Rain Rain, COME BACK!

Cuyama River, Two Days After Flooding, Where’d It All Go?CuyamaRiver  

Hello Everyone!

We’ve had some weather.  Hurricane Delores did her thing and sent some rain and thunder storms our way last week.  It was about as exciting as summer weather gets along the California coastal ranges.

RainMap
The rain started Saturday with much of Southern California seeing an entire day of rain, very heavy in some places.  Sunday through Wednesday was the more typical thunder storms with morning sun being replaced by fluffy thunderclouds and rain by the afternoons.  As the map shows above, the rain hit hardest in the southern Los Padres but most of the forest did see some precipitation at some point over the week.  Matilija in Ventura County saw the most rain with nearly 4 inches (in July!).  Frazier Park recorded 3.5″ which resulted in flash floods and quite a few road closures.  At one point on Saturday, all roads between Mt. Pinos and Frazier Park were closed due to floods.  There were reports of people being stranded overnight due to the road closures.  Santa Barbara didn’t see as much rain but the Sierra Madre received over 2″ at both Bates and SB Potrero.  Interestingly, SLO County got more rain than SB with most places having over 1.5″ across the forest.  Monterey up into Big Sur didn’t get much rain but did see some incredible lightning and thunder displays.  We’ve had reports coming in showing new green grass sprouting across the forest and increased flow in the creeks.  If nothing else, this most recent rain might extend the campfire season.  We’ll say a fond farewell to Delores and see what comes next.

Still Spring on Mt. Pinos
ChulaVista
AROUND THE FOREST NEWS
Some stories and links you might find interesting from across the Forest:
LOST BIG SUR HIKER
Earlier this month a hiker went missing at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park.  Sadly, after nearly a week, the search was suspended.  You can read more about it through a Google search or here.
CONDORS AND TAR CREEK
There was a recent article in the High Country News about the Tar Creek (Ventura County) closure and its influence on the condors in the area.  The article highlights some of the Forest Service efforts to control the situation at Tar Creek.  Certainly worth a read if interested.
CONDOR IN SANTA BARBARA
This story made it’s way through Social Media land but in case you missed it, a wild/free condor made a rare visit to Santa Barbara late last month.  Yankee Barbareno did a good job of documenting and sharing the information on his blog.  You can read it here.  Perhaps one day the condor will be feeding along the beaches again, that would be cool to see.

Running and Trail Working

Fluffy Bear Tracks – July 2, 2015
FluffyBear

Good Afternoon Los Padres!

This photo was taken earlier this morning showing some fresh bear tracks along the Buckhorn Rd in Santa Barbara County.  The Buckhorn was recently graded, which resulted in a thin layer of fluffy dust atop the road.  Yesterday there were a few sprinkles that fell in the area which added to the fluff factor along the road.  Right smack in the middle of the road were bear tracks going from Upper Oso Camp up through the Oso Narrows and onto the Santa Cruz Trail.  It was the observation of the photographer that the bear had been down near the camp getting at the water in the narrows and took the road back up-canyon.  It’s going to be an interesting year watching how the wildlife deal with the lack of water across portions of the forest.  If you come across anything interesting or different on your hikes, packs or rides – please send our way.  We’d love to hear your stories and share if possible.
SANTA BARBARA RANGER DISTRICT
10 MILE TRAIL RUN
SB100Run
The LPFA has been partnering with the Santa Barbara 100 endurance trail run for the past few years.  The event is a 100mile, 100k and now a 10mile run across the Santa Barbara Backcountry.  Our participation has been hosting an Aid Station along the course.  This year the event is Friday July 10 through Sunday July 12 and the LPFA will be hosting an Aid Station at mile 5 & 95 along the route.  Basically we greet runners as they enter the Station, register them into the Station, check to see if they are doing okay, supply them with anything they might need (food, liquid, warmth, cold, etc….), show them the way towards the next Station and pump them up for the long miles they have in front of them.  It might not sound like too much fun but it’s really a good time.  The runners are genuinely thankful to have the support and it’s great to see these athletes accomplishing something as remarkable as running 100miles along trails.  It’s very cool.  If any of you would be interested in helping at the Aid Station, we’ll be there Friday night through Sunday morning and would love as much help as you could volunteer.  Let us know:  INFO@LPForest.org

AND, in addition, the LPFA will be receiving all proceeds from the registration cost ($35) of the 10mile run.  All proceeds will be going directly to the LPFA Trail Care Program.  So if you are at all interested in running 10miles next Saturday (July 11), please sign up knowing your money will go to a good cause!  Plus you’ll see us at the 5mile Aid Station.  For more information about the 10mile event, please see the link here.

ACE ACED SANTA CRUZ
SantaCruzAceWork
This past May, the American Conservation Experience (ACE) was hired to work a section of the Santa Cruz Trail in the San Rafael Wilderness.  The LPFA helped set them up at base camp and then guide them up to the work site.  Their mission was to work the southern slope of the trail that climbs from Coche Camp up to Mission Pine Basin.  ACE had 8 workers out there for a week hammering away at the old trail, which hadn’t been worked in over a decade and was severely damaged by the 2007 Zaca Fire.  They did great work, we were all very impressed with what they were able to accomplish.  Don’t take my word for it, take a look at the photo above.  We’ll be posting more photos in the coming days both on HikeLosPadres.com and also on the LPFA Facebook page.  You can see the extent of their work on the map below.
SantaCruzAceMap

Have a safe 4th of July!
Hope you can get out along the trail and please be careful!