Tag: Manzana Trail

TRAIL VOLUNTEERS: Return to Happy Hunting Ground, Working Vacation

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Happy Hunting Ground Working Vacation Continues 
April 22-28, 2024

Hello Friends, 

The LPFA and our wonderful trail volunteers just completed 3 miles of trail restoration (technically 2.9, but who’s counting?) within the San Rafael Wilderness as part of our Happy Hunting Ground Working Vacation. Woot woot! 

We had so much fun and it was so nice out there… we decided to do it again! Please consider joining us as we Return to Happy Hunting Ground ~ April 22-28 to continue our great trail work down towards South Fork Station. Here’s what you need to know: 

  • As usual, all food and tools will be provided for our volunteers. 
  • You’ll need to backpack in your own personal gear 10.7 miles from the NIRA Trailhead out to Happy Hunting Ground. It’s a beautiful hike with many creek crossings and most of our volunteers were completing the hike in 6-7 hrs. 
  • While we’d love people to come out for all 7 days, you are more than welcome to come for shorter stints too. We’ll work around your schedule. Sign up and we can work out the details from there. 
  • Our Working Vacations are really fun. A good mix of Work and Vacation. If you haven’t joined us before, check it out, you’ll have a great time! 
  • Be sure to pack your phone and a bathing suit. The views are terrific and this years water is incredible. 
  • To sign up please click the link below or email us at VOLUNTEER@LPForest.org with any questions. 

Thanks everyone, hope to see you out there…….

Volunteer on the Manzana Trail! SIGN ME UP!

Manzana Trail is Where It’s At!

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Hello Friends! 

It’s trail season and the LPFA will once again be hosting a Working Vacation to help maintain the backcountry trails of the Los Padres Forest. This season we are focusing on restoring the beloved Manzana Trail within the San Rafael Wilderness…..

Click Here to Help the Manzana Trail!

Starting April 6, we’ll be camping at Happy Hunting Ground Camp and spending the next week clearing the trail down towards South Fork Station. Happy Hunting Ground is a backcountry camp nestled between pines, oaks and rock outcrops along the eastern edge of the Hurricane Deck formation. If you haven’t been there before, it will be a great place to temporarily call home!

This will be a typical LPFA Working Vacation complete with pack mule support = all food and tools will be provided. Happy Hunting Ground is located 10.7 miles upstream from the NIRA Trailhead along the Manzana Trail. Each volunteer will have to only backpack in all their own personal gear while the mules will bring in the kitchen setup, food and tools for the week. 

The trail work will include crosscutting downed trees, tread repair, some rockwork and brushing. We could also use help with cooking and campground maintenance too, if that’s more to your liking. While we’d love to have you for all 10 days, there are absolutely options for shorter stays. If you’d like to join or to learn more, please email VOLUNTEER@LPForest.org or click the link below. We’ll be sharing more details over the coming week or so.

Happy Hunting Ground is an amazing place! It will be fantastic working the trail, spending time at camp, helping the forest and hanging out with friends. Hope to see you there….

Heck Yeah – Sign me up!

Potrero Trail Volunteer Project

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Green meadows are calling…

Hello Friends, 

It’s officially green out there. Backcountry season is in full swing and LPFA is kicking off our spring trail working season with a project on the Potrero Trail. For those who joined our work on the western Hurricane Deck last fall, you may remember it to be hot, brown, breezeless and full of face flies. Well not anymore! Right now it’s just about as good as it gets up there.  

LPFA will be leading a backcountry project out of Potrero Camp on the Manzana Trail from March 8th to 10th where we will be brushing our way up the Potrero Trail to the Hurricane Deck Trail. This project is part of a group of upcoming (and past) projects to open up the western portion of the Hurricane Deck Trail. Come help us open up the Deck! 

While we’d love for you to join for the whole project, you’re welcome to come for as long as you can. Sign up via the button below and stay tuned for more info in the days leading up to the project. And if you can’t make this one, check back in for more Manzana-adjacent projects this spring…there will be PLENTY!

Take Me To Potrero!

Los Padres A Zone Opening Weekend & Volunteer Events Ahead

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Hello Friends,

This weekend (Saturday August 12) kicks off the opening weekend of A Zone South General Deer Season, which is the most popular hunting season here in the Los Padres. A Zone encompasses just about all of the Los Padres from Monterey down through Ventura County – click here to see the A Zone South map.

