I parked at Chilao day use and rode my bicycle down to Alder Creek Edison Gate (it looks like the gate didn't exist when street view collected the imagery in 2009). I was surprised to se a pair of forestry trucks about a mile in where the trail departs the Edison road.
It's a slippery descent down onto the trail and might be easy to miss with a number of other forks off the road around there, but there's little doubt that you've found it when you do- there's clear evidence of recent trail grooming. for the next mile.
I encountered Kristen and her angels responsible for this work another mile after. Jeffrey (iirc) shared they'd been working on the trail since November and are now two miles in. I shared my admiration, gratitude, and asked if pressing through to Loomis was practical. He wasn't sure, but I felt it was worth trying.
The next mile was quite a bit of work. It wasn't especially difficult to find the trail direction, it's just the tread is barely there and yucca has asserted itself in ways I'm aching about tonight. There's also evidence someone pruning back branches of madrone here and there, and spotted a pair of red-handled shears on the ground. However, the trail still has a ways to go before one could comfortably navigate without the aid of map.
There were at least two spots I needed to crawl through thick brush, but always had the confidence to see a tread line on the other side of it to know I was heading the right way.
I was worried this was going to be a day-long bushwhack until I approached the sadde around mile 3 and conditions improved. The quality of the trail on the descent to Loomis ranch was considerably better than the preceding climb, and enjoyed the varied enviorns along the Alder creek floor.
Some strategic ducks guides the hiker across Alder creek before it leads into private property. The path, not much more than a game trail hugs the eastern side of the creek and is overgrown. It felt this route might have been improvised by someone trying to avoid the creek floor, and was beginning to dread what the last four miles with 1000ft of gain was going to be.
Like an unexpected gift, the trail joins with a manicured fire road 3N18 (Loomis Ranch Road) at mile 5, and the work of finding trails and pushing through brush was over. A gentle ascent over the next 2.5 miles made far easier by road, I meander through a quiet Chilao on what felt like a perfect spring day. The plan said 10 miles, but at the ned of the hike with all my course corrections, strava recorded 12.
Alder Creek Trail to Chilao
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- The only acknowledgement I found indicating this bushwack was a legit trail (at one time)
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- Grasses along the creek floor
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- Easier going, heading down from the saddle toward Loomis
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- The starting gate to Alder Edison Road
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- My bike, stashed near the trailhead
That trail is a beautiful one and I have yet to hike it end to end. The bike stash looks super risky and personally, I would have hid it in the bushes or something. Nice report!
stoke is high
Haha, if someone manages to spot that bike speeding along Upper Big Tujunga, finds a place to stop remotely nearby, risk it along racing vehicles with no shoulder, and break the ulock on crumbling dg, they've probably earned it! After having a sequence of expensive bikes stolen, I bought this beater as a temporary solution to keep commuting to work. Now it's the bike I've had the longest 