Pacific Crest Trail Near Mt. Burnham, in the San Gabriel Mountains

At an elevation of 9000' the weather was sensational. Skies were partly cloudy, accentuating the terrain, and hinting of a thunderstorm later in the day. I was on the Pacific Crest Trail between Mt. Burnham and Mt. Baden-Powell, about 8 miles into a 18 mile run in the San Gabriel Mountains.

Remarkably, there was still a small patch of snow along the trail. According to seasonal summaries in Your Guide to Snowfall, the 2009-2010 season in Southern California was the best since the big Winter of 2004-2005. But it wasn't necessary to check the snow history to know the snowfall had been above average. All that was needed was to look around, and the mountains told the story.

The remnants of snow were only part of the tale. Broken and downed trees told of strong Winter winds, and the stalks of red snow plant of a cool Spring. Now springs flowed freely and once dry seeps were damp and green. Wildflowers bloomed in profusion. Squat bumblebees waddled from flower to flower, and hummingbirds darted from patch to patch of scarlet bugler.

It had been a good Winter. Sugar pines were heavy with pine cones, and new growth decorated the limbs of the white firs. The growth of tree seedlings in the Curve Fire burn area seemed to have accelerated, and the protracted process of forest replacement was underway.

Southern California's erratic weather demands that plants and trees be opportunistic. In time they have learned that an El Nino Winter is often followed by one that is dry, and La Nina looms.

Twin Peaks (East) from the Mt. Waterman Trail

Today was the first chance I had had to run the recently reopened stretch of the Pacific Crest Trail between Three Points and Cloudburst Summit. Originally within the Station Fire closure area, this segment of trail was reopened when the size of the closure area was reduced in late May. In addition to checking this section of the PCT, I also wanted to see the condition of the forest and trail at the current closure boundary near Mt. Waterman.

Between Three Points and Cloudburst Summit, the PCT generally parallels Angeles Crest Highway (Hwy 2), and crosses the highway several times. In general, the burn severity along the trail appeared to match the burn severity depicted in the NASA Ikhana BAER image and Angeles National Forest BAER Station Fire Soil Burn Severity Map. In the first two miles some trees were lost, but much of the forest in the immediate vicinity of the trail did not appear to be severely burned.

That was not the case about a half mile west of Camp Glenwood, where the PCT crosses Hwy 2 and climbs up a hill. Here the burn severity was much higher, and most of the trees were killed. The trail was in good shape and it didn't take long to get through this section and back into unburned forest. Remarkably, Camp Glenwood was unscathed.

The remaining 3 miles to Cloudburst Summit were not burned. Some trail work had been done on this stretch, as well as down in Cooper Canyon. As always, the running through Cooper Canyon was superb. At the PCT's junction with the Burkhart Trail I turned right and climbed up to Buckhorn Campground, and then followed the camp entrance road up to Hwy 2.  From here it was short jog west to the Mt. Waterman Trail.

Most of the forest of Jeffrey pine and incense cedar on the east side of Mt. Waterman was outside of the fire area, and it wasn't until near the junction with trail 10W04, that some damage from the fire could be seen. It looked like spot fires had run up the mountain, burning primarily in the understory. The north face of Twin Peaks, across from Mt. Waterman, appeared to be unaffected by the fire.

It is unclear why the Forest Service chose to define the updated Station Fire closure area (Forest Order No. 01-10-02) so that the trail to Twin Peaks remains closed. Based on the Forest Service's own BAER report, the burn severity down to Twin Peaks Saddle is generally categorized as low to very low/unburned, and the north face of Twin Peaks is outside of the burn area.

Some related posts: Cooper Canyon Cascade & Falls, Mt. Wilson Area Peaks From Twin Peaks

Last year's Station Fire, and the Winter storms that followed, combined to damage many miles of trail in the San Gabriel Mountains. Among the volunteers working hard to restore the trails are runners that will doing the Mt. Disappointment 50K and Angeles Crest 100 mile endurance runs later this Summer.

Gary Hilliard, trail maestro and R.D. of the Mt. Disappointment runs, dedicates an astonishing amount of time to the task of preserving trails -- encouraging and organizing volunteers, surveying trails, and doing the down and dirty work of maintenance and restoration. If it's a Summer Saturday, chances are good you'll find him in Angeles National Forest, working with a group of runners to make a trail better.

Today's trail was the Kenyon DeVore Trail on the north side of Mt. Wilson. Originally a part of the Rattlesnake Trail, the trail was renamed in tribute to the Forest Service patrolman, hydrographer, and Angeles National Forest volunteer, Kenyon DeVore. The trail is the toughest part of infamous final leg of the Mt. Disappointment 50K and 50 mile courses, climbing about 2300' in 3.6 miles.

