Back in January of 2018 I was invited by Mark Subbotin a Los Padres forest service project manager to participate in the installation of a new post for the Sespe Wilderness sign up Agua Blanca Creek. This was my fist time doing any volunteer work with forest service and I must say I had a great time. Tony Marchese picked me up in his jeep early the morning of and we drove to the ranger station next to lake Piru to meet up with the rest of the crew. Upon arrival we were greeted by a nice family of deer.
After a quick meet and greet we loaded up the vehicles and were off to trailhead by Whitaker Ranch. It was nice being with guys that had the gate keys, the last time I was on this stretch of road was on foot coming in from Piru Creek and I cussed and cursed swearing I would never walk that hot long paved road again. Volunteer work does come with Perks, you get to be out in nature giving something back to the environment, most likely you will make new friends with like minded folks and you get much better access to places than the general public. All around its a win, win. After the briefing and safety meeting we were off. Seeing as this was my first time I volunteered to carry the 4x4 post on the trail. Because I did not take notes I'm not certain of the mileage but I believe it was somewhere around 3 miles to fallen sign. By the time we arrived I was definitely ready to drop that post. Along the way the crew also cleared fallen trees and brush from the trail.
After completing our mission we set off further up the trail to visit the "Devil's gateway" and then to have lunch at Log Cabin Trail Camp. At some point I would like to come back this way and explore farther up Agua Blanca to Tin Cabin or Ant Camp. All in all this was a an awesome day Thanks Mark for the invite and hosting this event. Can't wait to get back out there for another round.
If this kind of work is of interest to you check out the Los Padres forest association website for details on how you can get involved and any upcoming trips that they have scheduled. Or just shoot me an email, or comment below if your wanting to tag along with me on my next volunteer outing.
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