Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board My favorite local trail is now scorched earth

Hopefully I did this correctly on the photo

My favorite Santa Barbara trail (Tunnel Trail for those familiar) now looks like General Sherman took a hike on it on his way to Georgia. I suppose it was inevitable that it would burn at some point but it's very sad.

That is incredibly sad. Down here in San Diego we lost alot of our favorite hiking trails in the '03 and '07 fires. Some of them are just re-opening after years of allowing for regrowth.

But... the regrowth will happen and soon, while there will be scars, the land will begin to recover.



This is an area the burned in '03. Those sticks are all thats left of the trees... but there are new ones coming up.. and the ground layers (ceanothis, manzanita, etc) are green and vibrant..

I would guess also the use trails for Arlington Ridge and Peak, Cathedral Peak and the south face of La Cumbre, and possibly the "rock garden" above tunnel trail. I think the rest of Rattlesnake canyon trail that didn't burn in the Tea fire is now gone. Too much smoke this morning to see clearly. Even knowing it was scorched, it is a shock to see what waits in store for everyone who hikes the area. I hiked the use trails twice a week for fun and conditioning; the area was a premier hiking area in Santa Barbara for everyone, from people who took short walks up the road with their dogs, to hiking addicts who went anywhere there was something that kind of looked like a trail. It will be a very different world there for a long time. and I wonder how long the area will be closed. Interestingly though, the best use trails were developed after fires revealed the terrain, and there may be some new possibilities now. And it is all a natural process; the area evolved to thrive in periodic fires. The worst part, of course, is all of the people who have suffered losses from this and all of the other recent fires. Seen up close, it is phenomenal to see the skill and courage of all of the emergency crews, who have done an unfathomable job in the midst of an inferno, saving homes while the plastic on their fire engines melted.

Thanking God for getting to go home Saturday and for two straight days of fog and very cool temps. Saturday was 42 degrees cooler at 9 p.m. than Friday at the same time. The firefighters are amazing. I was living in Jackson Hole in 88 when the park was on fire and I'm reminded about how beautiful it was only a year later so I'm keeping that in mind today while I look forward to getting back on the trails soon.

Whitrat and others, I was glad to hear that the fire is 65% contained and many have gone back to their homes. It's hard seeing our favorite areas hit by wildfire, and the initial reaction is naturally, how horrible it is.

But it's a natural process (regardless of the source of this fire, whatever it was) and a necessary one for everything to work.

Last year, we had a family trip planned to Big Sur, when the Basin fire went through the area just 2-3 weeks before the planned trip. The place we were staying was not harmed, but most of the hiking trails and forests nearby were closed. They did, however, leave one trail open that want into the burnt area, and it was an educational (and encouraging) experience for me, to see plants already recovering, animals and birds returning and making do, and the process already well under way.

After a few morning hikes through the area, when I'd hear people speak about how sad or depressing the fire was (not meaning homes or structures, of course), I no longer could see that; instead I saw a magnificently designed natural process in the works...you just have to look a little closer.

Photography is a favorite pastime of mine (which naturally causes you to look closer at everyday things), and I did a photo gallery of the area called 'two sides of Big Sur', covering both the 'touched' and 'untouched' areas, that a lot of the folks that lived there found encouraging; it's at
http://www.pbase.com/roberthouse/bigsur
if interested. I'm getting ready to do a follow-up this month to see how that area looks now, and I'm guessing there will be a world of difference in that short time.

So even though it looks pretty depressing at the moment, the forests and trails will recover and be the better for it, in the long run.

I guess the Arroyo Burro and Jesusita trails are now history, for a few months.
Arroyo Burro was my regular training route for last weeks Whitney trip.
Is all the area up by the Lauro Canyon reservoir burned?
Nick.

The fire started on the Jesusita trail just a little above the reservoir and burned almost as far down as Foothill Road, and got as far up as Camino Cielo in a number of places. It burned a bit west of Hwy 154 not too far from the Gap fire burn, went as far east as the Tea fire burn area (and above the Tea fire as well, over-running more of Gibraltar Rd. The entire front country from Goleta to Montecito is pretty much burned now from the 3 fires. I think the only trails intact are San Ysidro and Romero Canyon. San Ysidro is a nice trail that goes all the way up to Camino Cielo, so it has some nice distance and elevation gain. I am having a hard time grasping what has happened; I have hiked this area for more than 25 years, and much of it is now moonscape. Like others have said, another landscape will come to life, but I feel grief for all that was lost.

Sorry to keep what may be a somewhat OT thread going, but the following link provides considerable information about the state of the Santa Barbara front country and trails:

http://www.independent.com/news/2009/may/12/jesusita-fire-nears-containment-new-phase-begins/

The summation is that the entire front country area is closed, and may remain closed for an extended period of time. Trails have been severely damaged by rock and scree slides.

Also, the fire containment date has been pushed forward another week, due to return of sun-downers and low humidity levels.