After The Deluge

The Damage:

According to the Trabuco Ranger District, the pre-Christmas rains - or should I say mega-rains - were the most damaging storm event in the last fifty years. The Santa Ana range was hit hard - collecting fifteen to eighteen inches of rain at the base of the mountains and at least twenty-five inches of rain on Santiago Peak. The impact was significant: roads slid, trails turned into gulleys, stream beds flooded, and boulders were moved.

After two weeks of dry weather there is still a significant amount of water in the streams. The water just keeps leaking out of the soil.

The Assessment:

Since the rains I have ridden Blackstar, Skinsuit, Maple Springs,the Motorway, San Juan and Los Pinos. These trails were all impacted, but have recovered nicely (trailwork was required in some instances). I would recommend riding any of these trails. In fact, ride them now. Conditions are fantastic.

Last week, Josh, Richard and I decided to make a run down Joplin. Josh and I had ridden Joplin just days before the big storm. That was perhaps my best Joplin run in memory. But the trail took damage. Since the rain, I had read a few reports of big ruts. Here is a photo posted on So Cal Trail Riders:

It is difficult to imagine that this is a trail.

Ruts or no ruts, we were headed to Joplin. The three of us departed from Cook's Corner and made our way up the Harding Truck Trail. I have not ridden Harding in quite some time. It is a grind, long, but not too steep, and with plenty of viewpoints. The last two miles runs fast through sections of shady oaks - a nice payoff. The road ends at Four Corners - the intersection of Main Divide, Harding and Maple Springs. The climb up Main Divide Road from Four Corners is typically loose and rocky, it seemed a bit better on this ride, particularly because we had a nice Santa Ana tailwind. Past Modjeska Peak the road winds downhill to Joplin. On this last section of MD we had such a headwind that I had to pedal to continue downhill.

We were happy to get off the gusty divide and start the real fun: Joplin. The top of the trail switchbacks above the canyon. This is where we saw the most damage. The above photo is probably about .5 miles down from Main Divide. The points where the trail runs straight down the canyon (or parallel to the canyon) are the worst - a big rutty, rocky mess. After the first mile, the impact was less noticeable. The long rock garden section seemed mostly unchanged. At the bottom there was plenty of water, and I had to walk across two stream crossings.


The ride down Santiago Truck Trail was a blast. There are bits of slide damage but, in my opinion, this only makes the trail more engaging and challenging.. STT is a great pedal-as-fast-as-you-can cross country section. The final icing on the ride was the drop down The Luge. This is another trail that took damage. It has been capably repaired thanks to dedicated mountain bikers and currently rides fast, with grippy banked turns . I had fun throwing my bike around some nice, small berms.

The Final Report:

A great day. Three hours to climb to Joplin and one hour to descend to Cook's. No complaints.