EISPIRATEN

There used to be a trail that went from First Water upstream and reconnected to the main trail just after the oddly roped section. After the fire this trail was covered and overgrown. I have noticed that the trail over the last year or so has looked better and better. Sunday I decided to check it out on my way down and it is indeed easily passable albeit slightly narrow in spots coming down to the canyon. With the large quantity of water this upper section is as delightful as Big Santa Anita without the crowds, a really great spot.

Do you mean someone has been working on it? Or animals are using it?

Yes somebody has worked the trail, the difference is significant.

The trails in that area are maintained by volunteers working through the Sierra Madre Community Foundation, http://www.sierramadrefoundation.org . The foundation has a special fund, the Fletcher Fund, for trail maintenance. Neither the city of Sierra Madre nor the Forest Service provides any supplies or labor for trail maintenance. Contributions are tax-deductible: Fletcher Fund, PO Box 716, Sierra Madre, CA 91025. If you send them a check and want them to use it only for trail maintenance, include a note saying so.

Individual volunteers have been taking responsibility for particular sections of the trail. The one running up the south-east side of Jones Peak (not the connector, but the one that starts lower down, below the dam) is a project being worked on by Charlie Bell. There is probably a story behind the section running up the back of the canyon behind First Water as well.

The only time I used that trail, I slipped and scraped myself up on one of the wet river rocks. It seems like it could be a nicer way to go when descending later in the day, when a lot of people are on the main trail, but it's not real obvious on the way down, and I always seem to go by it without noticing.