April 25: Gorillas in the Mist

 

The Trail Gorillas cleared brush on Liebre Mtn (mile 505) today, with sun, whiteout, mist, rain, and sleet. We finished a little wet this time but brushed the worst of Section E.  We weren't the only ones out though, as we counted nine hikers.

April 19: Trail Gorillas clear the PCT through the Station Fire!

Before

After

As of today when Dave, Dan, Diane and I finished the last of the clearing above North Fork RS, the Station Fire area is cleared of brush and debris, and much of the trail retreaded.  Congratulations to Pete Fish, Dave, and all the Trail Gorilla volunteers who have worked in this heavily-affected segment through the burn. On to Section E now, where much work awaits.

New Projects in the Sawmill Mtn Area: Apr 25/26 and May 1-3

I hope you can join us for one of these projects to help clear the trail in Section E near Sawmill Mtn. These two projects will have us making progress from Atmore Meadows Road toward Liebre Mtn, and will be our new Section Chief Jim Richter's inaugural projects.  We'll overnight at Sawmill CG. I hope you can come out to meet Jim and show him how awesome the Section E volunteers are!  See full details at PCTA.org, and to sign up contact Jim Richter at richterj at vmcmail.com or phone 323-595-9499.
Section Chief Dave Fleischman, who served Section E for at least ten years, is taking on Section D, where the Station Fire burned in 2009.  Still lots of work to clear the trail for 2015 thruhikers. We'll be out there by Mt Gleason this weekend...

April 4 in the Pine Canyon area

If you have worked on any of the Pine Canyon projects after the 2004 Pine Fire and subsequent 2005 floods that wrecked the trail out there, the photo below may be of interest.

Same place: 2005, 2010, 2015

I also visited Horse Camp, above this spot, and since trail users have indicated trouble locating and accessing the spring back there after all the blowdowns of recent years, I flagged the route to the spring with pink tape.  While the recent rains have greened up the surface, the spring was pretty lethargic from three dry years.
Most of the burned trees around the camp have now fallen, but healthy new trees - some of them 15' high - are already replacing them. I even saw short some fir seedlings mixed in with the larger pines.

New trees below Horse Camp

Next Sec D project: April 18-19 near North Fork RS

No, that IS the trail.

The March 28-30 project was tremendously successful, but our friend John Shelton has returned from his latest inventory in the remaining Station Fire footprint, and it shows that we likely have three days of work left to clear the trail up there. We are planning another big push for April 18-19, camping overnight at the North Fork Ranger Station. Meals will be provided to those overnighting with us. To sign up for one day or both and get meetup specifics, contact Section D Chief Dave Fleischman at owldave57 at gmail.com.  See you there!

March 28-30 on Mt Gleason in Sec D

In three days, the Trail Gorillas brushed an epic 1.35 miles and treaded 2500' of the PCT in upper Moody Canyon northbound from Mt Gleason. This is in the 2009 Station Fire footprint, and represents the worst trail conditions in the area. More projects will be scheduled here, as this area has become the priority segment for clearing in 2015. 

An energetic crew

Treading it out after the brush is cut back

Final product