There was plenty to do on the Kenyon DeVore Trail, and Gary divided us into three groups. One group was given the job of restoring a long stretch of trail that had been obliterated by debris flows, and another group was assigned the chore of clearing a rock slide. Our group's task was removing several trees that had fallen across the trail, and working on the trail along the way.

The largest of the trees blocking the trail was a sizable bigcone Douglas-fir. At the point where it was cut, the diameter of the trunk was about 26"-28". For its size, the tree was surprisingly old. A rough count of the rings from a contrast enhanced photo gives an approximate age of 310 years. The age was not cross dated, but appeared reasonable when compared to a standard tree ring chronology.

The cut sections of the tree had no obvious fire scars. The CDF/FRAP Fire History Database indicated that, prior to the Station Fire, a large part of the canyon in which the tree was located had no reported fire history.

When we were done, about two-thirds of the Kenyon Devore Trail had been restored. No worries about the other third, Gary has trailwork scheduled most weekends through the end of July.

Brett was down for Father's Day, and today we hiked/ran Mt. Baden-Powell (9399'). Baden-Powell is one of the most popular peaks in the San Gabriel Mountains, and several of my favorite trail runs visit its summit.

The trail from Vincent Gap switchbacks up through an old-growth forest of Jeffrey pine, sugar pine, white fir and lodgepole pine. There are some impressive trees. The Wally Waldron Lodgepole Pine, near the summit, is estimated to be 1500 years old, and some limber pines in the area are thought to be even older.

Today, the weather was perfect for pushing the pace. Along the trail fresh green growth could be seen on limb tips of the white firs, and yellow wallflower, red paintbrush, and blue larkspur added a mix of color to the understory.

Not far from the trailhead we had seen fresh Vibram FiveFinger (VFF) tracks headed up the trail, and we were talking about the minimalist shoe. Today Brett was in conventional shoes, but on his home trails about half his runs are in VFFs. He was recounting how the specialists doing a video gait analysis had been blown away when he switched from regular running shoes to VFFs.

I had asked Brett how many miles he had logged on his VFFs, but before he could answer, our conversation was interrupted by a loud shout of "25!" from somewhere on the trail above. A couple of minutes later, and a bit closer, there was another shout of "24!"

Named after the founder of the scouting movement, Mt. Baden-Powell is the culminating point of the scout's Silver Moccasin Trail. Most summer weekends you'll find one or more youth groups on their way to the summit of Mt. Baden-Powell. This enthusiastic group was counting down and calling out the 38, 40 or 41 switchbacks (depending on the reference) on the way to the summit.

One of the more interesting hikers on the trail was a hard looking Royal Marine veteran that was thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. Hoping to minimize snow issues on the high Sierra passes, he was a little behind the main wave of PCTers. He had stopped at Lamal Spring to fill some water bottles, and told of hellish temperatures in the desert.

Here the temps had been nowhere near triple digits, but a considerable amount of snow had melted in three weeks since I had last been on the peak. Even so, there were still some large patches of snow on the steep slopes north of the summit, and on the north side of the ridge extending west to to Mt. Burnham.

After topping out, we hiked out along the scenic south ridge of the peak. To the southeast, across the mile deep chasm of Vincent Gulch, some ribbons of snow could still be seen on Mt. Baldy's north face. After a few minutes we returned to the summit, and began the much easier run down the peak. It was a great way to spend Father's Day!

Some related posts: Running Hot & Cold, Wally Waldron Lodgepole Pine, Bear Cubs on the South Fork Trail, PCT from Inspiration Point to Islip Saddle

Mt. Baldy fron the summit of Mt. Baden-Powell

Yesterday, Woodland Hills topped the 90° mark for the first time this year. But somebody forgot to tell the local mountains about the warmup. This morning, I was about a mile into an out and back trail run from Islip Saddle to Mt. Baden-Powell, and with the wind chill, it felt like the temp was in the 40's.

In November 2009 NASA used its Predator B remotely piloted aircraft "Ikhana" to collect post-burn assessments of the Piute Fire in Kern County and the Station Fire in the Angeles National Forest. This interactive Google Earth browser view shows the area of the San Gabriel Mountains burned in the Station Fire, with an overlay of the Ikhana Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) image. (Image courtesy of NASA Dryden and NASA Ames.)

