by Jim Ringland on Thu Apr 15, 2021 1:50 pm
Date Hiked: April 12, 2021
General Condition: Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)
I did an in-and-out from China Camp to Pine Valley on April 12, 13, and 14. On the layover day I day hiked. This report draws from all three days. I did various parts in various directions but I’ll describe all from east to west.
Section: China Camp to Church Creek Divide Junction – Clear
Most of this trail is wide open, some of Wilderness Freeway quality. There are a few places where the brush is lapping over the trail and a very few places where it’s come in from both sides and you have to swish through. The trail bed is in pretty good shape, with a few sloped or rocky spots here and there.
Section: Church Creek Divide Junction to Black Cone Trail Junction – Passable
This is more interesting. The gloss is that this is brushier than the first section, and there are numerous deadfalls, but most are easily managed. There are large stretches of open trail.
But George Graybill’s April 1, 2021 report was spot-on in using the word “awful” for the bit just west of the Church Creek Divide Junction. The half mile from there to Divide Camp has three messy obstacles. First (heading west from the Church Creek saddle), a piece of hillside trail above a small stream bed has partly washed out. There’s now big drop on one side. You can stay safe but have to move over into the brush to do so. Second, there’s deadfall that came straight down on the length of the trail so there’s 50-100 feet of stepping over various branches. It’s quite a log pile. No one step is all that hard, but there are lots of them. Finally, there’s a big deadfall that completely blocks the trail in an area that mixes open and denser brush. Even with just a day pack, I decided climbing over/through the mess wasn’t a good option and detoured. The go-around was slow, annoying, and longer than expected to find a workable way back to the trail. All three of these were within maybe a quarter mile. The rest of way still has the occasional brushy spot and lots of deadfalls, but almost all of the latter were simple step-overs or duck-unders. On one, a four foot log, I did have to climb up, scooch over the top, then slide down the other side. But I recall only one of those.
I walked down to Divide Camp. There’s one simple main camp with a fire ring and some sitting logs plus a lower, much less used camp, with a few pieces of an old icemaker stove. Water is limited. There is a trickle in the Woodwardia ferns above the main camp, but none lower down. On the other hand, back up on the Pine Ridge Trail, there a better rill a few hundred feet east of the Divide Camp Trail junction. There’s also muddy water about the same distance west where the gully feeding the water-and-woodwardia mix in camp crosses the trail above. If worst comes to worst, the small stream half a mile or so west of Divide Camp on the Pine Ridge Trail was running well.
On my dayhike day, I actually went a short distance west from the Black Cone Trail junction, but not quite all the way to the Pine Ridge Camp junction. All clear there.
[b]Date Hiked:[/b] April 12, 2021
[b]General Condition:[/b] Passable (some brush and/or deadfalls, tread evident)
I did an in-and-out from China Camp to Pine Valley on April 12, 13, and 14. On the layover day I day hiked. This report draws from all three days. I did various parts in various directions but I’ll describe all from east to west.
[b]Section: China Camp to Church Creek Divide Junction – Clear[/b]
Most of this trail is wide open, some of Wilderness Freeway quality. There are a few places where the brush is lapping over the trail and a very few places where it’s come in from both sides and you have to swish through. The trail bed is in pretty good shape, with a few sloped or rocky spots here and there.
[b]Section: Church Creek Divide Junction to Black Cone Trail Junction – Passable[/b]
This is more interesting. The gloss is that this is brushier than the first section, and there are numerous deadfalls, but most are easily managed. There are large stretches of open trail.
But George Graybill’s April 1, 2021 report was spot-on in using the word “awful” for the bit just west of the Church Creek Divide Junction. The half mile from there to Divide Camp has three messy obstacles. First (heading west from the Church Creek saddle), a piece of hillside trail above a small stream bed has partly washed out. There’s now big drop on one side. You can stay safe but have to move over into the brush to do so. Second, there’s deadfall that came straight down on the length of the trail so there’s 50-100 feet of stepping over various branches. It’s quite a log pile. No one step is all that hard, but there are lots of them. Finally, there’s a big deadfall that completely blocks the trail in an area that mixes open and denser brush. Even with just a day pack, I decided climbing over/through the mess wasn’t a good option and detoured. The go-around was slow, annoying, and longer than expected to find a workable way back to the trail. All three of these were within maybe a quarter mile. The rest of way still has the occasional brushy spot and lots of deadfalls, but almost all of the latter were simple step-overs or duck-unders. On one, a four foot log, I did have to climb up, scooch over the top, then slide down the other side. But I recall only one of those.
I walked down to Divide Camp. There’s one simple main camp with a fire ring and some sitting logs plus a lower, much less used camp, with a few pieces of an old icemaker stove. Water is limited. There is a trickle in the Woodwardia ferns above the main camp, but none lower down. On the other hand, back up on the Pine Ridge Trail, there a better rill a few hundred feet east of the Divide Camp Trail junction. There’s also muddy water about the same distance west where the gully feeding the water-and-woodwardia mix in camp crosses the trail above. If worst comes to worst, the small stream half a mile or so west of Divide Camp on the Pine Ridge Trail was running well.
On my dayhike day, I actually went a short distance west from the Black Cone Trail junction, but not quite all the way to the Pine Ridge Camp junction. All clear there.
