EISPIRATEN

This past week I've managed to clear most of the vegetation on the trail to Bailey Canyon Falls. It's a short trail. The tread needs a lot more work which I'll try to get to this week and next. But it's worth the 30 minutes or so to go see the falls which, surprisingly to me, are still flowing well for the middle of July. This isn't a big falls but it's a nice tranquil spot to get away from the heat.

Thanks HikeUp. Everytime I've been there it's a little challenging with all the ruts and overgrowth.

I conned Sean into doing a survey of this route today. We'll see if any of his ideas ever get implemented! lol
Seriously - thanks to Sean for giving me some really good ideas and tips.

Fun times. The trail is finally getting the love it needs. Thanks, HikeUp!

Sean & I added some steps to get up and over a small cascade today (crossing #4). I think Sean broke his back, though, so be nice to him for a change

Before you needed to sort of crawl up and could slip real easily. We figured it was the least user-friendly-safe part of the route.

Before...
Now there are "steps" that make it a class 1 route. Also, the creek has now been re-routed to the camera right, sorta.

After...

I think I'll survive.

Nice job, you two.

A pleasant Sunday morning, so I attempted to improve this creek crossing (#6). Also, playing around with Photoscape X.

Before (L) & After (R) - looking upstream...

Before (L) & After (R) - looking downstream...

I also dug up my picture of the falls from Oct 30, 2011...

Nice work lads. I've never been to the falls. Now I have a reason to go and check it out.

Rerouted a crossing (#5) today. We'll see what mother nature says about it next rainy season.

A poor sequence of pictures (not from same spot and angle).

Before...
After chopping back some vegetation and adding stepping stones to get through the mud...
Not satisfied so after today's work: rerouted to the right, away from the mud...

Another section that we re-routed to get the trail away from the creek bed.

Old trail followed creek bed on left, new trail on right.

Before & After images...

Before...
After...
Let's try a gif...

I see that you cleaned Sean out from the underbrush.

Nice work!

Uncle Rico wrote: Thu Aug 15, 2024 7:35 am I see that you cleaned Sean out from the underbrush.

Nice work!

Yeah, I filled a few holes in the embankment with him.

edit: I wonder if the animals will dig him up?

Two more areas of improvement...

Looking downstream from waterfall view point...

Looking upstream just below final stream crossing before reaching the falls...

HikeUp wrote: Fri Jul 26, 2024 1:58 pm Sean & I added some steps to get up and over a small cascade today (crossing #4). I think Sean broke his back, though, so be nice to him for a change

Before you needed to sort of crawl up and could slip real easily. We figured it was the least user-friendly-safe part of the route.

Before...
20240710_091806.jpg


Now there are "steps" that make it a class 1 route. Also, the creek has now been re-routed to the camera right, sorta.

After...
20240726_084149.jpg

Here's a picture from 2011 of the same cascade (Dan Simpson's pic that I stole from his site)...

It's October 15th, 2024 and the falls are still going!


I spent this morning eliminating a pair of unnecessary water crossings. Some volunteer fig tree had seemingly forced the route into a quick back and forth crossing that got your shoes wet for no reason.


A view looking down stream of the before-after. The "stump" of the fig tree really should be removed but I need more time and a pick mattock or something with more umph.

Removed above ground part of fig tree stump and groomed a bit.



edit to add a story: early last month I went up to remove the stump (level it off at ground level), but a young man came along and asked if I was going to transplant the fig tree. I said no, just going to level it off - it's a non-native tree and was obstructing the trail. He said it was his favorite fig tree in the canyon and told me that the plant had feelings and could feel pain - which distressed him a lot. He asked that I stop to give him time to transplant it to the other side of the creek - he just needed to borrow a shovel. I stopped work and told him he could borrow a shovel from the tool stash up the trail as long as he put it back. A few weeks later I was up there to do some tread grooming and ran into the young man again. He said that he hadn't had the chance to transplant the tree yet (big surprise!). Well, after today there is less of a stump to transplant. Small favors.

He probably looked at the fig roots and realized he wasn't up to the task.

Post-Eaton Fire pictures, taken Feb. 11, 2025...one month and 4 days after it burned Bailey Canyon.


This used to be a bridge...
First before/after of trail below cascade...
This is/was/will be again the cascade...
Second before/after...
Even just a couple days after it rained about 2", the flow is minimal and the stream below the falls is mostly dry. I suspect all of the slough above and below the falls has absorbed or forced the water underground. I don't know. A massive tree (in foreground) fell from way up the canyon wall to left of picture, and now blocks almost all access to the base of the falls.

Brush looks minimal!

Well, that sucks. Is water coming out of the spring above the cascade?

Sean wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2025 5:22 pm Well, that sucks. Is water coming out of the spring above the cascade?

That pipe is buried, but there was a weak flow over the cascade. So not sure!

It's a blank slate. I will lobby for permission to build a righteous trail. I know people who know how to do it right!

How much of the work you guys put in has been undone?

Nate U wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2025 10:06 am How much of the work you guys put in has been undone?

Probably 90% has been undone. Two locations where we re-routed the trail have mostly survived (i.e. weren't covered by slough). Most every thing else has been buried by slough. The rain so far wasn't enough to do any harm, but tomorrow's rain may change that. It may in fact help! We'll see.

In any case, I think this is a good opportunity to route the trail to minimize creek crossings and minimize susceptibility to sloughing.

thanks for doing all that work. i went over to check out and appreciate it a month or two before the fire. the bridge!!