Fredric Rice of the San Gabriel Mountains Trailbuilders sent me an email about his group’s work in the CA-39 area since New Year’s … and it looks like they’ve been up to quite a bit.

They’ve been hard at work on the Upper Bear Creek Trail, which roughly parallels the 39 in a north-south route just west of the San Gabriel Reservoir, up the creek that shares the trail’s name. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to work on a trail-building crew, you owe it to yourself to read an excellent and entertaining account of some of the group’s December trail work, complete with lots of pictures and some video of some of the explosives they used to clear out some large boulders on the route.

But of course, no rest for the weary — the Trailbuilders are also pushing for a new 5 miles of trail to connect the Upper Bear Creek Trail directly to Crystal Lake:

For more information on the Trailbuilders, visit their web site. And keep an eye out on the unofficial Crystal Lake site to find out when the area is slated to be reopened to hikers.

Tags: Angeles National Forest, crystal lake, San Gabriel Mountain Trailbuilders, San Gabriel Mountains, trail building, Upper Bear Creek Trail