According to NASA, the various purple hues are indicative of the differences in burn severity. The view can be panned, zoomed and tilted (help info) in order to get an idea of the burn severity along a particular trail, or in a particular area. This can be used with other assessment data and on the ground observations to evaluate burn severity. There is also a BAER Station Fire Soil Burn Severity Map (1.1MB PDF) on the Angeles National Forest web site, but it is low resolution, and doesn't include placenames. Additional BAER information can be found on the Angeles National Forest Station Fire BAER page.

Earlier this week Angeles National Forest reopened some areas of the forest closed by the Station Fire, and issued Forest Order 01-10-02, redefining the boundary of the Station Fire Closure Area. The magenta line in the previous view, and in this Google Earth browser view without the burn severity overlay, is the approximate boundary of the Station Fire Closure Area as derived from Angeles National Forest Order No. 01-10-02, Exhibit A and Exhibit B. The boundary, as depicted, is intended to provide a general overview of the closed area -- not an exact rendering. Please contact Angeles National Forest to determine whether a particular resource is open or closed. Note, for example, that a road may be open or closed depending upon which edge of the road is the boundary.

One of the reasons for putting this information together was to check the status of several peaks and trails. With so much of the forest closed it is essential that every trail and area that is in reasonable condition be opened to the public. For example, the north approach and summit of Twin Peaks is outside the burn area, but remains closed. The trail from Buckhorn to Twin Peaks Saddle and up to the peak should be open, and if the short section of trail burned near Three Points is OK, trail 10W04 from Three Points to Mt. Waterman and Twin Peaks should be opened.

GPS traces of some trail runs inside and outside the Station Fire area have been added to both Google Earth views, along with links to related photos and stories. Trail runs that fall partially or entirely inside the closure area have a red label. Click on the green hiker icon for additional info. Some placenames have also been added --the locations should be considered approximate.

The views also include a partial track of the Pacific Crest Trail (2009 ver. 1) from the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail web site. Note that the PCT is closed in the Station Fire Closure area and the northbound PCT has been rerouted at Islip Saddle. See the Pacific Crest Trail Association web site for more info.

From today's out and back run from Cloudburst Summit (7018') to Burkhart Saddle (6959') in the San Gabriel Mountains, near Los Angeles.

The running was excellent, and except for a few fallen trees the trails were in good shape. Thanks to the runoff from a good Winter's snowpack there was plenty of water in Little Rock Creek, and even the smaller side streams were flowing. Most of the snow below 7000' was history, but there was still a lot of white on the north facing slopes at the higher elevations.

The trailhead for this run is on Highway 2 at the boundary of the area closed by the Station Fire Recovery Order. The run follows the southbound Pacific Crest Trail, and northbound Burkhart Trail, which define the eastern boundary of the closure area north of Highway 2.

Update May 29, 2010. Angeles National Forest has issued Forest Order 01-10-02 redefining the Station Fire closure area. The southbound Pacific Crest Trail, and northbound Burkhart Trail no longer define the boundary. See the Angeles National Forest web site and this May 29, 2010 post for more info.

From Cloudburst Summit, the southbound PCT winds down into Cooper Canyon, and eventually joins the Burkhart Trail, just west of Cooper Canyon Falls. In about a quarter-mile, the trail crosses Little Rock Creek. Here, the northbound Burkhart Trail forks left from the (closed) PCT, and continues 3.75 miles to Burkhart Saddle.

Here is an HD video snapshot of Cooper Canyon Cascade and Falls.

Note: The PCT northbound has been rerouted at Islip Saddle. See the Pacific Crest Trail Association web site for more info. Also, the PCT trail segment between the Burkhart Trail and Eagle's Roost is within the area closed by the Williamson Rock Closure Order.

Some related posts: Cooper Canyon Falls, Cool Running in Southern California, Pleasant View Ridge Snow

It was a little eerie. There wasn't so much as an animal track or old bootprint on the trail ahead. The path was perfectly smooth, and I felt a bit guilty as my running shoes left their patterned tracks under foot. Lynn, Frank, and I were working up the Pacific Crest Trail on the west side of Mt. Williamson in the San Gabriel Mountains, near Los Angeles. As we switchbacked up the trail, the mountain seemed to sigh, happy to have enjoyed at least a few days of solitude.

Click for interactive view using Google Earth plug-in.

Update May 29, 2010. Angeles National Forest has issued Forest Order 01-10-02 redefining the Station Fire closure area. See the Angeles National Forest web site and this May 29, 2010 post for more info.

Updated October 7, 2009. Added Sheep Fire Perimeter from GEOMAC and the approximate eastern boundary of the Station Fire Closure Area.

Here's an interactive Google Earth browser view of the approximate areas burned by the Station (2009), Sheep (2009), Morris (2009), Curve (2002), and Williams (2002) fires. The Station, Sheep and Morris fire perimeters are from the GEOMAC web site, and the Curve and Williams perimeters are from the CDF/FRAP web site.

