Watching the TV news and reading super-exaggerated reports of a “Niagara of Mud” reminded me of the many trails in the San Gabriel Mountains that have been affected by fire and flood. A number of hikers have asked The Trailmaster for an update on trail conditions in the Angeles National Forest, so here’s an overview.
 
There’s nothing like what the TV news terms a “natural disaster” to get the reporters out of the studio into the hills. Recent rains washed a whole lot of soil from the fire-scorched slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains. Mud, lots of it, washed down natural creeks and manmade flood control channels, as well as a few streets and driveways.
 
The 2009 Station Fire burned some 161,189 acres in the San Gabriel Mountains. Vegetation in the burn area was mostly chaparral, though the fire did burn forested areas at higher elevations and scorched a number of riparian areas along creeks and rivers.
 
Areas that have been popular with hikers for more than a hundred years, such as the Arroyo Seco, Mt. Wilson and Chilao Flats were blackened by the blaze. Even though The Trailmaster knows these areas will recover both their ecological vitality and beauty eventually, I have to say I felt rather sad after a recent trip to the lower Arroyo Seco. 
 
Angeles National Forest officials estimate that 133 miles of trail were, as they put it “impacted” by the fire. And many of those trails are being impacted by the winter rains, too.
         
What that means for the hikers is that many trails will be closed for repair during the rainy season to prevent humans from adding to what is already a severe erosion problem; for re-habilitation of the pathway itself; for re-vegetation of the area crossed by the trail.
         
Before hiking in the burn zone, hikers should contact the Angeles National Forest and inquire about the latest trail closures and conditions.  As tempting as it is to seek solitude by hiking along the singed sides of the San Gabriels, please don’t hike closed trails.
         
As a veteran LA County hiker, I can assure you that the fire-decimated chaparral in the San Gabriel Mountains will soon re-grow, and that the ceanothus, chamise, manzanita and toyon will return sooner rather than later. (Unfortunately, I can give no such assurances about the speedy recovery of the pine-forested areas of Angeles National Forest.)
         
Favorite hiking areas in the Santa Monica Mountains that burned in the 1980s and 1990s now show almost no signs of once looking like the ashen wasteland. The brushy slopes of Griffith Park, burned in a 2007 fire, are recovering well.
         
My suggestion: Take a hike. If you hiked in a particular area before it burned, compare the landscape as it is to the one in your memory. If you’re taking a hike in a burned locale for the first time, take some pictures, both mental and digital, and resolve to hike that same trail again next year, and the year after, and the year after that. You’ll be surprised at how fast Nature heals.