With the onset of A Zone, there will be a lot of hunter activity across the forest over the coming weeks; in particular during the early weekends of the season and especially this opening weekend. If you have plans to hike, backpack, ride or visit the forest this weekend, be aware that it will be very busy within A-Zone and you should expect to see hunters camping at most of the trailheads, turnouts and campgrounds that provide access into the forest. If you’re not a hunter and are looking for solitude then you might want to rethink your plans and head elsewhere. This could be a great excuse to explore some of the wonderful trails and camps outside of A Zone including many of the high elevation destinations within the Chumash Wilderness, Alamo Mountain and all the trails off Lockwood Valley Road.

If you are heading into A-Zone, be sure to wear brighter colors than you might normally wear and be courteous of the other forest-users. If you’re starting up a trail and come across some hunters, it’s always a good idea to ask where they are going and let them know where you are going so as to prevent any surprises further up the trail. Most hunters are very knowledgeable about the Los Padres and have been enjoying the forest for generations.

Due to the continued storm related trail and road closures, we are expecting an even more impacted opening weekend as many of the beloved trails, roads and hunting areas are more difficult to access this year. Remember that the LP is currently in fire restrictions and campfires are only permitted within designated campfire use sites.

Good luck everyone, be good and stay safe!

VOLUNTEER WITH US!

MATILIJA: Summer – Fall

The LPFA will continue to lead twice weekly volunteer projects each Thursday and Saturday just outside of Ojai along the North Fork Matilija Trail. Matilija was hit quite hard in the January 2023 storms and needs as much TLC as we can give. We’d love the help. Please email to learn more or click here to sign up and get on the Matilija list…..

MANZANA: August 18-20

The LPFA will be leading a multi-day trail project August 18-20 along the lower Manzana Trail focusing on clearing downed trees between Horseshoe Bend and the Manzana Schoolhouse. We will be camping at the Manzana Schoolhouse and will have opportunities for you or your gear to grab a ride. For more click here or email us at VOLUNTEER@LPForest.org. This will be a lot of fun, hope you can make it!

Los Padres: We Have Fire Restrictions!

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   LOS PADRES FIRE RESTRICTIONS   

Hello Los Padres Friends,

Effective today (August 1, 2023) the Los Padres National Forest is going into what might be considered Stage 1 fire restrictions. Please read the Forest Order but here’s a basic rundown of what is included:

Thanks to our wet winter, fire restrictions dropped a little later this year than what we’ve seen the past couple of years. For comparison, Fire Restrictions were announced on June 1 the past two years and we think you might have to go all the way back to 2011 to see Fire Restrictions announced any later than August 1. For those of us who continue to visit the backcountry despite the summer heat, rest assured, basic REI style cooking stoves are still allowed. This is great news for those needing their morning coffee fix.

Contrary to what some believe, campfires are not needed for evening enjoyment while camping. Here are a few links to different sites that contain ideas, games and suggestions for how to camp without fire. And last but not least, lets do our collective best to not screw up and cause additional levels of fire restrictions. Follow the rules, be fire smart in and out of the Designated Campfire Use Sites and be a good steward of the forest. We got this!

Big Sur Visitor Use Workshops

The Forest Service, along with various Big Sur stakeholders and agencies, will be hosting a series of three workshops in August designed to discuss, educate and ultimately solve many of the visitor use (overuse) issues impacting coastal Big Sur. You can read more about the workshops here on the FS website and of course Big Sur Kate covers these meetings marvelously on her blog as well. Remember, if you’re not part of the solution then you’re certainly not going to be a part of the solution. Or something like that. Make your voice be heard.

MANZANA TRAIL WORK CONTINUES

Thanks to the combined effort of LPFA volunteers, the LPNF and the LPFA Trail Crew, we’ve been able to restore much of the storm damaged Manzana Trail within the San Rafael Wilderness. The Trail Crew has been braving the heat and spending “cooler” weeks continuing our work along the Manzana. The Trail Crew is out there again this week focusing on brushing and clearing slides up near Manzana Narrows and hopefully onward towards Happy Hunting Ground and White Ledge. It sure is nice having good water this late into the season! Our ultimate goal this year is to restore the Manzana so that it is once again stock-passable from NIRA out to South Fork. If all goes according to plan, we’ll be hosting a large-scale Working Vacation at South Fork either this fall or spring. More on that in the coming months. In the meantime, if you’d like to help support these efforts, please consider making a donation For the Trails. Thanks everyone for your support….

     Upcoming Volunteer Opportunities     

Los Padres Forest Association
PO Box 1282  | Goleta, California 93116 | info@lpforest.org