April 11: Busy Day on the Los Padres Forest

Hi Everyone,

The weekend of April 11 is going to be a busy weekend on the Forest.  There are quite a few volunteer activities and events scheduled.  Of course, our big event is the Wheeler Gorge Open House along Hwy 33.  COME TO THAT, OF COURSE.  Here is a list of some of the projects and today we’ll be focusing on the Alamar Hill Trail Project, more to come:

April 10-13: Alamar Hill Trail Project, Dick Smith Wilderness
April 11: Wheeler Gorge Open House, Ojai
April 11: Lion Canyon (Sespe) Trail Project, Ojai
April 11: State Trails Day, West Fork Cold Spring, Santa Barbara
April 17-26: Working Vacation Upper Sisquoc

Alamar Hill Trail Project
April 10-13
The LPFA is hosting a trail project in the remote Dick Smith Wilderness along the Alamar Hill Trail.  We’ll be starting the trip by driving in Friday afternoon April 10 through the locked FS gate at PBar Campground in the Upper Santa Ynez Recreation Area.  This is about a 1.5hr drive from Santa Barbara.  From there we’ll drive the Loma Pelona Don Victor Fire Road (4×4 only) out to the Dick Smith and our camp.  Starting Saturday we’ll be working the 1.2 miles of trail from Loma Pelona down to Pens Camp along Indian Creek.  This is the focus of the trip, to work from the Lomas down to Pens Camp.  Work will be primarily cutting brush, reestablishing the tread and logging out any trees across the trail.  Work will continue Sunday along the same stretch.  Of course, some strategic swimming in Indian Creek will help keep the workers refreshed and there will be time for exploring the nearby trails and features.  This is not a backpacking trip, we will be car camping each night.  The LPFA will be providing dinners Saturday and Sunday nights.  We’ll be returning Monday morning and should be back in cell range by the early afternoon.

This is a great opportunity to explore an extremely wild, rugged, beautiful and seldom visited corner of the Dick Smith Wilderness.  If you would like to sign up or have any questions, please contact Rick Humphrey: rhsbsurf@cox.net

Here are some photos to help entice your participation.

Lomas in Spring
SpringLoma

A Loma local
LomaBear

Pens Camp
PensCamp

Area Map, working from Loma Pelona down to Pens camp
DetailedMap

Overview Map
OverviewMap