Pacoima Canyon Trail Update
Been going Saturdays with my son in the morning. Not trying to do a perfect job, just enough to see a path. There are people hiking in but so far no one helps fix the trail (not even throw rocks off the path). There is a site www.nobodyhikesinla.com but really it should be nobody does trail maintenance. Your help would be greatly appreciated. I'm not part of the Forest Department, just a hiker that picks up trash, etc.
I assure you that lots of people are doing trail work in the Angeles NF. Unfortunately there are more trails that need work than there are crews available. I'll survey the Pacoima Canyon Trail and let a couple crews know about it. Also, I could come out on a Saturday every once in awhile.
Been helping my son build up his hiking endurance as of late. We just did from Chantry Flats to Mt. Wilson via Sturtevant camp and back through Manzanita ridge and Upper Winter trail to car. I've always gone up from Lizzy Inn in Sierra Madre . Been to Mt. Wilson many, many times. It was the 1st time for me and Sturtevant and I couldn't get over how beautiful it was. The Forest Service wanted me to join their volunteer group but I had a bias toward Pacoima Canyon since that is where I learned to drive in the Fifties. Over the years I cleared Pacoima canyon from Dillon Divide to Dagger Flats mostly by myself. The Santa Clarita Community Hiking club was able to hike my trail not too long before the Sand Canyon fire. A lot of people learn to like my trail before the fire but now it's bleak and in bad shape. It took me three years to clear a path down to the creek at Bee Camp ground, five more to clear back to Dagger Flats, and another five to beat all 3.5 miles into really good shape and then the fire came. If the Forest people had let me go in right after the fire for maintenance, not as much of my trail would have been washed out by the rains. They had abandoned the old 3N32 road (my trail) years ago and now I suspect also the Mendenhall road (3N32-1) above my trail to Lighting Point. They don't have enough money. See you soon. I'm 78 young.
I surveyed the stretch between Dillon Divide and Dutch Louie Tunnel. Here is a link to my report.
Do you have a GPX track of your trail before the fire? Were there any significant deviations from the original road route?
Do you have a GPX track of your trail before the fire? Were there any significant deviations from the original road route?
I hiked from Dillion Divide down to Pacoima Canyon and along Mendenhall Fire Road on Sunday. There has been no real write-ups about the trail conditions in the canyon so I went to check it out. Last update I had seen was over a year ago mentioning a fellow that was trying to fix up the trail to Dagger Flats. My recon shows that things have deteriorated since then. I found no evidence of anybody taking the trail down to the canyon. This section gets progressively worse the further you get down into the canyon with significant brush growth with the rains and no evidence of foot traffic. The last section is quite indistinct. There is also some erosion of the road near where the drainages are but overall the tread is in good shape.
Once at the canyon bottom the water was flowing nicely and there was zero evidence of any trail. There were areas above the creek that were clear and seemed like good options to hike on but they quickly dissipated into brush. Perhaps these sections had once been part of the trail but they are now completely overgrown. The only way upstream is through the stream at many points which is almost knee deep and covered with lots of algae. Probably best to hike this later in the year or in a dry season unless you;re into this sort of thing.
The Mendenhall Fire Road is much more traveled and while also eroded in places and also having debris flow is much easier to follow with no brush. The whole area is exploding in flowers. I hit one of those big ass black bumblebees in full flight right on my knuckle which felt very weird, I think it was a KO.
Once at the canyon bottom the water was flowing nicely and there was zero evidence of any trail. There were areas above the creek that were clear and seemed like good options to hike on but they quickly dissipated into brush. Perhaps these sections had once been part of the trail but they are now completely overgrown. The only way upstream is through the stream at many points which is almost knee deep and covered with lots of algae. Probably best to hike this later in the year or in a dry season unless you;re into this sort of thing.
The Mendenhall Fire Road is much more traveled and while also eroded in places and also having debris flow is much easier to follow with no brush. The whole area is exploding in flowers. I hit one of those big ass black bumblebees in full flight right on my knuckle which felt very weird, I think it was a KO.