Volunteers return to camp on the freshly-brushed Piedra Blanca Trail, photo Dorsey C.
The Gene Marshall-Piedra Blanca Trail is one of two National Recreation Trails (NRT) in the Los Padres National Forest. From start to finish, it offers more botanic and geological variety than maybe any other trail in the LP. You’ll see lush riparian areas, mixed chaparral, high desert sage scrub, and mixed conifer forest as the trail climbs from the Sespe drainage up towards Pine Mountain and back down to Lockwood Valley. Often done as a thru-hike, it is usually accessed at either the Piedra Blanca Trailhead or Reyes Creek Campground, and is 18 miles from end to end. You can read more about the trail and other nearby connecting trails here!
How It’s Going….
From top: Volunteers rework a failed waterbar to address drainage issues on trail, photo Delia S.; volunteers asses their work on one of the 4 slides nearing completion, photo Dorsey C.
LPFA has worked sections of this trail many times, including a Working Vacation at Beartrap Camp in 2020. Our most recent effort began in spring 2023 following an incredibly wet winter, which included two massive atmospheric river events that caused widespread damage to roads and trails across the forest. Between the Piedra Blanca Trailhead and Pine Mountain Lodge Camp, there were 4 large, unstable slides that would be unsafe to cross for many hikers, as well as numerous blown out and rutted sections of tread caused by the intense, locally-heavy rainfall. LPFA led a Volunteer Working Vacation at the trailhead to brush and clear these slides over the course of 5 days in May 2023.
This trip focused on restoring the rutted sections of tread, clearing the impassable slides, and brushing the trail from the trailhead until the north side of the Piedra Blanca Rock Formation. At the end of the trip, we had brushed 2 miles of trail, restored 4 slides and spot-brushed for another 1.2 miles, reaching the creek crossing after Twin Forks Camp. And all of that done by volunteers in the 90 degree heat…. WOO!
An incredible part about this initiative is that it has been almost entirely volunteer-led and donation-funded! Without donations to our Trail Care Fund, our Ventura County Trails and Ventura County Condor Trail GivingTuesday fundraisers, and the leadership of several LPFA Volunteer Wilderness Rangers, these projects could not have happened. So, thank you to our donors and volunteers! Sign up to volunteer or donate to the trails today to keep these projects coming.…
The following spring, LPFA began leading backcountry projects based out of Piedra Blanca Camp to brush and restore tread further up the trail. Between May 2024 and March 2026, LPFA led 6 more multi-day volunteer projects between Piedra Blanca Camp and Pine Mountain Lodge. By March 2026, the trail had been completely brushed with all slides clear from the trailhead to Pine Mountain Lodge Camp. The final 1.5 miles of trail before PML Camp is one of those sections of trail that has turned back, or at least scarred (physically, emotionally, or both) many backpackers. It included a mile long gauntlet of Whitethorn Ceanothus through which hikers had to tuck, duck, and even crawl, all while getting impaled by those nasty, irritative thorns. As of March 2026 it’s brushed wide open and passable even to packstock. Cue the LPFA Pine Mountain Lodge Working Vacation….
Enter the gauntlet! The start of the infamous Whitethorn section before it was worked (above). Before and after on the brushy upper stretches of the Piedra Blanca Trail (below).
With the trail now passable for packstock, LPFA hosted a 10-day Volunteer Working Vacation based at Pine Mountain Lodge Camp in June 2026 to continue work into the remote middle section of the trail. We were able to get a mule train into PML Camp with all the food, drinks, gear, and tools needed for volunteers to spend 10 days in the wilderness and work the trail. By the end of the week, we accomplished another 3.3 miles of trail restoration, including clearing 13 downed trees, removing rose and brush at creek crossings, restoring tread at every sketchy section of trail, and brushing the trail to standard. Only 3/4 miles remain to reach Haddock Camp! And we’ll tackle that soon….
Before and afters on the Piedra Blanca Trail between PML Camp and Haddock Camp
PROPOSED FUTURE WORK:
LPFA has work planned on the Reyes Peak Trail down to Haddock Camp in June 2026. After the summer heat, we plan to work out of Haddock Camp to connect to where work was finished on the 2026 Pine Mountain Lodge Working Vacation.
A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO:
- Individual donors
- Ventura County Condor Trail GivingTuesday Donors
- Ventura County Trails GivingTuesday Donors
- LPFA Volunteer Wilderness Rangers
- Topa Topa Brewing Company
- Los Padres Outfitters
- Ojai Ranger District
