Last weekend, we took a trip over the Ridge Route to assess damage caused by Tropical Storm Hilary. According to the LA County Department of Public Works, Sandberg and Castaic received a little over 4 inches of rain during the storm. Most of this fell in a day, which is a lot for that area. We were concerned additional damage may have occurred to the road. We were pleasantly surprised by what we found.
The storm itself caused little damage to the roadway with few exceptions. Most of the damage was localized to three locations, the Spring 2023 landslide at the south end, Swede’s Cut, and near the Liebre Maintenance Camp site. With the exception of one site, all the work that had been done at our CUTRR events was successful. The drains we cleared remained clear and worked well. We wish to thank all that have helped us with our events. We couldn’t do it without you all. We need to continue this work as well as other restoration work as time permits. Dates for upcoming events will be announced soon.
North of Reservoir Summit, the roadway degrades in quality a few times. The most notable is about 0.5 miles north of Reservoir Summit where a large amount of debris has washed down from the slope above. The drains are mostly intact with some partly blocked. Two larger mudslides partly block the roadway as well, adding to the debris problem by blocking drainage. We are working on a solution for this, which will likely be using a blade to clear the road.
The northern end of the roadway from the Tumble Inn to Sandbergs is still open to traffic after the storm. However, it is not recommended for standard autos or lower clearance vehicles at this time due to the increased amount of debris on the roadway. One location in particular, shown in the photo below, makes it nearly impassible for such vehicles.
Heading north toward Sandbergs, a few locations where the pavement was breaking up were noted. We are working with the USFS to get these repaired, even on a temporary basis, in the very near future.
Thank you for the update!