There is 3/8 mile long, dead end spur road that points toward Black Butte on the east side of Tassajara Road, it's about a mile and a quarter beyond the Pine Ridge Trail trailhead. Nowadays it's used primarily by hunters, but on my 1984 photo-revised Chews Ridge and Sycamore Flat quads it appears as the start of a purple (post-1956) trail that descends roughly over ridges separating Calaboose and Rocky Creek Canyons, ending up in the Piney Creek Campground area. I've glassed that country from above numerous times, and have no designs nor suffer any illusions on smashing through the 20' wall of scrub oak and chapparel just to see it to it's conclusion.
But I'm nevertheless curious about the trail's origins and history. Having moved here in '87, I never had the chance to see this country before either the Marble Cone or Rat Creek fires drastically changed many areas nearby. (Have to assume slides after one or the other obliterated this particular trail...correct or no?).
Anybody recall the name of that trail, anyone here ever hike it? Was this country on the East/Arroyo Seco side always as hellaciously forbidding? If not, who can describe what it was like, pre-firestorm?
Ivan
