Ken Burton Memorial Trail - Top to Bottom!

Have you been down the Ken Burton Memorial Trail? Have you been up it?? Built by MWBA last century, the trail is a steep and technical connector between the top of Brown Mountain Road and the Gabrieleno National Recreational Trail on its rugged Arroyo Seco section. It completes the most remote portion of a 14-mile loop if you start from the Gabrieleno trailhead in Altadena. It's also a key part of a popular hiking out-and-back to bag Wella's Peak from the fire station on ACH.

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The trail honors fallen USFS firefighter Ken Burton, who died in a collision with a drunk driver on the Angeles Crest Highway. Read our article on KB for more about Burton and the history of the trail.

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Having built the trail in the 1990's, MWBA remains responsible for maintaining it. Since it is such a steep trail, many of the switchbacks on KB are subject to erosion damage and since it is so remote, it often needs brushing. As part of the restoration effort after the trail burned in the 2009 Station Fire, MWBA implemented more sustainable water control features. Over the decade since then, the trail tread has held up really well! But the brutal chaparral and insidious poison oak continue to grow.

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So MWBA occasionally hauls its volunteers 7 miles up the steep road, or 7 miles up the wet Arroyo Seco, hopefully on a day that isn't too hot, and we topple nefarious whitethorn and prune back prickly scrub oak and try to avoid getting too covered in poison oak in the process. This month, 16 volunteers made the climb look easy, then spent a half day brushing the top three switchbacks.

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I should also mention that MWBA volunteer Chris and I scouted the trail the day before our public dig day, and removed the one downed tree across the very bottom of the trail. We had a blast descending KB! Chris helped a ton before our public day, doing the majority of the scouting as well as preparing our work plan for the day.

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These dig days completed a year-long effort to brush the entire trail. Thanks to the dedication of our ardent and capable volunteers, the trail is currently brushed top-to-bottom and is running as good as the day it was restored! We hope you'll get out there and enjoy the rare delights provided by this unique trail.

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Please note, however, that for as good as the trail is right now, it still dumps you down into the bottom of the Arroyo Seco which has not exactly been seco lately. If you're riding the KB loop, make sure you are ready to get your feet (and your bottom bracket) wet, and consult a map about how to connect the bottom of KB to the debris dam bypass section of the Gabrieleno. The path where the trail is in the bottom of the canyon changes with the flow of the creek, though if you've ridden it in the last few years the basic line remains the same.

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Speaking of maps, MWBA has printed a new edition of its local trail guide featuring artwork by local outdoorsman (and former MWBA Vice President) Erik Hillard. The new maps should be available at your local bike shop, REI, Patagonia Pasadena, and at MWBA events. The map itself is updated to reflect the current Eaton Fire closure, and there's some other interesting revisions. Look for the new GOLD trifold!

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All photos: Carson Blaker on a broken cell phone