Santa Barbara Canyon Washout, photo Humphrey
Hello Everyone,
The photo above was taken last week along Santa Barbara Canyon in the Mt. Pinos Ranger District. This was the area hit hardest by the micro-burst tropical storm from three weeks ago. Just up-canyon from here received over an inch of rain in less than an hour. This resulted in a flash flood that wiped out the road. Sort of ironic that too much water is causing problems for the Los Padres this summer.
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CONDOR TRAIL HIKER UPDATE
Left, Brittany May 13 at the iconic Piru Condor Tree
Right, Brittany June 19 wearing a few pounds of dirt at Bottcher’s Gap
Right, Brittany June 19 wearing a few pounds of dirt at Bottcher’s Gap
The idea of the Condor Trail started just about 20 years ago with the dream of creating a hiking route that connected trails from Lake Piru to NIRA through Ventura and SB Countues. Since then the dream has grown and the Condor Trail now spans over 410 trail miles covering the entire length of the Los Padres from Lake Piru (southern Ojai Ranger District) up to Bottchers Gap (northern Monterey Ranger District). While hikers have done large chunks of the Condor Trail (CT) over the years, no one had ever hiked the entire thing, until now. Brittany Nielson became the first finisher of the Condor Trail earlier this month when she completed the hike from Lake Piru to Bottcher’s Gap. She solo-hiked the trail and finished in 37 days. It was interesting talking with her before and after her hike. I think she gained an appreciation for the Los Padres and a respect for how challenging our forest can get. She tackled long sections with no trail, heavy bushwhacking in deep canyons, temps ranging from freezing to triple figures, 15mile stretches with no water and day after day without seeing a single person (less than 20 people along the entire trail). But, she also hiked under old growth redwoods, covered elevations from over 7,000ft to sea level, saw incredible wildlife, ocean views, deep pools and got to experience the solitude the LP is famous for. She basically took a crash course in Los Padres Backcountry, learning things in a month that many of us took years and years to learn. Speaking on behalf of everyone involved in supporting her journey, we’re all so proud of Brittany for her resiliency, tough skin, happy go-lucky attitude and ability to fight through the hard times. This is quite an accomplishment and one that will no doubt put her somewhere in the LP hall of fame. What’s next for the Condor Trail and/or Brittany? She would like to return next season and do the hike again. Perhaps when she does there will be some other thru-hikers following in her footprints along the Condor Trail as well.
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DAVY BROWN TRAIL PROJECT
Happy Trail Workers
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. The Sierra Club offers a variety of service outings that are organized through their national charter. These service outings take their volunteers across the country doing volunteer work with various agencies and organizations. When the Sierra Club was told that their service outing to pull non-native plants at El Capitan State Beach was going to be cancelled due to the Gaviota oil spill, they quickly changed their plans and instead spent a day doing volunteer trail work in the Los Padres. The LPFA got an email saying there were 13 volunteers needing a trail to work, and we knew right where to put them. Last week we led the 13 volunteers up the Davy Brown Trail in the Santa Lucia Ranger District. While the temps were hot, we were able to work about 2miles of trail. It was great seeing people from outside Central California spending their free time helping our forest. They were impressed with the Los Padres and we’ve already started a dialog where we’re hoping to lead future projects with the Sierra Club service outings throughout the Los Padres. Lemons into lemonade for sure.
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