Gabrielino Stewardship, Dam Bypass Edition

Well it's on me, I guess. Last month I crowed about Ken Burton Memorial Trail being brushed and in great shape top-to-bottom. It was! It still is! The trail itself is wonderful, if still steep and pretty remote. But the heavy rains this winter and recent low snow on San Gabriel Peak, Mount Disappointment, Strawberry Peak, and the rest of the western front range San Gabriels meant high waters in the Arroyo "Seco."

‍

KB ridden as a loop is always going to be a wet-feets adventure, so slightly deeper crossings weren't really a problem. But that high water in mid-February meant that the bottom of the canyon above the dam changed again enough to be confusing. And sure enough: a 60-yard stretch of good singletrack washed away. Since it's so rough along that section, I find it difficult to recommend the loop without a lot of caveats about the wet feet and confusing, boulder-y route through the bottom of the canyon.

With that in mind I started thinking about possible re-routes for that area, what trail building techniques we have that can make that section more easily-followed, less of a harsh boulder garden, and maybe (just maybe!) more sustainable. And while I was pondering all that I realized that getting volunteers and tools to that area is a HUGE ask. We've done it plenty of times in the past, but one thing we always made sure of was that the steep dam bypass section was in good condition.

‍

‍

But that section was...kind of a mess. Brushy. Brushy enough that the tread was narrowing significantly, and brushy enough to be degrading the outer edge of the tread. So for our volunteer day this month we tidied up the damn bypass!

‍

A small group met up at the JPL dirt lot and hiked, ran, and rode up to the Paul Little Picnic Area. If you've never been up here it's a wonderful place to eat lunch, relax, and enjoy being deep into the Arroyo Seco. The trip up the canyon bottom from JPL was pleasant, but our work site was up above all that shade and water on the hot, exposed canyon wall.

‍

‍

Even though turnout this month was low, our group made excellent progress on making this section of trail pleasant. Claustrophobic switchbacks overgrown with hyperactive bay laurel were cleared out. Brushy upslopes that were pushing trail users to the very edge of the trail were scraped clean, and while we were at it we shaped the tread so it would handle water more sustainably.

‍

‍

We were able to get a large portion of the dam bypass climb finished, with just a few hundred feet of tread left un-brushed and un-scraped after this weekend. (I plan on doing a few strike missions over the next couple weeks to finish up if anyone is interested. ;)

‍

‍

‍

Work was hot, dusty, and difficult, but afterward volunteers enjoyed lunch and a dip in the creek.

‍

‍

‍

After this gnarly climb is fully nice again, we'll head up above the dam and work on the long-term goal of re-establishing the trail in the wash. Join us in April for that, especially if you love moving rocks, rolling rocks, throwing rocks, and/or placing rocks very carefully. When that's wrapped, we can definitely start recommending the KB loop again.