For this weekend I needed a hike, but I also wanted to do some trail work. I was having a difficult time deciding which one to go for but then I got an email from PCTA inviting me to join a work party to clear the Deadwood trail up to Nick Eaton Ridge. In the description I read that we would need to hike 10 miles to the work site with about 3000’ of elevation gain. It was the perfect combination, a good hike and trail work all in a single event so I joined. We met at the Herman Creek trailhead and started from there. I recall the first part of the trail meandering thru some boulder fields that were always covered in moss. The rocks are still there but there’s no moss as fire took care of that. Still I did see hints of green here and there, so it will recover probably next rainy season. As we hiked up, we passed areas that suffered the fire at different levels. We went from places that were untouched by the flames to complete obliteration. One interesting thing that was pointed out was that even though the ground cover was gone, a lot of the trees still had green needles indicating the tree might be able to survive. Only time will tell. The other thing we saw plenty is what we have been calling hell holes.
It’s basically the hole left by a root that was completely consumed by the fire. Some of these are off trail so they are not impacting our work, but some are right below it. I started to wander if this is an impending problem that will require future work parties to armor the trail in some fashion, so it doesn’t come down. Further up, towards Indian Point the fire took almost everything. It was quite a different hike than what I was used to do in this area. Before you could only see the trail corridor with towering trees on both sides and lots of green shrubs. Not the black poles line the trail, and nothing stops the views of the Gorge. Hard to imagine what it was or what it will look like in the future. That area was probably one of the most heavily burned I saw.
Finally, we reached the Deadwood trail, so we unloaded our tools and started working our way up clearing the path. The objective was not to bring the trail back to standard but make it passable. We cleared pine needles, rocks, branches and even a handful of burned logs. I must say it was interesting to hike and work our way up the ridge. Once done in that section we stop for a quick byte and continued up to Nick Eaton Ridge to check it out. Nick Eaton was completely devastated by the flames. I think it’s the only place in the entire day where I saw no signs of green. It was a bit saddening to see it like that but now that I understand a bit better the dynamics of the forest I believe some of it was needed. At some point it will recover but it will take a long time to look anything like what it was. On our way down, since we had still a bit of time, we pushed on the Gorton Creek trail past the junction with the Deadwood trail clearing logs and branches. That area was also heavily burned so there was a lot cutting and hauling stuff of the trail. We finished the work day at a switchback that had a huge log that had landed on the trail. Rather than try to cut It, we all sat next to it and pushed it out of the way with our feet. It felt good to do that.
Then we packed grabbed our tools and hiked all the way back to the cars.
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