OK, so I didn't take baby steps in going back into the woods - I just went in whole hog today on the Route. Astonishingly, I saw a jogger! It really is a "real" trail when someone other than me uses it!
I shored up and rebuilt lots of stone cairns. I moved some small trees that had fallen across the Route. My gloves got blackened in the process!
Several massive trees have laid themselves prostrate across the path. I can't do anything about those. I'm sure they'll be lots more falling in the coming years. Pray for a chainsaw person to take a liking to the Route! One of the downed trees, completely charcoal, can be simply stepped over. The other route-block is two massive trees that fell away from each other but left a space between to travel through. Unfortunately, this involves stepping at the base of the one tree's root ball, not the most stable footing.
Then, there are several instances where I had, before Las Conchas wildfire this June, did a reroute because of a fallen tree but now those trees have burnt up and are no longer obstacles. Today I put one area back to its original path which was more direct.
The area above Guardrail Hill where there was a slash and trash event which resulted in lots of unattractively chopped up trees is looking good because lots of the slash and trash burned. Unfortunately, so did a lot of the conifers.
Snowflakes flew around off and on but held off falling more heavily until I got back to my car. The skies were wild today - a mix of snowflakes and sunshine and overcast. Next on my to do list, pick up trash and pack it out.
Oddly enough, despite the admonitions of "Big Brother" forest service, not a single burnt tree or burnt out stump hole attacked me during my day in the forest! When will "Big Brother" forest service allow us to legally walk again in the Las Conchas burn area?
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