Gridley Trail – Los Padres Forest Association

Los Padres Closure Update: JANUARY 23, 2023

Posted on January 23, 2023 by Bryan Conant

NIRAging…. WOW! – Photo Roo Seaford, January 11

Hello Friends,

It’s been a busy couple weeks and we’ve been fielding a TON of questions about the current storm related closure that is impacting most of the Los Padres National Forest. Information is changing by the hour but here’s the latest as we come out of a beautiful winter weekend:

*San Ysidro Trail, the whole mountain covered the trail within the red circle*

• The majority of the Los Padres remains closed through March 14. This includes all of the Ojai, Santa Barbara, Santa Lucia and Monterey Ranger Districts. The Mount Pinos RD is open, yet all the usual winter seasonal gate closures are in effect and be prepared for additional closures or delays from other storm related road damage. If you plan on heading out to the MPRD, be sure to check in with CalTrans or other sources to ensure your roads are open and passable. Still a lot of storm related damage out there…..

• The Forest Service has been busy this past week primarily working on clearing roads, assessing infrastructure damage and assisting with the liberation of multiple stranded communities. There remain over 150 people stranded due to road closures and storm damage. Most of the access roads into the forest are closed and in some cases may remain closed for quite some time.

• In support of the Forest Service and other land agencies, the LPFA has started surveying many of the frontcountry trails above both Santa Barbara as well as Ojai. While the backcountry may be closed for some time due to road closures, the strategy is to get the frontcountry reopened as soon as possible and then work out and back from there.

• Unfortunately we’re seeing substantial damage (slides, washouts, gullies, sinkholes, etc….) across most frontcountry trails and in a few cases showstopper damage that won’t be repaired anytime soon.

• The LPFA Trail Crew has been working with Montecito Trails Foundation to repair some of the trails within and above Santa Barbara. We will be preparing weekly progress reports and sharing with agencies in order to hopefully modify the closure to reopen trails as they are repaired.

• We’ve also been collaborating with MTF and Santa Barbara County Trails Council to restore some of the trails that are outside the current forest closure. It’s a good idea, if you are ‘jonesing’ for a trail, to branch out and explore your local parks, open spaces and managed lands.

• We understand that many of us are frustrated at not being in the forest or visiting our favorite trail or camp. There is a lot of significant damage out there, please try to be patient. We’re pushing hard to help get the surveys completed, get damage repaired and hopefully get portions of the forest reopened as soon as possible.

*This is one of at least three sections of San Ysidro Trail that will need significant work or adjustment. Many of the trails have sections that are literally gone and impassable.*

EATING AN ELEPHANT

Some good news to share….. With the help of Montecito Trails Foundation, we will be leading 5 days of volunteer trail projects in the Santa Barbara Frontcountry starting Tuesday January 24. Please click the link below to sign up. Due to the nature of the needed trail work, we are limiting the number of volunteers each day. There have been a lot of you (THANK YOU) interested in volunteering and we’ll hopefully have some larger scale volunteer days ahead but for now we’ll be starting small and ramping up. We’re also hoping to have some volunteer days in Ojai soon as well, hint hint, lets do it!

VOLUNTEERS CLICK HERE!

We’re also in need of help with our hired Trail Crew. If you are looking for a job, love being in the forest and have some time to spend repairing damaged trail, please let us know.

TRAIL CREW APPLICANTS CLICK HERE!

Thanks everyone for your support and patience. While all the water has been super damaging, it’s a good thing in the long run. We’re going to have some amazing pools this spring and for years to come.

*Sandstone Day Use Area on the Santa Ynez River. This is just below Red Rock. Hard to Recognize. Photo: Morgan Jones*

Winter’s Grand Finale, Trail Updates, Spring is Coming

Posted on March 8, 2019 by Bryan Conant

*Was this the grand finale to the epic 2018-19 winter season, if so, what a way for it to end! Photo Andy Quinn*

Hello Friends,

It’s been quite a winter for storms hasn’t it? We’ve had flash floods, debris flows, road closures, evacuations, washed away trails, snow, snow and more snow and it might have been capped off by one of the more spectacular lightning displays this past Tuesday night. And most importantly, we’ve had a lot of great rain soaking into the earth, recharging the groundwater supplies and filling up our creeks, rivers and reservoirs. Almost all of the LP has received over 100% of our annual rain averages with more “rain season” still ahead of us. It’s been terrific! While we might not be completely done with the rains, many of the signs across the forest are indicating that spring is in the air. Wildflowers are starting to do their thing (#SuperBloom2019?), the grass is gliding a little different, the ants have resurfaced (%&#^#&), the days are longer and there is that faint sweet smell of flowers. No matter what season you might argue we’re in, the Los Padres is about as good as it gets at the moment. We hope you are getting out and enjoying the trails, sights and sounds. Be safe with the water crossings and be sure to check in on www.HikeLosPadres.com before you head out and after you get back. There are also a bunch of upcoming volunteer projects up and down the forest you could participate in. Olly olly oxen free = time to come out of hiding!

