On 31/Jan/09, work was done on the Upper Bear Creek Trail in the Angeles National Forest, the trailhead of which is located along Highway 39 (Azusa Blvd) 18 miles North of Azusa.

The hiking trail is a much loved trail which has been closed due to a dangerous gap in the trail. Since the gap crosses a sheer cliff face, blasting was needed to be done to carve out the cliff face so that a tread could be established.

For a video of the two blasts which used 935 pounds of explosives to carve out the cliff face, click on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWMGNiGRBUg

For a detailed write-up of the project complete with links to that video and to another video showing the many photographs, click on:

http://www.crystallake.name/twork/31jan09/31jan09.php

Upper Bear Creek Trail's trailhead is located just a few hundred feet from Coldbrook Campground at a place called the Valley of the Moon where a large parking lot is located. Further up Highway 39 some 10 miles or so is Crystal Lake Recreation Area which may re-open as soon as this September if Caltrans's schedule holds.

Please feel free to email me with questions about hiking, camping, biking. and climbing in the National Forest in the canyons around and above Azusa.

If you would like to volunteer to perform hiking trail maintenance and other forest projects, email me and I will send you details about where and when we plan to work next.