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After the fires - a RR
Now that the recent firest that plagued the San Diego area have been
extinguished, it was time to go out and ride to survey the damage. All of the national forests are still closed so some of us chose to go out and ride the Anderson Truck Trail since it isn't actually a part of a park system or is it on national forest land (actually, one tiny section crosses forest land but the forest police would have much more important things to do with their time than stopping the random cyclist several miles from any road where this trail crosses their land). The trail runs through and above Harbison Canyon. Dubbwa made a site visit last week so if you saw that on the news, we were riding nearby yeasterday. There used to be about 500 homes in this community but approximatley 280 are now gone. immediately the ride takes on an eerie quality. Southern California chapparel usually isn't the most scenic of plants one coudl ever hope to ride through, but when there's absolutely nothing left but some charred mesquite bushes and the random stump of something I cannot name, the ride becomes quite surreal. the first three miles of the "truck trail" climb what did in fact used to be a four wheel drive road of some sort. Over the years though, the wide strip of road deteriorated into what was mostly fun singletrack overlooking a reservoir. with all of hte brush gone though, you realize that the ST is now about 15 feet wide. There's still a line through the dust, but it's much more difficult to see. The other thing that was very different about this ride was that you can see so much now. Of course, wtih no brush in the way that makes sense but sections of trail are visible for a hundred feet or more and that's just sort of weird. What used to be at rail through the overgrown shrubbery is now a trail through a wide open expanse. The ash was thick on the ground and whenever anybody rode through it the dust clowd promised to choke whoever was following. The descent down the main truck trail was actually quite different than in the past becuase the exposure that was always masked by the brush was now very obvious. There were corners that never seemed that scary in teh past but now that there's literally nothing to keep you from seeing the 30 or more foot drop on just feet from the line certainly makes you take notice! unfortuantely while on the trail we did see the burned carcasses of several rabbits and other varmint type creatures but all was not so bad. in the middle of the burn area we saw tracks of coyote and deer as well as sighting several live lizards and a rat looking thing that wasn't really a rat scurrying across a rock. His ears were singed but he looked more or less okay. he actually came right up to us no doubt looking for some food amongs all the charred brush. The other sort of strange thing we saw was one of the rabbit carcasses was actually teaming with ants so life does go on even after the burn. it will take years for the area to rebuild, but in only a few days sings of life are returning. Michael |
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After the fires - a RR
On Sun, 09 Nov 2003 17:25:10 GMT, Michael Paul wrote:
it will take years for the area to rebuild, but in only a few days signs of life are returning. So does it look like there'll be a good number of trails that were spared, or hardly any? Us out-of-towners only know there was a lot of destruction, but not specifically where. I also wonder if the dry weather makes it take longer to recover. Seems like it might. -- -BB- To reply to me, drop the attitude (from my e-mail address, at least) "It's a shallow life that doesn't give a person a few scars" - Garrison Keillor |
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After the fires - a RR
"BB" wrote in message ... On Sun, 09 Nov 2003 17:25:10 GMT, Michael Paul wrote: it will take years for the area to rebuild, but in only a few days signs of life are returning. So does it look like there'll be a good number of trails that were spared, or hardly any? Us out-of-towners only know there was a lot of destruction, but not specifically where. I also wonder if the dry weather makes it take longer to recover. Seems like it might. -- -BB- Most of the better trails burned but there's still some options available in town for those times when you need a ride. For those unfamiliar with the San Diego Geography, what burned was primarily in the eastern part of the county. Unfortunately, since the eastern part of the county is not as populated, that's also where many of hte trails are located. of the places we ride regularly only two were really spared from teh fires. Cuyamaca State Park which neighbors Noble Canyon was totally burned. The upper sections of Noble Canyon were burned but only about the first 3 miles of the trail. There are some connector trails from Cuyamaca State Park to Noble canyon that also burned. Anderson Truck trail was totally burned as was Sycamore Canyon and Mission Trails regional park. there were also some trails further south that burned but the Cedar fire, which was the biggest, took out most of the trails simply due to it's size. although it's not a trail I ride regularly, the Eagle Peak video on my site at http://www.geocities.com/mfpaul was very near where the fire started adn I suspect that it is also mostly burned. For those familiar with trails further north, I'm pretty sure that the Santa Ana River Trail also burned up in the San Bernardino Mountains. I am not as familiar with that area though so I can't really speak about other trails. So, we're sort of relegated to some trials that aren't necessarily the most epic for a while. There's talk of opening up some of the trails soon but the stuff up in the mountains won't open for a while. They have to go through and clear trees and make sure none are going to fall on unsuspecting people. As far as the rebuilding process goes, I really think that within 6 months there will be plenty of grass and flowers growing. It's going to take years for the scrub to return (fortunately there aren't too many trees at the lower elevations) but the fires we get here are sort of unique. They burn so hot and so fast that they burn the grasses and dead brush but move with such speed that a lot of times the root systems of some bushes and trees aren't killed. I saw this happen when teh Malibu fires of 1993 took out Sycamore Canyon (differnt one than the one referenced above) in Ventura County. Within 6 months and a few good rains, the area was overgrown with waist high grass and many of the treese that were simply singed had regrown all of their leaves. it was actually kind of hard to tell there even was a fire and the area was totally burned. I filmed the ride so look for a video in a week or so. Michael |
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After the fires - a RR
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After the fires - a RR
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After the fires - a RR
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After the fires - a RR
Michael Paul wrote:
"BB" wrote in message ... On Sun, 09 Nov 2003 17:25:10 GMT, Michael Paul wrote: it will take years for the area to rebuild, but in only a few days signs of life are returning. The recovery after a fire can be pretty amazing. We had some intense fires here in Los Alamos, NM in 2000. The most severely burnt areas started sprouting aspen and oak in 2002. Still, the view from my back porch will be of blackened ponderosa pine for the next 10y or so. Expect bad erosion problems in the burned areas. Some of our trails washed out with the first of many flash floods and may never be rebuilt. The good news is... This is a great time to get trail users in the area to really think about trail building. Many (most?) trails, especially ones that have been around for decades, aren't well routed. Now's your chance to re-route those erosion prone stretches. Since 2000, there's been many miles of totally new trails built in the area, many more miles of trail refurbished and rerouted. At least here in Los Alamos, the shock/stress of going through a big fire and mass evacuation seemed to bond the community. There was a sense of volunteerism to get into the burnt forest and to 'do something'. We were lucky to direct this energy into erosion prevention and trail building. Good luck to those in S. CA! Mike Johnson Los Alamos, NM |
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After the fires - a RR
couple of frame captures of the same spot on the trail only 18 months apart.
sorry for the crappy shots but a frame capture does not even compare with the worst of digital cameras. But, you can get the point! http://gallery.consumerreview.com/webcrossing/images/rock1(4).jpg http://gallery.consumerreview.com/webcrossing/images/rock2(3).jpg Michael |
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After the fires - a RR
"Slacker" wrote in message ... "Michael Paul" mfpaul wrote in message ... Now that the recent firest that plagued the San Diego area have been extinguished, it was time to go out and ride to survey the damage. All of the national forests are still closed so some of us chose to go out and ride the Anderson Truck Trail since it isn't actually a part of a park system or is it on national forest land (actually, one tiny section crosses forest land but the forest police would have much more important things to do with their time than stopping the random cyclist several miles from any road where this trail crosses their land). snip Michael Actually, SJT was opened up on Friday, 2:30pm. I know this because that's when I pulled into the upper lot while the Forest Service guys were picking up the cones and closed signs :^ ) Talk about good timing! -- Slacker Shuttle Monkey!!! ;-) cg |
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