Article in OC register - Trail conditions

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by MTBZen, Feb 14, 2017.


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  1. MTBZen

    MTBZen Member

    Location:
    Socal and NY
    Name:
    Gary
    Current Bike:
    2017 Trek Pro-Caliber 9.6
    http://www.ocregister.com/articles/trail-743917-leung-water.html

    Making their way through a world of downed trees, tangled branches, soft sand, loose rocks and rushing rapids, Trent Mellgren and Mike Leung climb off their mountain bikes and stare at the next obstacle.


    What was a dry stream bed just a month ago, is now a gray murky torrent of unknown depth.


    Their plan is to cross roaring Trabuco Creek in south Orange County. But a slip and fall could turn their afternoon into what hardcore adventurers call “dicey.”

    And, trust me, you don’t want to mess up facing dicey.

    More on the men in a moment. For now, let’s look at the larger landscape. In the wake of recent rains, many challenges remain – both large and small.

    COUNTY PARKS REPORT

    If you ventured into the backcountry when torrential rains flooded watersheds in 2010, you’ve seen worse. Back then, many parks were closed for weeks.

    Today, nearly all trails already are open.

    But stay alert and be prepared for sudden changes in topography. Along with fast-flowing streams and gouged trails, some areas remain flooded. Many hills are slick and slippery.

    “Most of the damage is in the form of trail rutting, ranging from minor to major,” reports Marisa O’Neill, public information officer for the county’s parks system. “OC Parks crews are working to repair damaged trails.”

    Here are highlights:

    Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park: Fire roads have above average erosion. West Ridge Trail, Mathis Canyon Trail and Canyon Acres Trail are rutted.

    Laguna Coast Wilderness Park: Damage to Bommer Ridge and Serrano trails. Laurel Canyon Trail is rutted moderate to severe. Barbara’s Lake trails are rutted. Laurel Spur needs significant work.

    O’Neill Regional Park: Silt and mud on roadways as well as rutting and standing water on Tijeras Creek Trail. Arroyo Trabuco Trail is flooded in parts, also swift moving water, jumbled rocks and shifted sand.

    Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park: Rutting and erosion on Cattle Pond Road, Mustard Trail, Red Rock Canyon Trail and Santiago Truck Trail.

    Peters Canyon Regional Park: Trails now open.

    Carbon Canyon Regional Park: Trails remain closed due to heavy standing mud.

    Laguna Coast Wilderness Park: Extensive rutting and erosion on Bommer Ridge.

    DEALING WITH ‘DICEY’

    On this recent day, Leung and Mellgren stand on mud left from receding flood waters. They look around for something to test the depth of what at this point qualifies as a one scary-looking creek.

    Less than a football field away – but much farther if you follow the creek’s twists and turns – the flow of water is only a foot deep. But it splits into three separate flows separated by stacks of snarled debris as high as mobile homes.

    Where there were once forests of giant invasive bamboo-like plants called arundo, there now are giant balls of broken reeds and fallen, twisted tree trunks as thick as oil barrels. Shredded and dirt-clogged root systems are as big as Toyota Tundras.

    If the roar of water weren’t so loud, Leung and Mellgren could hear the traffic on Oso Parkway just to the south and high above.

    But in this jungle of devastation wrought by the power of nature, the mountain bikers might as well be in the remote backcountry.

    Mellgren, a 28-year-old Rancho Santa Margarita resident, leaves his green bicycle behind and gingerly heads down the soft embankment.

    He looks upstream and downstream. The water reaches into thick undergrowth. There is no way to travel along the shoreline.

    In fact, there is no shoreline.

    Leung, also of Rancho Santa Margarita and 28, holds back. He looks for something that might help them cross and spots a small downed tree among the jumble. He yanks until it’s free and drags it to the river.

    Somehow, Leung manages to toss, push and shove the thick end of the tree to the other side where I stand, watching and wondering just what Leung thinks he’s doing.

    There is no way anyone could walk on the spindly top part of the tree that touches the side of the creek he’s on.

    No way.

    By the time the pair can make a crude bridge, night will fall and it will be dark and more dangerous.

    Mellgren appears to agree. He grabs a long stick, stands in the shallows, reaches out as far as he can and tests the depth.

    Less than hip deep. Wade-able.

    Mellgren picks up his bike and walks it to the water’s edge. He sits down and takes off his shoes so he can Huck Finn it across the creek.

