Santa Ana Mountains - Fire Road Access

Has anybody been able to access any fire roads in the Santa Ana Mountain range in So Cal? It seems like all access points have been permanently closed in the last 2 years. From what I've read online, they have closed all entry's under the guise of "fire damage".

This past weekend, I drove the Orange County side and the Inland Empire side to each of the entry points I know about. All of which were closed. I would like to blame the corona virus, but from what I've heard they were closed prior.

I know the trails aren't great, but they used to be a nice quick escape from the southern California madness.

 

Because there was a big fuckin fire and losing so much vegetation destabilizes the hillsides

 

To elaborate on the "big fuckin fire" thing a little:

You can't just go opening the roads once the flames are gone. Those flames burned tons and tons of trees, bushes, shrubs and their root systems which all hold the hill slopes from falling down. Then, when it rains (and it doesn't even have to rain), all that stuff that would normally be held up by the roots and bushes comes crashing down in a debris flow.

Also, without the bushes and root systems, the landscape is also more prone to damage from anthropogenic erosion (dudes driving around in trucks, for example).

I was involved with a study years ago that was trying to quantify the volume of stuff that comes off of a hillside in these types of situations. I believe "a shit ton" is the technical term.

So we're just going to have to wait until the slopes stabilize.