VOLUNTEER WORK WITH THE USFS

Students of The Claremont Colleges have worked with Professor Steinmetz on numerous trail restoration projects in the San Gabriel River Ranger District of the Angeles National Forest, the oldest national forest in California and the fifth oldest in the US. This Web page documents these activities with photographs of work in the forest.

The premier group dedicated to trail work in the district is the San Gabriel Trail Builders (SGTB). The group has completed many technically demanding projects. The SGTB goes out on the first, third, and fifth Saturdays of every month. The meeting place is the Gateway Center Route 39 (Azusa Ave.) at the mouth of San Gabriel Canyon. The meeting time is 08:00. Bring water and lunch.

A second volunteer organization is the Angeles Volunteer Organization (AVA). AVA meets at 19:00 on the first Thursday of each month at the Scout hut in the Glendora city park.

Maps of Project Areas

The colored bands are GPS tracks of the trails in Icehouse Canyon. One section of the 3 T’s Trail is missing. Code: red (left), Icehouse Trail from the Icehouse parking lot to the lower junction with the Chapman Trail; green, Icehouse Trail between the two junctions with the Chapman Trail; brown, Icehouse Trail from the upper junction with the Chapman Trail to Icehouse Saddle; blue, the Chapman Trail; magenta, 3 T’s Trail to Timber Mountain; red (upper right), 3 T’s Trail from near Thunder Mountain to the end of a project.

The red, solid GPS track marks the Bear Flat Trail (Baldy Trail) from its start in the parking lot by the village church in Baldy Village to Bear Flat. The orange dashed line marks the abandoned Lookout Mountain Trail. The magenta track marks a portion of the trail from Bear Flat to the summit of Mt. San Antonio.

Projects with the Great Crosscut Saw

Power tools are not permitted in wilderness areas. Furthermore, they are also dangerous. It is more fun and safer to use the old fashioned cross cut saw. Here a group is bucking (cutting) a dead fall, a tree that has fallen across a lower section of the Chapman Trail. The execution of the project requires a group of 4-6 to bring in all the tools: the crosscut saw with handles, wedges in case the saw binds, a hammer to pound in the wedges, WD40 to lubricate the saw, a steel pry bar to move the parts of the log after the cut, and a McLeod to repair damage to the trail.

Mission accomplished!!

Here a group of Pomona students are bucking a monster log across the trail between Icehouse Saddle and Kelly Camp. Note that wedges are in place.

The state of the trail after completion of the cut and repairs to the trail.

Here a bow saw is sufficient for cutting a California bay that had fallen across the Bear Flat Trail. Heavy snow toppled the tree.

Brushing

The Chapman Trail lies on the south side of the ridge and the chaparral grows well. We frequently have to cut back the brush. No one appreciates being stuck by the thorny Ceonothus (buck thorn). Hikers frequently thank us for performing this task.

Rock Work and Retaining Walls

The group is dealing with a common problem. The upslope lies at the angle of repose and material (slough) slides down the slope and narrows the trail. A solution is the construction of a retaining wall. We prefer to use rock but at this site on the Chapman Trail we used logs as there were not enough large rocks for the task.

At this site on the 3 T’s Trail just north of Icehouse Saddle, a large tree fell across the trail and hikers created a new trail around the tree. Rather than remove the tree, we improved the use trail made by hikers. One section was steep so we constructed a series of steps to even out the grade and stabilize the tread.

Tread Work

The tread should be 2-3 feet wide. Repairs and improvements are frequently needed. Hikers often walk on the outside edge and damage the edge. Barbarians who cut switch backs destroy the tread. Slough from the upslope often has to be removed.

The next two pictures shows work on the Baldy Trail just west of the Devil’s Backbone. The trail in this section contours on the south side of Mount Harwood. Before we began work on this section, the tread was at most one foot wide and was uneven. Many hikers were terrified by this section. In the first project, we widened the tread to two feet and leveled it. On completion, the tread is not level but tilted just a bit so water flows off the trail. In the second stage of the project shown here, the group is removing a bump in the trail, widening the tread, and stabilizing the edge with rock work.

Note the cache of rocks ready to be used in the stabilization of the downslope edge of the trail. The trail drops several hundred feet on the downslope side.

Note the recent tread work in front of and along the log. Slough washed onto the trail has been removed.

Tread work in Icehouse Canyon. The dead fall in the background was removed in a later project.

last changed, 6 August 2009