The magenta line is the approximate eastern boundary of the Station Fire Closure Area as derived from Angeles National Forest Order No. 01-08-09, Exhibit A and Exhibit B. Please refer to the most current Forest Orders and Exhibits for official information. (See note above, this boundary no longer applies.)

GPS traces of some trail runs inside and outside the Station Fire area have been added, along with links to related photos and stories on PhotographyontheRun.com. Click on the green hiker icon to access the link.

The view also includes a partial track of the Pacific Crest Trail (2009 ver. 1) from the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail web site.

Some placenames have also been added --the locations should be considered approximate.

This is a 3D view that can be panned, zoomed and tilted. See this help file for more info.

Related post: Station Fire MODIS Fire Detections

Runners Descending the Devil's Backbone on Mt. Baldy

It's a lot more fun working with gravity, than against it! For many runners, the run down from the summit of Mt. Baldy is as much a part of the Run to the Top experience as the race up.

Grueling sections of trail are effortlessly retraced, and there is more of an opportunity to enjoy the Devil's Backbone, and other spectacular sections of trail. Those needing more mileage skip the chair lift ride down from the Notch, and continue down the service road, following the route of the race.

Related post: Mt. Baldy Run to the Top 2009

The weather for the 44th edition of the Mt. Baldy Run to the Top was nearly identical to last year, with clear blue skies and temps in the 50's.

The Station Fire could be seen from the top of Mt. Baldy, but with the wind from the southwest, the smoke was blowing elsewhere.

This challenging mountain run gains about 3800 feet over 7 miles, starting at the bottom of the Mt. Baldy ski lift parking lot and ending on the summit of 10,064' Mt. Baldy. Here's a Google Earth browser view of a GPS trace of the course.

This year the men's overall winner was Jonathan Toker in a time of 1:12:11, and the women's overall winner was Hannah Valenzuela in a time of 1:26:03. For all of the results see the Run to the Top web site. Many thanks to the race organizers, volunteers, USFS, Mt Baldy Ski Lifts and the Mt. Baldy Fire Department for a great race!

Related post: Mt. Baldy Run to the Top 2007

See links below for most recent image

Also see: Interactive Google Earth View of the Area Burned by the Station Fire.

Updated 09/09/09 11:00 a.m. Added GEOMAC perimeter dated September 9, 2009 2:00 a.m. to MODIS 1km fire detections as of September 9, 2009 at 6:00 a.m. PDT.

These Google Earth images of MODIS 1km fire detections gives a general idea of the extent of Station Fire. Includes most recent fire perimeter available from GEOMAC at the time the graphic was created:

September 9, 2009 at 6:00 a.m. PDT

September 8, 2009 at 6:00 a.m. PDT - September 7, 2009 at 4:00 a.m. PDT - September 6, 2009 at 6:00 a.m. PDT

September 5, 2009 at 6:00 a.m. PDT - September 4, 2009 at 6:00 a.m. PDT - September 3, 2009 at 6:00 a.m. PDT

September 2, 2009 at 7:00 a.m. PDT - September 1, 2009 at 6:00 a.m. PDT - August 31, 2009 at 6:00 a.m. PDT

Fire detection KML files were generated by the USDA Forest Service MODIS Active Fire Mapping Program. Some additional place names have been added -- locations are approximate.

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING IMPORTANT INFORMATION FROM THE KML FILES:

CONUS MODIS 1km Fire Detections

This KML displays the MODIS fire detections at a spatial resolution of 1km for the past 12 hours, 12-24 hours and the previous 6 day period. Each 1km MODIS fire detection is depicted as a point representing the centroid of the 1km pixel where the fire is detected. The 1km footprint of the MODIS pixel for each detection is also displayed.

KML file generated by the USDA Forest Service MODIS Active Fire Mapping Program. Please see http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us for additional fire mapping products and information.

Disclaimer: Although these data have been used by the USDA Forest Service, the USDA Forest Service shall not be held liable for improper or incorrect use of the data described and/or contained herein. The information contained in these data is dynamic and is continually updated. It is the responsibility of the data user to use the data appropriately and consistent within the limitations of geospatial data in general and these data in particular. Using the data for other than their intended purpose may yield inaccurate or misleading results. The USDA Forest Service gives no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of these data. Although these data have been processed successfully on a computer system at the USDA Forest Service, no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the utility of the data on another system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. This disclaimer applies both to individual use of the data and aggregate use with other data. The USDA Forest Service reserves the right to correct, update or modify this data and related materials without notification.