Repair of Wilderness Trail Remains Low Priority

The storms hit Deukmejian Wilderness Park in Glendale with the force of a thousand fire hoses, blasting tons of water through the canyon gorges and knocking out two bridges that led hikers to the Rim of the Valley trail.

More than two years after El Nino battered the 702-acre park, the city has yet to repair the route, its main link to a broader system of trails in the Angeles National Forest.

Hikers who venture up the path leading to the valley’s rim don’t get far. Less than a mile up, they reach the only bridge that was not destroyed by the storms. But it is blocked by a faded, hand-lettered sign warning that the trail is closed.

Some hikers probably ignore the sign and continue trudging up a steep incline, park officials say.

A couple of people have complained about the prolonged closure. But repairing the meandering, rugged trail is only one item on Glendale’s park wish list, and not a top one at that.

“There are facilities we have, in my estimation, that are more important than the trails,” said Nello Iacono, the city’s director of parks, recreation and community services.

In the last year, Glendale has replaced six playgrounds and opened a $7.2-million sports complex featuring three baseball fields and two soccer fields. Those projects serve many more people than the relative few who hike the top reaches of the damaged 1.6-mile trail, Iacono said.

Tucked in the northern reaches of Glendale, the wilderness park overlooks the Crescenta Valley, spanning Dunsmore and Cooks canyons. The city purchased the former ranch for $5.2 million in 1988, using municipal funds and $2 million granted by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy from a state parks bond. The park is named for former Gov. George Deukmejian.

Rorie Skei, the conservancy’s deputy director of natural resources and planning, said she was not aware that the bridges had been washed out. It’s up to Glendale to maintain the trail, she said, adding that park funding has been scarce in recent years.

But this year, Glendale and other cities expect an influx of new money, thanks to Proposition 12, a statewide $2.1-billion parks and open space bond measure approved by voters in March.

Glendale, which expects to receive about $1.9 million, also can compete for additional grants funded by the proposition. State grants to pay for trails also are available, and the city has more than $3 million budgeted for the coming year for capital improvements at parks, Iacono said.

Repairing the damaged trail, either by building new bridges or making more switchbacks and reinforcing and reconstructing the path, will cost $45,000 to $70,000, said Jim Kurkowski, Glendale’s park services administrator. The city has not yet earmarked money for the project.

Some preservationists hope the trail is reopened soon.

Judy Howard, who often hikes in the wilderness park, says it would encourage more people to use the Rim of the Valley trail network, which includes more than 100 miles of hiking and equestrian trails in the Santa Monica, San Gabriel, Santa Susana, Simi and Verdugo mountain ranges.

“I like to go up there when the sun is setting,” said Howard, who uses another access point in Sunland to reach the rim. “It’s just gorgeous.”

Others assert that keeping parks and trails in good shape is as important as buying them in the first place.

“If the trails are washed out, that substantially reduces their use,” said Bill Eick, a member of Small Wilderness Area Preservation, a local group that works to conserve land in the Verdugo Mountains.

“There’s a lot of glamour in acquiring parkland, but maintaining it is equally important,” he said.