Trail 725 - GWT, Great Western Trail

Forest Road 725, also known as Great Western Trail, is one of my favorite little canyons. It has a small stream that runs through it. The road is actually very mild until you get to the very top and turns into a single track and Mtn Bikers love this trail. When traveling you must always be aware that Mtn bikers frequent the trail and road. This recon trip was to see just how bad it had been damaged the forest service opened the road up this spring to travel again for the first time since 2018. I had already taken FR 117 to Trail 310 that morning which I talked about in my last report. This was the true reason for my ride today.

I returned to the bottom of the main canyon and turn north up 725. The gate was open and I was anxious to see what it looked like. The first section of the trail really had no change to it. I noticed however that the stream was looking much different. I continued up the trail and crossed the stream a couple times taking note of the condition of the stream banks and bed. The farther up the trail I drove the more apparent the destruction was. I was saddened to see the pools and pockets washed out and gone. I pulled off at Soberville and noticed all the old footings of the old buildings were gone and washed out from the floods that came down West canyon. Traveling farther up the trail, the beaver pond was gone. 

I stopped just before Drunkard Hollow for lunch and broke out my fishing gear to try and sea some life in the stream. I was disappointed to realize that the fish that once inhabited this small stream are no longer there. The pockets and deep grass beds that protected them are gone washed away even two years later. This stream may never recover in my lifetime to state that it once was. I'm heartbroken and pissed, that a fire that could have been contained and put out in the first few hours of it's starting was let burn and destroyed a beautiful area and stream.

After lunch I rode on only to see things get worse with elevation. Drunkard Hollow was even worse. Huge boulders and trees had been flushed out of the canyon and clogged up the main trail and the stream was unrecognizable. Small rivulets that crossed the trail are now huge scars that tear across the trail into the stream and the destruction of the stream worsens. I made it to the single track section with some assistance from the 4x4 lock that I had never had to use before but because of the deep scars and debris that littered the trail I had to use it. I turned around.