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Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these trail crews from the swift completion of their appointed trail work.
Hurricane Deck Trail, LPFA Trail Crew, Photo Jason Morris

TRAIL WORK UPDATE

We’ve been getting a lot of questions about recent trail work and upcoming trail work. While we can’t possibly share every detail here, you’d be reading for a month, we can at least provide a quick update on some of the LPFA trail work that has occurred over the winter season. As always, if you come across any downed trees or showstoppers along the trails, let us know and we’ll do our best to share the information with the appropriate trail crews: INFO@LPFOREST.ORG

Hurricane Deck Trail has been brushed a mile from Lost Valley out towards White Ledge.
Poplar Trail (Upper Indian Creek) within the Dick Smith Wilderness from Bluff Camp down to within 100 yards of Poplar Camp has been opened.
Grapevine Trail within the San Rafael Wilderness is clear other than some large downed trees about 1.5 miles west of Bluff Camp.
Alamar Trail is in the best shape it’s been in many decades. You can actually follow the trail now, which is saying a lot based on how bad it was.
The Sisquoc Trail remains our main focus this spring with multiple Working Vacations planned over the next few months. These projects are piggy-backing on some great work we accomplished in 2018 including this summertime project that Terrence filmed for us along the upper Sisquoc.
Deal Trail has received some much needed attention brushing out the upper valley between the Narrows and the wilderness boundary.
We had a crew working the Agua Blanca Trail in December between Blue Point and Log Cabin.
The Tinta motorcycle trail has had 5 of the 7 miles brushed along the trail.
Quite a bit of work has been put into the Matilija Trail outside of Ojai. We’ve worked the bottom mile of the trail and recently flagged the entire trail from trailhead to trailhead. Once the water levels lower we’ll be back out there to continue working up towards Middle Matilija Camp and beyond.
We’ll also be working nearby Gridley Trail on March 16, hope to see you there!
We’ve also been working hard to clear downed trees and washouts along many of the Santa Ynez Valley trails including Davy Brown, Devil’s Canyon, north Tunnel Trail, north Arroyo Burro, north Cold Spring, Blue Canyon, Aliso Canyon, Santa Cruz, Tequepis, Snyder and we’ll be leading a trail project this Sunday on the White Rock Trail on Figueroa Mountain. Come join us!
We also did some water control tread work on Santa Paula Canyon, Last Chance and Lion Canyon Trails in the Ojai Ranger District.
And of course a TON of work has been accomplished in the SB Frontcountry partnering with Montecito Trails Foundation, SBMTV, SB Trails Council and others…..
We’ll also be maintaining the Sellers Potrero Trail in the Garcia Wilderness later this month. Scouting project is set for March 10.

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*We haven’t seen this much winter camping in the LP in many years, Pine Mtn at it’s finest, photo Jack Roten*

FOREST 411

There is still space available for the LPFA Backpacking Fundamentals class we’re teaching in Santa Barbara. We had our first class this past week and it was great sharing the backpacking stoke. Click here or email us for more information.
Even with some nice drying weather on the horizon some of the roads and trails around the Los Padres remain closed due to storm activity and damage:

Highway 154 opened earlier this week about a half a week ahead of schedule. The damage along Duval Canyon is astounding.
Ranger Peak along Fig Mtn Rd remains closed due to black ice. You cannot drive between Fig Mtn and Cachuma Saddle. Fig is bound to receive a lot of attention in the coming weeks as wildflower season kicks in, be sure to call the FS ahead of any visits to make sure the roads are open.
As reported by the VWA, the Carmel River Trail is closed at the moment due to trail damage.
West Fork Cold Spring Trail in Montecito remains closed due to a particularly active landslide. Trail work is scheduled this coming week with the hopes of getting the trail reopened by the 15th of March.
Highway 1 through Southern Big Sur remains on a pre-storm closure schedule. Check CalTrans ahead of any visits between San Simeon and Big Sur.
And we’re also getting a lot of mixed messages about the regular Forest Service gate closures. Some gates that are supposed to be locked have been found open and vice versa. We suggest you contact the FS ahead of any trips into the forest that might be impacted by gate closures.
If you have a spare $31million, you might be in luck as the Neverland Ranch outside Los Olivos is for sale. Great access to the Los Padres!
The FS announced this week that there will be a series of controlled burns across the forest, namely at Arroyo Seco and Fig Mtn.
This information slipped through the cracks a bit but the FS extended the Soberanes Fire closure of the western Pine Ridge Trail through November 6, 2019.
If you missed the story of the trail runner who fought off and killed a mountain lion last month in Colorado, it’s certainly worth a read. Fortunately, that mountain lion was just a kitten. He probably wouldn’t have fared so well against a full grown athletic mountain lion like this one recently seen in Montecito.

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