Indian Creek – Los Padres Forest Association

LPFA Working Vacation Season is Here!

Posted on March 26, 2023 by Bryan Conant

*Still mostly Grass Mountain, March 24, 2023*

Hello Friends,

Heading into 2023, the LPFA Program of Work was going to feature large scale trail projects on quite a few of the more remote trails located deep within the Los Padres backcountry. We had Working Vacations scheduled to work on trails including the Puerta Suela (Dick Smith), Sweetwater, Bucksnort, Hurricane Deck and what was sure to be an epic two-week Working Vacation based at South Fork Station restoring the Sisquoc Trail. Alas, the best laid plans often go awry and Mother Nature had other plans. Due to this years substantial storm damage it’s looking very unlikely that we’ll be able to make it out this season to these more remote locations. Bummer… but those trails aren’t going anywhere and we’ll get there eventually….

As a result of the storm damage, we have pivoted our Program of Work to focus on trails a little closer to home. We’re still finalizing dates and details but we’re hoping to host larger scale projects this season on the Manzana, the Sespe, Santa Barbara Canyon, Santa Cruz, Blue Canyon, Alder Creek (Sespe), Tinta and the trails located off the back of Figueroa Mountain. While we certainly love the backpacking style Working Vacations that come with pack support, the fancy gravity water filter and wetting canvas manties to keep the coolers cold; it’s looking that at least through April most of our Working Vacations will be more along the lines of car-camping. Car-camping is great too, don’t get us wrong and it’s much easier driving in coolers of ice as compared to packing them in on mules.

All that being said, our first larger scale trail project of the season is set for April 5-9 at NIRA working up and down the Manzana Trail. We are still finalizing details but we’re hoping to drive in to NIRA on Wednesday April 5, setup camp and work the next 5 days clearing slides, downed trees and brush. While we’d love each of you to come for the entire 5 days, we know that life sometimes gets in the way of trail projects and there will be opportunities for people to come for shorter periods of time as well. If you are interested in signing up or to learn more, click the link below and get on the email list – we’ll provide updates as soon as we can. Hope you can make it!

*Exuberant Trail Volunteers – Indian Creek Working Vacation, Spring 2022*
**SIGN UP NIRA WORKING VACATION HERE!**

Downed Trees Everywhere!!!

So many trees have fallen this month due to a combination of super saturated soil, wind and snow load. if you come across a downed tree or any other obstacle along the trails or roads, PLEASE take a photo of the trail impediment, try to position an object or person in the photo for scale, record the location and share on HikeLosPadres, with the Forest Service or send directly to us: INFO@LPForest.org Thanks….

Forest Hiring Opportunities

*It’s certainly harder to get around the forest at the moment, but that just makes the rewards greater for those who do – photo Wayne Pooper*

FOREST SERVICE: The LP Forest Service is looking for candidates who have an interest and passion for outdoor recreation and public service! Click Here
LPFA TRAIL CREW: The LPFA is currently hiring for our spring-summer Trail Crew. If you like spending time in the forest and working on trails, check it out! Click Here

*So nice to see so much water flowing just about everywhere across the forest. It’s going to be a great spring. Photo Tommy*

LPFA Trail Work GivingTuesday

Posted on November 29, 2022 by Bryan Conant

**How many #GivingTuesday emails did you receive today?**
**We’re setting the over/under at 15. How’d you do?**

Hi Everyone – Sorry to inundate you with another #GivingTuesday email but we believe in our goal of restoring the Santa Cruz Trail and we believe that you as trail users should believe in it as well. Of course your contributions go to the LPFA but more importantly they go to support the Los Padres Forest, they go directly to the Santa Cruz Trail and they go to help folks like yourself who are out there using the trails. If you use the trails, this is for you!

If you haven’t volunteered with us yet or don’t know about the LPFA, we can almost guarantee you’ve enjoyed the trails we help maintain. We’ve put together a list of 12 trail accomplishments we’re proud of from 2022. If you’ve not enjoyed these trails listed below, please do so, now is the time before they get overgrown again…. trail work in the Los Padres is like painting the Golden Gate Bridge, it never ends!

For 2023 we will be making a big push to continue work on the Santa Cruz Trail and connect the dots between Upper Oso and Santa Cruz Station. We have funding in place for much of this work but not all of it just yet. If you use or have used the Santa Cruz Trail or any of the trails across the Los Padres, please consider supporting our Santa Cruz Trail campaign. Thank you all for your support and see you on the trails…..

– Your Friends at the LPFA

LPFA Accomplishments !

#GivingTuesday 2021 – Thanks to your donations in 2021, the LPFA fixed a mile of the Sespe River Trail including repairing the Alder Creek Slide.
Figueroa Mountain – Over 10 miles of trail restored along the north slope of Figueroa Mountain including Davy Brown, Willow, White Rock and more….
Cold Spring Trail – Brushed, repaired and rebuilt the entire northern Cold Spring Trail from East Camino Cielo to Forbush and down to Mono. That is us!
Indian Creek – April Working Vacation at Meadow Camp, cleared the Indian Creek Trail up to Indian Creek Camp. It had been decades, go explore this canyon NOW!
Red Reef Trail – Restored 10 horribly overgrown miles of the Red Reef Trail in the Sespe Wilderness with help from our awesome volunteers and Trail Crew!
Sulphur Spring Trail – Opened and brushed the Sulphur Spring Trail, which was super helpful for San Raf hikers while NIRA was closed. Yes, that was this year!
Blue Canyon Trail – Took a few years but we finally punched through the Blue Canyon Trail east of Romero. We did mention painting the Golden Gate Bridge…
Garcia & Ventana – Completed 2 weeks of work in the Ventana Wilderness with VWA and 3 weeks of work in the Garcia Wilderness with SLOPOST. Teamwork!
Ventura County – Maintenance on an assortment of trails including Santa Paula, Matilija, Murietta, Lion, Pot John, Snowy Creek, Piru, Agua Blanca, Boulder, etc….
SB County – Regular trail work including Mission Pine, Big Cone Spruce, Manzana, Rattlesnake, Jesusita, Sisquoc, Tequepis, Franklin, Buckhorn, Grapevine, etc….
Sespe Trail Work – We had a super fun and great November volunteer Working Vacation based at Willett where we opened 4 miles of trail down-canyon. SO FUN!
Santa Cruz Trail – Continued work on the Santa Cruz NRT, focusing on the section between Alexander and Santa Cruz Station. Please considering helping us continue!

Click here to watch a YouTube of our 2021 #GivingTuesday accomplishments in the Sespe.

Click here to donate for #GivingTuesday 2022 on the Santa Cruz Trail.

Have a great day everyone!

THANK YOU!

April 11: Busy Day on the Los Padres Forest

Posted on March 31, 2015 by Bryan Conant

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