Upper Bear Creek Trail
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Upper Bear Creek Trail in the Angeles National Forest has been closed for over
a year due to a rock slide making an area of the trail unsafe to pass. After
much debate the Forest service decided the best and quickest way to clear the
trail was to blast. They asked me to come along to take photographs. More then
800 lbs of explosives were to be used... yeah I'm there. |
click photo to enlarge |
This is the blaster in charge. He was one of the few people there that was
actually paid to be there. He was showing and explaining what would be used
once they got up to the location and set up. The Forest Service trail
building is all done by volunteers. They do an incredible job and it always
amazes me how much they get free from their volunteers. Hikers just take it
for granted that the government maintains the trails. They don't. |
click photo to enlarge |
The hike up to the location was pretty steep for the first mile. The
explosives used are actually created to make fire breaks. The are tubular
like a sausage. They just lay them out and when they are ignited they have
an instant fire break 30 feet or so wide. Below you can see some of the
hot shots fire crew climbing the rocks to place the explosives. I thought
I would be able to get photographs of the explosion. But alas we had to be
like 1/2 mile away and around a bend hidden so no pictures of the actual
blast. Wow what a noise and it was pretty cool as it echoed down the
canyon. |
click photo to enlarge |
click photo to enlarge
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