    He hoists his bike up and wades into the current. His feet slip over slippery rocks, but Mellgren manages. I hold my breath. He’s midstream. He’s clear.

    But Leung is a man on a mission. He carries an assortment of branches and bits of tree trunk to the water’s edge and shores up his overpass. Still, the span remains more tightrope than bridge.

    Wearing mountain bike shoes, Leung walks his white mountain bike into the creek, taking advantage of its handlebars to help him balance. He gently puts his weight on the horizontal treetop.

    “Dude,” I call out, “if you make this you should take up slacklining.”

    Like a Cirque du Soleil acrobat, he carefully yet nimbly makes his way across the creek, just inches above water.

    Within a minute, Leung, too, finds landfall.

    Yes, way.
     
    Torrent77, Cornholio, mike and 5 others like this.
  2. mtnbikej

    mtnbikej J-Zilla

    Location:
    Orange
    Name:
    J
    Current Bike:
    SC Chameleon SS, SC Hightower
    I like how he decided to report mostly on the flattest and most boring section of trails in OC.....the lowlands of O'Neill Park.
     
  3. Runs with Scissors

    Runs with Scissors iMTB Hooligan

    Location:
    West Anaheim
    Name:
    Mark Whitaker
    Current Bike:
    Giant XTC with pedals
    For anything more he'd have to hike. Or get on a bike. :whistling:

    And did you notice LCWP was there twice?
     
    Cornholio, mike and DangerDirtyD like this.
  4. DangerDirtyD

    DangerDirtyD iMTB Hooligan

    Location:
    CA
    Name:
    Chicken Nugget
    Current Bike:
    2018 Guerrilla Gravity SMASH
    Slow day in the news. Reads like what used to be a controlled, predictable environment experienced moisture, erosion, tree fall, and some colluvium. Oh my!
     
    mtnbikej, mike and Runs with Scissors like this.
  5. mike

    mike iMTB Hooligan

    Location:
    Western US
    Name:
    Mike O
    Current Bike:
    HT, FS
    That sounds pretty freaking epic!!!!!! Where is this wild, crazy place; I gotta man up and tackle summadat gnar!

    :unsure:
     
  6. littlewave

    littlewave Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Newport Beach
    Name:
    Brett
    Current Bike:
    GG Smash (Alu)
    Come down to the coast! I can show you all the rutted fire roads. Or not.
     
  7. BigTex

    BigTex Member

    Location:
    Ladera Ranch
    Name:
    Richard
    Current Bike:
    Pivot Les
    My backyard and my usual out-the-door ride into O'Neill, then, depending on time, over to Whiting, a Live Oak-Vista loop, over to Tijeras Creek for the return, or some combination of all of the above. Nope, not epic or gnar, but it sucks when your local trail gets torn up. Arroyo Trabuco gets it pretty bad in a big rain because it crosses Trabuco Creek five times. It was a mess in 2010, and it's a mess now. The water crossings get deep and v-shaped. Huge swaths of vegetation were ripped up in the flooding - 50 yards wide in places - and deposited in bad spots. A big problem is a lot of the trail becomes secondary creekbed when there's a lot of water, so ruts, rocks and sand become part of the experience. That said, it's mostly still rideable, but your feet are gonna get wet. Oh, and Whiting is wrong about it being a "usually dry stream bed" if that photo is where I think it is. In September, upstream from there will be dry, but at that spot there will be water running - urban runoff, I presume.

    It's actually kind of interesting to observe the power of water through there and the damage it did. The good news is it probably can't get much worse with this weekend's storm. (Mother Nature is laughing at me now and relishing the chance to prove me wrong.)
     
  8. Cornholio

    Cornholio iMTB Rockstah

    Location:
    CA
    Name:
    B
    Current Bike:
    Huffy
    And includes the status of Peters Cyn rather than the real park next to it :Roflmao... Because the status of Peters Cyn is always on my mind.
     
  9. BeckTrex

    BeckTrex Member

    Location:
    Yorba Linda, Ca
    Name:
    Mark
    Current Bike:
    2009 Giant Trance X3
    The way I see it the more people that go to Peters Canyon instead of where I am the better, so please, by all means, report it's conditions.
     
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As a former Amazon Associate I continue to get screwed trying to stay qualified as an Amazon Affiliate. So I quit!


Want to donate to imtbtrails?