The La Tuna fire put most of the Verdugos in 2017 to ash. The north side got significantly hammered and the two great trails in this area were closed and much of them washed away. I had noticed that both The Grotto and the canyon trail just below it had both opened. The Grotto relatively recently so was curious to see the shape of the trails. I left my car at the lower canyon and hiked up the The Grotto. It was evident that no trail work had been done and instead people were walking up to the Grotto on the side of the creek and that was it. I knew where the trail had been originally and scrambled about 3/4 of the way up the steep canyon side with no real evidence of anyone having gone up there. Satisfied that no trail work had been done on this trail I made my way down and went back to my car and the lower canyon trail.
This canyon had opened a good year earlier then The Grotto but the trail work seemed pretty recent. I got up to the top of the canyon and took the steep fire break up the remainder of the ridge. The trail itself continues to the Grotto upper canyon, drops to the bottom and then reclimbs the ridge. I reconnected to the main trail higher up on the ridge and took it to the fire road that runs along the top of the Verdugos. I met a fellow and his wife and he kept on yelling from various points on the fire road. I have never understood the people that feel the need to yell from high points but it must be something primal.
I took the trail the whole way down into the upper canyon past the old rusted truck. The canyon section is delightful as the hum of the freeway disappears and you feel like you're out in the middle of nowhere especially with the running water after the rains. From there you climb back out of the canyon and there was one interesting section where the entire escarpment of the mountain just slid from top to bottom with no growth on it at all for about thirty yards. That section of trail creation must have been interesting to recreate and will be hard to maintain until something grows there. Otherwise the trail looks recently maintained and in some parts is better than before the fire. Unfortunately my loop is unavailable but I could always start from the freeway as there is a ridge route from there but that would require more walking on La Tuna Canyon Road which is like a freeway, the way people drive, we'll see.
Verdugos-North Side Trails Condition
Yep I was working my way through this area back in 2017 and the fires disrupted a couple routes I wanted to take. I've mostly completed the Verdugos now. They function as basically warmup for the Gabes and thats pretty much how I used them! Fond memories. I still need to bag Tongva peak though. Will probably come up the Burbank side. One last peak...
Well, there is the variation of what the The La Tuna Fire burned and didn't, and its brushier on the north slope than the south naturally, but yeah the Verdugos are basically like the low elevation front range San Gabriels, but without anything else. And surrounded by freeways in every direction.