse Camp this weekend. I was there as well, and found a bunch of blowdowns along the trail. Here is a slideshow of photos.

Jan 12 in Dowd Canyon

Was out with the High Desert Runners today for more brush-tossing in Dowd Canyon. We also replaced a signpost and did some treading. Here's a group photo (a mcleod did duty as a tripod) and a current status map. To date, 3.1 miles of the Spunky-Dowd area are now brushed.
Pete and Co. will return in a few weeks for more. Congrats to all who have contributed to the progress in the High Desert Runners' adopted stretch of the PCT!

Jan 5 Dowd Canyon Status

Pete and a crew of PCTA and HDR volunteers brushed in Dowd Canyon this week, but today's wet weather prevented the High Desert Runners from getting out to clear it. Here's the latest map showing brushing progress to date, with cleared trail shown in green and the brushed but uncleared stretch in yellow: