ScottV - K3SLV said
So can a stock vehicle drive the trail?  Are there any obstacles left?

  

A stock 4X4 can drive the trail provided it has reasonable ground clearance such as a stock pickup truck (no Josh, you can't take the Prius on the next trail maintenance run). There are no major obstacles on the trail and most of the medium to large size boulders have been pushed off the trail except in wide areas. The fire damage to trees and other vegetation is significantly less than I expected. The south section of the section between hwy 50 and the north gatekeeper, appears to have had the most intense fire activity as virtually all of the trees have been killed, especially on the west side of the road. The trail in general, while sustaining fire damage, is still beautiful and will recover quickly. When you get to the overlook at the south end, there are a lot of dead trees in the panoramic view and it will never look the same for many decades.

One of the benefits of wildfire is that it creates an opportunity for small vegetation and certain types of wildlife to flourish. As Lynda keenly observed, there is significantly recovery occurring, especially given the fact that the fire only occurred late last year. One of the other benefits of wildfire is that it can enhance the view by removing trees and other vegetation that would otherwise obstruct the view. There are several spots that will have enhanced views that will be beautiful after the forest starts to recover a little more (i.e. next year). The section on the north end, between hwy 50 and the gatekeeper, will show major fire damage for a long time but you do get a view of the creek that you never had before and it will look nice in spite of all the burned trees in a few years. I would be surprised if they don't log this section given that it is so accessible and very close to hwy 50.

Other than a few sections, the trail was not widened or not widened significantly by bulldozer activity. In my opinion, this is extremely important as we will eventually be able to restore the trail to somewhat original condition, without it looking like a four lane freeway. In addition, the widened sections will enable us to create obstacles with bypasses to enhance the trail proved that we get approval to make such changes. We cut a very large tree that was blocking the trail and moved the cut section to block off a new, unauthorized bypass that was created. Stock vehicles could not have made it through the bypass and the full trail itself prior to our removal of the tree. Perhaps, we can create more sections like this that allow a technical route and a bypass, so that we aren't constantly having to deal with the deer hunters undoing our work and effort to keep the trail at a moderate level. There are a few sections that were widen for equipment or for an LZ (landing zone) for helicopters. These have no significant negative impact on the trail but will make for parking or camping areas for deer hunters.

In my opinion, we are very lucky that things are not far, far worse given the magnitude of the Caldor fire. The future looks bright!