EISPIRATEN

TAKING BACK THE NARROWS

Many of you who have hiked the Big Tujunga Narrows, as described by Chris Brennen below, know that it is a stunning gorge with clear running water and high canyon walls. Unfortunately, because it is also accessible to people who do not respect its beauty, the Narrows’ rock walls have been routinely tagged, and there is much garbage along the banks and in the watercourse. This is especially true after the Memorial Day weekend.

http://www.dankat.com/advents/tjungb.htm


On Saturday, June 21st, Blight Busters will be performing a clean up effort of the Big Tujunga Narrows area, in cooperation with Alpine Training Services (ATS) and in conjunction with the Angeles National Forest Service (NFS). Both graffiti and trash removal will be performed, so we’d like to see as many people as possible out there to help out. We especially need people who do not mind getting their hands dirty or their clothes wet - or maybe even some paint on themselves.

We’ll be meeting at 8:00am at the Sports Chalet parking lot in La Canada at 920 Foothill Blvd on the south side of the street. Free coffee will be available while it lasts, donated by Starbucks and courtesy of ATS. From there, we’ll arrange some carpools and drive up to the trailhead location off of Angeles Forest Highway.

The total hiking distance required for this effort should not exceed 2 miles, and you’ll only be asked to work for about 4 hours. The trail to the bottom of the gorge is steep at times so good footwear is required (no flip flops or sandals). In addition, while working in the Narrows, you will get wet at times and be required to wade to about the knee level.

If you’d like to help out with this effort, please send an e-mail to the following address and mention how you’d like to help out – with (1) painting, (2) trash pickup, or (3) both. If you can bring other people, please mention their names in your e-mail so that we can have enough equipment available.

big.tujunga@outdoorstogether.com


Clothes
Clothes should be fast-drying like nylon or polyester. Painters should bring other clothes to put over their hiking clothes so as not to get paint on them.

Packs
Please bring a pack that’s big enough to carry a paint can and brush or that you can tie on a garbage bag. This will help you maintain your balance while hiking.

Footwear
Boots/shoes should be fast draining with good traction, and they should not be made with waterproof fabrics like Goretex.

Miscellaneous
Bring gloves, water, and snacks


Blight Busters is an NFS volunteer organization which regularly coordinates service projects to remove graffiti in publicly-accessible canyons like in the Eaton and Fish Canyons. They accomplish this work by painting over it with NFS- approved beige or grey paints. Their frequent projects can be viewed at http://www.outdoorsclub.org .

Alpine Training Services is an outdoor services company headquartered in Pasadena, providing instruction and guiding in canyoneering, kayaking, backpacking, and rock climbing. Their prior Environmental Action Days have cleaned up miles of trails in the local Southern California canyons. You can reference their website at http://www.alpinets.com/ .

Very cool. Hope it's a good turn out.

What time will people be actually at the Narrows. I live fairly close -- it would be out of the way to go to Sport Chalet.

Hikin_Jim wrote:Very cool. Hope it's a good turn out.

What time will people be actually at the Narrows. I live fairly close -- it would be out of the way to go to Sport Chalet.

I hope so, too. So far, we haven't had a deluge of people signing up.

I think we'll get to the drop-in for the Narrows around 9:00-9:15am if you can join us.

It would be great if anyone here can join us!

And I'll be providing beer for after we're done, too, if anyone needs a refreshement or two!

Lee

I've been meaning to ask: how did it go?

Small turnout compared to previous years. Maybe 10 people. Did haul several hundred pounds of trash up onto the narrows bridge including a transmission. Also applied several gallons of paint to graffiti. All in less than four hours.

Mike C.

Went down the Mill Creek/Tujunga Narrows today. I haven't been down before so I don't have much to compare it to, but my guess is that it doesn't take long for people to re-trash the place. I will be helping out on the next clean up. I filled the extra room in my pack with trash before even getting to the Tujunga Narrows.

Mike C. wrote:Small turnout compared to previous years. Maybe 10 people. Did haul several hundred pounds of trash up onto the narrows bridge including a transmission. Also applied several gallons of paint to graffiti. All in less than four hours.

Mike C.

Sorry to hear that it was a small turnout. I couldn't make it; I had to help my wife clean out her old place -- her lease was up that weekend. I'll have to try to catch the next Blight Busters event. It looks like this is their next event: http://www.outdoorsclub.org/Calendar/Tr ... ipID=16939

I don't know how far this area is from the road. I bet a sand blaster could remove all this spray paint stuff easily. And if it is too far from the road then i wonder if they make a portable one? Would be cool to have a portable one that could be hiked way down inside some of these remote spots and remove all that crap. Seems like the only down side would be that it wears down the rocks a little but it sure would look better than these pictures. No chemicals just sand.
volunteers could do it but it would be really cool if the rangers would do it on a regular schedule. Who would pay for it? The people who get caught doing it. How do they get caught? The cameras. Put enough cameras at the areas where it happens repeatedly. No matter how much it costs and charge the offenders.