Trail Work on the Arroyo Seco: A Photo Gallery

Yesterday, for the first time in a while, I went on a Volunteer Wilderness Ranger outing—doing what I love best: sawing trees out of the trail and maintaining campsites.

Our work was cut way back by last year's Soberanes Fire, which closed most of the wilderness for a year and a half. Much of the area has recently opened, though the most popular thoroughfare, the lower Pine Ridge Trail from Big Sur to Sykes Hot Springs, remains closed, and probably will stay that way for years, if not for good. Too much of the trail was destroyed by the fire, and subsequently by landslides during this year's wet winter. Some folks are just as glad that it's no longer passable: it had become way too busy, which meant way too many problems (overcrowding aside, litter and human excrement were huge issues).

Since my typical "beat" before the fire was the Pine Ridge Trail, that means I have to become acquainted with new parts of the wilderness. Poor me!

Yesterday's outing took me to a place I'd never been before, the Arroyo Seco Trail out of Santa Lucia Memorial Park, commonly known as the Indians. We hiked about three miles in, checking out Forks, False Madrone, and Madrone Camps—all of which showed little sign of use. We cleared four trees of varying sizes, using Lynn's newish crosscut saw, Little Boss. We saw bear tracks and scat. It was a glorious day.

Here are some photos I took (plus a few by our leader, Maria). As always, click on the photos to see them large on black.

First, the big-picture landscape, taken a couple miles up the trail. Gorgeous, no? 

And some scenery along the way. It's "winter" here, which really means fall—though it was 31 degrees as we set off, and there was frost on the ground. (You may notice humans in a couple of these photos: that's Maria, who organized this excursion, and Lynn, sawyer extraordinaire.)

And a few close-ups of nature:

Here's the bear proof:

That's me, but I did not leave that there. Promise.

And yes, we did also WORK:

Lynn and me "swamping"—clearing out
stuff that gets in the way of sawing.

Maria and Lynn sawing.

Wedges help keep the kerf open when the
saw starts to bind.

Hammering in a wedge.

My work gloves.

And a couple of random shots from back at the car: I find it humorous that that relic of a cabin, now claimed by the US Forest Service, is "Property of The United States." I expect our current president would only be caught dead there.

An abstraction off the porch.