San Sevaine Trail - Last Ride of the Season. OHV Volunteers Survey Trail After Fire

Mike and Steve roll up in Mike's new truck

Steve prepares for a full day of patrolling

At any rate, since I was on two wheels, and Mike Fellinger and Steve Schumacher were on quads, they drove Mike's brand new GMC Diesel 4X4 towing his big trailer to the staging area just beyond the Lytle Creek Road gate, while I followed on my bike. After unloading and preparing to ride, all the time punctuated with some good-natured kidding, we set off to explore the trail and to close it up for the season.

Some areas were fully consumed others spared

Mike and Steve show off their rock riding skills

The bottom portion of the trail was in excellent shape due to the work that the fire crews had done in fighting the fire. Just before we reached the microwave repeater turnoff, we ran into Mike Rizzo and a friend who were also out patrolling the trail. Mike patrols San Sevaine almost every weekend and was amazed at the number of things that had been hidden but were now visible because of the fire. He noted that there were several water supply sites (wells, tunnels, aqueducts etc.) that he had heard about and was finally able to find because the brush had been burned away. He told us about the two fatalities that had occurred on the trail in recent weeks because people had been able to get around the locked gates and get into areas where they didn't belong.

Steve chats with Jennifer about damage to the campground

Illegal fire ring right in the middle of the road

After our conversation we continued on, passing through miles of desolation where the fire had burned everything in its path. Interestingly, there were areas that the fire had bypassed, either through a shift in the wind, or because of some other quirk of nature. As we approached Joe Elliot campground, we noticed that the wilderness area had not been spared, and that the cabin that the Sierra Club had built was gone as well. When we arrived at the campground, we noted a forest service truck in the parking area, and soon came upon Jennifer, a forest service wilderness ranger who was surveying the damage and making plans for remediation. Sadly, the fire largely consumed the Joe Elliot pine, a huge old growth pine tree that had been felled by lightening a few years ago.

After checking out the rest of the camp, we pressed on towards Calamity Canyon, a natural drainage off Cucamonga Peak to which the trail clings tenuously. Because of the loss of growth anchoring the soil above the trail, this area had seen considerably washout activity, and the trail was obliterated in several locations. Along the way, we passed an illegal campfire ring that someone had built right in the middle of the road. Even though there wasn't much left to burn, we made quick work of the rock ring, tossing them over the side of the road.

A fatality causing wash-down blocks the trail

Steve hikes down to the site of one of the recent fatalities

Further on, we came upon the final resting place of a relatively new Toyota 4X4. Apparently the individual had driven around the closed gate in Cucamonga Canyon and had been trying to make it across one of the washouts in Calamity Canyon. Soil washing down from above had created a hump of soft dirt and ash blocking the trail, and this individual had become stuck, possibly high centering the vehicle. He had gotten out the jack and was trying to lift the vehicle off the obstruction when it rolled over, taking him down the canyon to his death. While we were not the first on the scene, the accident was relatively recent, and there were still many personal effects that littered the scene.

An ignominious end to a late model Toyota 4X4

Mike Fellinger struts his stuff through the rocks

Steve hiked down to the wreck to take a closer look. Needless to say, this relatively new vehicle was destroyed beyond repair, paying mute testament to the dangers of being off road by oneself in an area that has been closed to the public by the forest service because of the hazards that are there. It also shows why they close an area right after a fire, to protect the general public from the hazards and to protect the area from the general public.

As I understand it, this was not the only fatality on San Sevaine in recent months, and it may not be the last as long as people keep driving around the gates closing either end of the trail. This will probably continue to be a problem because of the growth of the communities surrounding the forest and easy access that the residents now have, due in no small part to the fire burning away the growth that used to block the way.

One wonders if this incredible trail may have been so wounded by the Grand Prix fire that it may never open again. While the adopting club, Scouts West, has not commented on whether they will to undo the damage that unchecked runoff is doing to the trail, recent pictures that I have seen show damage that might require major earth moving equipment to repair. One picture, passed around by Mike Rizzo at the Clash of the Titans, shows a 4-foot deep by 5-foot wide trench carved right down the middle of the trail by runoff that normally would have been slowed and diverted by the surrounding greenery. This coupled with the scorched and dead trees that will be falling in droves over the next few years make reopening and maintaining this particular trail seem almost overwhelming.

With all of this on our minds, we turned around with heavy hearts and headed back to where we had staged. As we came to each gate, we closed and locked, knowing full well that this might indeed be our last ride on one of the landmark trails in the Southern California area. If our fears come to pass, we will surely miss the incredible views of the basin that the Santa Ana winds bring. Gone will be the panorama from Mount San Jacinto to Palomar, from Saddle Back Peak to Catalina Island, and from the Palos Verdes Peninsula to the downtown Los Angeles skyline.

Looking back at Cucamonga Peak

weather A remote weather station is suddenly visible after the fire

While we may truly mourn the passing of this treasure of the forest, we at least will have the satisfaction of having ridden it one last time, and of having seen some of the things that had been hidden from us by the lush green growth that had surround this trail prior to the fire. Around one corner was a remote weather monitoring station (at least that's what I think it was), that stood like a lonely sentinel, guarding a trail whose time may have come and gone due to the wildfires of October 2003.