Update on Sandy Saddle Trail Maintenance

Finally! Sandy Saddle Trail has been cleared all the way to Castersen Seep. This is our first big milestone, and something that the kids and I have been slowly chipping away at - we can now hike all the way to the seep and the nearby campsite without any bushwhacking. My first trip here with Noah already feels like a distant nightmare, when we had to hack and crawl our way through the thick manzanita to reach the campsite. Now we can stroll along the seven-tenths of a mile without suffering a single scratch.

Well, honestly, mostly no scratches. There’s been some new growth since we started, new growth that I sometimes snip back and other times just ignore. And there are two things that I skipped due to time constraints: a stretch of stumps that still need to be pulled, and some brush that “leans” over the trail near the big log. I’m ignoring these for now because they should only take a half-day, and every time I’m up there I get too focused on clearing new ground. I should just plan on finishing these two, and maybe doing some light tread repair, on an overnight adventure, when the hike out already takes up a big chunk of time.

Still, it’s really nice to have this section done. This seven-tenths of a mile has been a patchwork as we sometimes focused on “the worst brush to push through”, other times tackled “the nearest to where we put our gear”. Now it’s a lot simpler. From the junction with Barnhardt to the campsite the trail is cleared, and now we will work on the sharp end, pushing the cleared trail forwards. The trail climbs a bit past the seep, swings around a ridge, drops into another wash, follows that for a bit, then does the big climb up to Sandy Saddle. If we can get the first climb, swing around the ridge, and start along the second wash before next summer hits, we’d be almost halfway done with the entire trail. That, that would be solid progress after two years.

So far it’s taken us 19 days, and counting the kids, 230 person-hours to clear nearly a quarter of the trail. Honestly, we tackled the worst of the trail first. The brush thins from here, especially on the climb up to the saddle, and I’m hoping to make faster progress. I am definitely worried about the wash section west of the saddle, as the fire damage and subsequent washouts seem to have destroyed much of the banks and trail, but that’s a problem for 2028 or 2029.

Now that the trail is cleared to the campsite I’m hoping to spend longer up there, hauling up more gear for longer stays, either solo or with the kids. Sure, hauling up Barnhardt with a heavy pack is annoying, but with our trail cleared, at least the gear won’t snag. We’ve discussed some interesting ideas for future trips, including setting up a grill over the firepit, trying to cook “real” food (instead of rehydrating bags of stuff), and cleaning up the campsite. Having a clear path to a nice base camp would make week-long trips a bit more reasonable.

Oh, and the other cool thing - I put up signs! It’s my first attempt at using a router, and my first time weather-proofing, and my first signs, and I’m quite happy with how they look. Everything worked out great during the install: I was able to find a good post up there from an old tree, “flatten” the side so the signs sit flush, drill a hole with a hand auger, bolt on the signs, and then bury the post securely. I did have a slight problem with the hand auger: once the bolts got tight its chuck kept slipping and couldn’t hold onto the bit, something I can easily fix next time I’m up there. Between clearing this section for good and having real signs up, it feels like a real milestone, and I can’t wait to continue pushing forward towards the saddle.