Southern California - How Long Til The SART Is Open Again?

With this week's rains I figure that the SART is unrideable at the moment. Or at least unrideable at the underpasses at at places like Orangewood, Chapman, Katella in the north and closer to the beach going south. Has anyone been by the SART to do a visual on it to see how it's looking? I have a small flood channel near my house that is normally bone dry and that thing is a roaring river right now with at least 8 feet of water in it.

I plan on going over a few of the SART overpasses later today during a drive, so I'll see how it looks from the car then.

I took a ride up it this morning (Saturday) from the beach to the 'plank' bridge just below Riverview Golf Course (just south of the 'Orange Crush'/Angel Stadium area). Its closed at the bridge/golf course with some orange traffic barriers (normal after a good rainstorm). A few of the underpasses were closed off with traffic barriers too, but I just crossed on the roads above 'em. The plank bridge just up from the beach between Huntington & Costa Mesa was open. Water level didn't look very deep, as I could make out the center channel on the concrete river bottom closer to the beach. Cheers.

I rode this morning from PCH to the 2nd Ped. Bridge (south of Golf Course) and everything was open and rideable. Lots of debris and sand/dirt on the underpasses but still rideable.

On my drive home this morning I took a look at the crossings at Lincoln and Kramer and it appeared that both of those were open. There were lots of riders getting ready to embark from the little parking lot at Lincoln and the SART.

I guess I'll head out tomorrow after all based upon your guys' reports.

Coyote Creek, SGRT, and LART had some strange openings/closures today!

I remember when the SART use to drop down to river height near Angel Stadium and without fail there would be someone trying to retrieve there bike from the river bed after a big rain fall.. There would always be someone daring someone else to try to ride through the raging waters..

I remember when the SART use to drop down to river height near Angel Stadium and without fail there would be someone trying to retrieve there bike from the river bed after a big rain fall.. There would always be someone daring someone else to try to ride through the raging waters..

It still does. The underpasses at Chapman, Orangewood and Katella are all very low, only a few feet above the riverbed for the most part.

Or are you referring to waaaay back in the day when there was actually a path across the riverbed between Chapman and Orangewood? My friends and I used to love to go across it when we'd ride our bikes on the SART in junior high school. I always thought that it was a bit odd that they had a crossing that went across the river there. Wonder why they did it? I think that you can still see a little outcropping near one of the underpasses where the path starts to go across the river if you're looking for it.

Or are you referring to waaaay back in the day when there was actually a path across the riverbed between Chapman and Orangewood? My friends and I used to love to go across it when we'd ride our bikes on the SART in junior high school. I always thought that it was a bit odd that they had a crossing that went across the river there. Wonder why they did it? I think that you can still see a little outcropping near one of the underpasses where the path starts to go across the river if you're looking for it.

Pre pedicure days, eh?:D

It still does. The underpasses at Chapman, Orangewood and Katella are all very low, only a few feet above the riverbed for the most part.

Or are you referring to waaaay back in the day when there was actually a path across the riverbed between Chapman and Orangewood? My friends and I used to love to go across it when we'd ride our bikes on the SART in junior high school. I always thought that it was a bit odd that they had a crossing that went across the river there. Wonder why they did it? I think that you can still see a little outcropping near one of the underpasses where the path starts to go across the river if you're looking for it.

yes way back in the day when the path went through the riverbed.. There would always be someone after the rains trying to pull there bike out of the water after they tried to cross..

What happens to the golf course in a rainstorm like this?

What happens to the golf course in a rainstorm like this?

It becomes one heck of a large water hazard! If my feeble memory serves me correctly, the SART's MUP used to go through the exrtreme south edge of the golf course. These days you cross on the footbridge/plank bridge just south of the course. The golf course has a channel running through it that's big enough for flows from the average rainstorm, but it'll be shut down if there's any indication there'll be a heavy downpour.

Years ago the SART MUP went down into the bottom of the river at the Adams Ave. bridge, too (the first bridge south of the 405 frwy underpass, between Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach). That was a heck of a climb back up onto the levee when you were riding a cruiser bike! The riverbed crossing was eliminated when the built the plank/pedestrian bridge just downstream of Adams Ave.

With this week's rains I figure that the SART is unrideable at the moment. Or at least unrideable at the underpasses at at places like Orangewood, Chapman, Katella in the north and closer to the beach going south. Has anyone been by the SART to do a visual on it to see how it's looking? I have a small flood channel near my house that is normally bone dry and that thing is a roaring river right now with at least 8 feet of water in it.

I plan on going over a few of the SART overpasses later today during a drive, so I'll see how it looks from the car then.

@@@

Had a great ride on Saturday from Yorba Park down to the Katella Crossing and back. Everything was open. Some blowdown trash on the trail, but no biggie. They have done a rough cleanup. Sweeper has not gone thru. Watch for silt and slipping in the underpasses. Only undercrossing under water was on the La Palma side at the Imperial Crossing - and the trail uses the other side.

The river was running high, the sun was out, it was a fun ride. All too soon the river will be down or gone and it's back to puddles and silt beds.

BTW - whoever developed the section from Imperial to Katella did a very nice job on the landscaping. Plus, there are good trailside facilities. Like the portapotty pitstops. Be nice if they would do the same thing on the lower SART below Riverview. Was on the San Gabriel RT today. Boring compared to that section of the SART. Ditto the Coyote Creek Tr.

4,700 01-25-2010 16:45 PST
They are still dumping water from the Prado Dam, so you might want to do that ride while there is water in the river. More scenic that way.

Last update was 4, 700 cubic feet per second. That's better than the South of 500 cpfs it was doing before Rain Week.

<http://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?site_no=11074000>