I hope that all of you are eagerly awaiting our important project in the Mojave National Preserve. I had the opportunity to visit our worksite this past weekend and am happy to report that we have a wonderful project that will challenge us as individuals and as a crew. Reconstructing the Mid Hills to Hole in the Wall trail is the first step to protecting the desert ecosystem and allowing it to heal from the 2005 fires. As I tried hiking the trail from the Mid Hills, I was often reduced to walking directly from trail sign to trail sign. An established and properly constructed trail will ensure that future visitors concentrate their impacts and take in the full experience of the Mojave.
From the Mojave National Preserve: Mojave National Preserve is the third largest national park in the contiguous United States, with 1.6 million acres of Joshua tree woodlands, critical habitat for the threatened desert tortoise, amazing features that portray a violent geologic past, and 1600 miles of backcountry roads open to street legal vehicles. We are located in the triangle between Interstates 40 and 15 and US Highway 95, within a four hour drive of several major urban centers including Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Despite our large size, our park has only seven developed trails, and no trail crew or park staff trained in trail maintenance. Several of the existing trails are only minimally developed, and few are up to NPS trail standards.
The Mid Hills to Hole in the Wall (HITW) Trail is an eight mile one-way route that connects the two developed campgrounds in the park. It is typically walked downhill from the upper end, starting in the pinyon/juniper woodland and descending about 1200 feet through the opalite cliffs to the eroded rhyolite at Hole in the Wall. About 1/3 of the trail is converted from former roads, with the remainder a minimally developed path. The BLM constructed the original trail; although obvious for much of its length and minimally signed, it was never developed to NPS trail standards. It is only wide enough for one hiker for much of its length. The trail is used by both hikers and horseback riders, although horse usage is minimal. From Winter 2004 to Summer 2005, the park received over 20 inches of rain, more than three times the normal yearly rainfall. Many park roads were badly eroded and washed out. The road portions of the Mid Hills Trail were also heavily eroded, with wide and/or deep chasms that make walking difficult for much of the length of the roadway sections. The rains also led to increased vegetation growth, which obscured the trail in many places. The trail is also bisected in three locations by open 4x4 roads, so some visitors drive portions of the trail via the old roadways by mistake due to poor trail delineation and signage. A 70,000+ acre wildfire, started by five lightning strikes in June 2005, burned 2/3 of the length of the trail. Although the vegetation is starting to return to the burned areas, the landscape remains largely denuded, making it difficult to find the trail in many places. The minimal trail signs were also destroyed in the fire and have been replaced, but hikers are often reduced to stopping at a trail marker, looking for the next trail marker, and then trying to find the actual trail between them. The heavy vegetation growth along parts of the unburned section also make it hard to find the trail in places. In addition, there is an active grazing allotment along the length of the trail, and cattle paths can lead hikers astray.
An SCA Work Crew would be perfect to restore the badly eroded sections of the trail, install much needed drainage water bars and water channels, and upgrade the entire length of the trail to NPS trail standards. Both trailheads are accessible to vehicles, but sections of the trail will require the crew to walk up to three miles (from moderate slopes to level ground) to reach different areas. Few water diversions are in place along the trail, so construction of water breaks and channels will be a significant part of the work, as will the filling/leveling of the old roadways. Due to the proximity of the park’s only two developed campgrounds, the trail system in this section of the park is used the most heavily.
