For this weeks Show Us Your California contest by @socalsteemit I headed up into the San Gabriel mountains to spend 4 days working on...

The Day Creek Trail Project!

I haven't had much time for writing lately so this trip is already a few months old. But I had some spare time tonight and so I figured I'd finally throw this post together...

For those of you that don't already know, the last few years I've been working on a trail project in the eastern end of the San Gabriel mountains at an area called Day creek. So this year I headed up there once again to do some work on the trail. On day 1 I drove up the long and rugged San Sevaine road all the way to the end where my trail begins. Then I hiked down to the creek and setup my camp doing a little bit of trail work on the way in. The next morning I hiked up to the springs above camp and spent some time relaxing there before heading back to camp and then back out on the trail to do work for the rest of the day. Day 3 I crossed over to the far side of the canyon and continued work on the trail on that side. Unfortunately in the last year a huge dead log fell across my trail making for quite the obstacle, but I was able to get over it and get to the areas that needed work. That night I had a bear come walking into my camp which was quite exciting as he didn't seem to notice me at first so I got to watch him for awhile before he finally saw me and got spooked and ran off. On day 4 I packed up camp and headed out the trail stopping periodically to do more work. The main trail is getting pretty decent although there are still a few sections that really need some serious chopping. And the brush grows back quick here so every year there will always be work to do. A few years without any work being done and the trail would easily start to disappear and eventually become impassable again. But I really enjoy this area. The rugged mountain scenery is awesome, it's got a great camp area, delicious fresh spring water, amazing sunsets and evening views of the city lights below, interesting geology, plenty of wildlife, and beyond all that I just have an unexplainable connection in my soul to this wonderful place. So for as long as I am able to do so I plan to try to keep coming back to Day creek and will keep working on my project of maintaining and continually improving the trail!

Views from the road

Fall colors on the drive in

The end of the road/the trailhead

Views on the trail

Watching the clouds flowing through the peaks as I get near camp

Filling my water bucket at the creek

Views of the peaks from the creek

Camp

Camp the next morning

Hiking up to the springs

Getting close to the springs

At the springs

Doing trail work on the stretch of trail that I call "the tunnel"

Deep in "the tunnel"

Night time at camp

Morning at camp

Views from the trail on the far side of the canyon

Chopping back the buckthorn

Views from the far side trail

The big log that fell on my trail

Views of the peaks from the far side trail

Sunset

City lights

Views from the trail on the hike out

Views of the main trail and far side trail on my hike out

Huge lizard just chillin' on the trail

Back at the trailhead

Fall colors around the Joe Elliot camp area

And so until next time...

I hope you have enjoyed this glimpse into

My California!!

all photos by @derekrichardson

#SoCalSteemit is building and supporting the Steemit community of Southern California. If you are from SoCal and are into creating quality content here on Steemit, we'd love for you to follow us @SoCalSteemit and join our group on Discord