I have created a Trail Conditions page, available in the menu under Trails. The most common request I get from readers of the blog are about trail conditions for a trip they have planned. Rather than having to sift through multiple blog posts to find the information, this new page intends to pull it to one place. This page is just started, and only contains information about my most recent trip (and first trip of the season), but I will gradually add additional information.

Some of the trail entries will be quite old. Despite my desire, I don’t get to every trail every year. For older entries, the primary usefulness is about the number of down trees. For the unmaintained trails, the number of down trees only increases year to year. Part of my trail maintenance work is cutting smaller trees, but I have no ability to cut anything over 12 inches, nor do I do trail maintenance on every trail every year. On the trails that are maintained by others, often larger down trees are cut, but it can be late in the season before that happens.

Trails noted as ‘unmaintained’ are ones that I rarely get to, and are not maintained by any other organizations. There are a few trails that I do focus on, including Powderhorn, Whiskey Creek, Western States, and brushy parts of the PCT.

The conditions recorded include tread condition, number of large and smaller down trees, winter debris (see below), brush encroachment on the trail (brush grows rapidly!), trail junction and trailhead signing, and water conditions, which of course varies greatly during the season.

To quote from the page: “With the die-off of red firs, and to a lesser degree white firs and western white pines, there will be a continually increasing number of down trees on the trails. The term ‘winter debris’ used to mean branches that came down during the winter, but now includes an almost continuous rain of debris from dead trees, year-round.”