I was out it the middle of the Sierra's so Peter was leading the crew of 2 with Janie joining him. Here's Peter's report of what they worked on.
We drove up Pine
Mountain Road and, after a couple wrong turns, saw a sign for Buzzard's Roost
and headed there. When the road was about to get REALLY steep, I mean
REALLY REALLY steep, we parked at a place we could turn around in, in case
there wasn't' another such place further along. We trudged up the REALLY
steep road, doing some clearing along the way as a reason to stop going
uphill. At one point, we cleared a bunch of REALLY prickly stuff with
long sharp thorns. We got to the top, but because we used the road
instead of the trail, none of the directions worked. We spent about an
hour walking around and on a rock outcropping that we figured must be Buzzard's
Roost because of the location, even though Janie kept saying that it didn't
look like the place she remembered. The problem was, there was no
connector road and, in particular, no trial with a sign to not use it. But
there was a rattlesnake. I heard it before I saw it, and there it was,
rattling away, all coiled up between rocks. I tried to get a picture, but it
didn't come out. It was exciting, though. I don''t think I've seen
one that close up before.
Anyway, we sort of gave
up and headed down to the car, looking again for the connector or the blocked
trial. We very shortly saw what turned out to be the connector with the
4" pines across the trail. We had missed it on the way up because
there was a lot of manzanita shielding the entrance. We cut the three
pines and a lot of manzanita and cleared the connector trail. We then
decided to look for a place for lunch and headed up the trial and lo and
behold, there was Buzzard's Roost as Janie remembered it. We ate lunch
there, and then decided to take a brief look for the blocked trail with the
sign. Sure enough, it was right where you said it would be. There
were a bunch of branches behind the sign, which should have been enough, but,
sure enough an older guy walked out of the trail when we were there. I
asked him why he decided to ignore the sign, and he said he wanted a quiet place
to eat lunch (there were a bunch of kids on Buzzard's Roost) and he wasn't
going very far. What are you going to do? We added a lot of
branches and some manzanita and the thorny plant to the barricade. You'd
have to REALLY want to go back there now, at least until the first storm blows
it all down.
Janie and I were the
only ones who showed up - is that an all-time low? We had fun. We started
by meeting with Susan and looking at the board - nothing else would have
worked, because it was all either large trees that needed the chain saw that I
didn't bring or repairs to signs and bridges. We went over the map with Susan
about Buzzard's Roost, and she suggested we drive up, instead of hiking, and
gave us the key to the one locked gate.
We drove up Pine
Mountain Road and, after a couple wrong turns, saw a sign for Buzzard's Roost
and headed there. When the road was about to get REALLY steep, I mean
REALLY REALLY steep, we parked at a place we could turn around in, in case
there wasn't' another such place further along. We trudged up the REALLY
steep road, doing some clearing along the way as a reason to stop going
uphill. At one point, we cleared a bunch of REALLY prickly stuff with
long sharp thorns. We got to the top, but because we used the road
instead of the trail, none of the directions worked. We spent about an
hour walking around and on a rock outcropping that we figured must be Buzzard's
Roost because of the location, even though Janie kept saying that it didn't
look like the place she remembered. The problem was, there was no
connector road and, in particular, no trial with a sign to not use it. But
there was a rattlesnake. I heard it before I saw it, and there it was,
rattling away, all coiled up between rocks. I tried to get a picture, but it
didn't come out. It was exciting, though. I don''t think I've seen
one that close up before. Anyway, we sort of gave
up and headed down to the car, looking again for the connector or the blocked
trial. We very shortly saw what turned out to be the connector with the
4" pines across the trail. We had missed it on the way up because
there was a lot of manzanita shielding the entrance. We cut the three
pines and a lot of manzanita and cleared the connector trail. We then
decided to look for a place for lunch and headed up the trial and lo and
behold, there was Buzzard's Roost as Janie remembered it. We ate lunch
there, and then decided to take a brief look for the blocked trail with the
sign. Sure enough, it was right where you said it would be. There
were a bunch of branches behind the sign, which should have been enough, but,
sure enough an older guy walked out of the trail when we were there. I
asked him why he decided to ignore the sign, and he said he wanted a quiet place
to eat lunch (there were a bunch of kids on Buzzard's Roost) and he wasn't
going very far. What are you going to do? We added a lot of
branches and some manzanita and the thorny plant to the barricade. You'd
have to REALLY want to go back there now, at least until the first storm blows
it all down.
I'm attaching photos of
the cleared connector trail, Janie working on that trail (which I took by
accident), and the new barricade.
The crew put in 12 hours and I would like to thank both Peter and Janie for keeping the work day alive. It wasn't the first time the crew was this small. One day it was Mike and I and it was when we were building the ramp on the Kirsch Trail leading to the Schultz Bridge. We were putting in posts for the hand rail and we had to drill through a root with a rock bar because we had no choice. The prickly things Peter mentioned were Chaparral Pea. The thrones are sharp and get up to 2" long but it's the small ones you have to watch out for.
See you on the trails
Jeff and Peter
Photos by Peter