After the Eaton Fire: The Lowelifes and Los Angeles Singletrack – John Watson | The Radavist | A group of individuals who share a love of cycling and the outdoors.

There are no trail gnomes. Trails don’t maintain themselves, especially after flash flooding and fires. In steep and relentless terrain like Los Angeles’s San Gabriel Mountains, a few crews look out for trail users. In these mountains, one group, in particular, the Lowelifes Respectable Citizens’ Club, keeps those ribbons of stoke running smoothly. Read on for a look at the Lowelifes and the crew’s contribution to the trails of the San Gabriel Mountains, presented by Fox Racing…

The Lowelifes, shortly after its founding in 2019…

Who are the Lowelifes?

In 2019, Matt Baffert founded the Lowelifes Respectable Citizens’ Club (LRCC). This non-profit is a 501(c)(3) organization and is based in the Angeles National Forest and San Gabriel Mountains National Monument in Los Angeles, California. The Lowelife’s name pays homage to Mount Lowe, but the organization mostly tackles trails throughout the San Gabriel Mountains.

Photo by Brian Vernor

Lowelifes Respectable Citizens’ Club has an agreement with the USDA-Forest Service to restore and maintain trails in both the Los Angeles Gateway and San Gabriel Mountains National Monument Districts of the Angeles National Forest. They were a founding member of the California Mountain Biking Coalition, also founded in 2019, and helped get them off the ground by pledging donations every year.

Matt Baffert and Erik Hillard from a 2018 story on a Gabrielino Trail (NRT) trail work day with MWBA

In 2024, Lowelifes joined the California Mountain Biking Coalition, pledging its loyalty to CAMTB’s mission statement to “Improve and increase trail access for mountain biking throughout California by providing a unified statewide voice for organizations and individuals.”

Portraits by Brian Vernor

Its current board includes Rob Pettersen, Secretary, Erik Hillard, CFO/Treasurer, and Matt Baffert, CEO/President. Currently, there are 123 supporting members of the Lowelifes, many of whom come to the organization’s trailwork days and campouts.

San Gabriel Mountains

The San Gabriel Mountains are a contiguous mountain range located in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, California. The range is part of the Transverse Ranges and lies between the Los Angeles Basin and the Mojave Desert, offering a weather barrier that keeps the heat from the hottest desert on earth at bay, while keeping Los Angeles cool thanks to the Pacific Ocean. These 10,000-foot-tall mountains are the reason LA has a Mediterranean climate.

Los Angeles is one of the few places in the Lower 48 where you can hit dirt in a city of 3.8 million people, pedal all day on singletrack, and maybe see one or two other humans along the way. The endless network of trails and dirt roads may very well be the best place for solitude in a county of 10 million people. Many of the climbs exceed the 500-feet elevation gain per mile ratio, featuring steep, loose grades that ascend into the clouds.

Coastal Chaparral lines the mountainsides, filling in between native flowers, yucca species, granite boulders, and remnant pine tree survivors of past fires. Common pine species include Sugar, Coulter, Jeffrey, and Limber pine trees.

The terrain is rugged, with the soil comprised of decomposed granite due to the San Gabriel’s rapid erosion. The San Gabriel Mountains grow faster than they erode. This makes trailwork a constant necessity. Crews like the Lowelifes and Mount Wilson Bicycling Association, as well as hiking groups like Restoration Legacy Crew, the Tujunga Trails Posse, along with the USDA-Forest Service, maintain the Angeles National Forest’s hundreds of miles of trails.

The vast expansiveness is something to behold, and maintaining these trails takes a real concerted effort.

Lifelong Dedication

Since I’ve known Matt Baffert, the Lowelife’s founder, he’s always been in the mountains on his bike. He usually carries at least a small packable saw or trimmers in his pack. He’s spent his adult life being a steward of singletrack, keeping trails running for all users.

Matt and Erik were the first to reach out to The Radavist back when it was based in Los Angeles, and ever since, I’ve had a long-running relationship with their endeavors. When the Lowelifes were founded in 2019, it was right as The Radavist was relocating to Santa Fe, so I watched their progress from afar.

Photos and video postcards by Brian Vernor

On returning trips to LA, the Lowelifes’ hard work was even more apparent, like a time-lapse vignette of a trail or region’s progress. Suddenly, there were fewer places where the trail had eroded or washed out. Drainage improved considerably, and heritage trails – or trails that had fallen into disrepair due to a lack of maintenance or natural disasters – began to reopen.

Photo by Brian Vernor

More recently, Matt and the Lowelifes have been focused on the one thing that can do more damage to a region than any other phenomenon: fire.

Illustration by Nicholas Haig-Arack

Ecological Succession

The process by which the population of a biological community evolves over time is called Ecological Succession. Through an ecosystem’s lifespan, there are two distinct types of succession: primary and secondary. Primary Succession is best described by an ecosystem sprouting in areas previously incapable of sustaining life. This could be the result of lava flow creating an island or rocks left from a retreating glacier.

Los Angeles from Mount Wilson, June 2025

Secondary Succession occurs in areas where a community that previously existed has been removed. It’s best characterized by smaller-scale disturbances and, in the American West, most commonly by forest fires. These disturbances do not eliminate all life or nutrients from the ecosystem, allowing for regrowth to occur. Over time, Pioneer Species such as grasses and underbrush return over a 5-year timeline. Then, Intermediate Species, such as trees, return from 5 to 150 years. Eventually, a Climax Community has returned after 150 years.

After a significant disturbance, such as the 2025 Eaton Fire, it will take multiple generations for the Climax Community to recover.

Photo by Matt Baffert

Eaton Fire

The San Gabriel Mountains have experienced numerous massive forest fires over the past several decades. Each leaves scars on the landscape, forever altering the terrain. These blazes have ranged from deep in the backcountry to the foothills. However, with the Eaton Fire, entire neighborhoods in LA were razed.

Photo by Matt Baffert

Following this destruction, many people lost their homes, including Matt Baffert, the founder of the Lowelifes. Suddenly, the guy who had dedicated his life to restoring singletrack from fires had lost everything he owned, including his bikes, trail tools, and more. For a guy like Matt, for whom I always got the sense that his dedication to trail work was relentless, this was devastating.

Photos by Brian Vernor

Again, watching from two thousand miles away, I was in tears. Knowing Matt, Erik, and the Lowelifes personally, I couldn’t believe what was unfolding. Entire blocks of homes were destroyed, and many of the trails I’d spent so much time riding were scorched. It felt hopeless.

Photo by Matt Baffert

Lowelifes Community Response

Matt posted a photo of his leveled home. Then photos of his tools. And finally, his bike, just days after the Eaton Fire had ravaged his neighborhood of Altadena. This foothill community will never be the same. The very mountains and natural wonders that drew many people to live in such close proximity had turned on them, burning hundreds of thousands of acres, wiping city blocks from the map.

Matt’s Esker Cycles Hayduke

Yet, through these ashes, the community rallied behind those who lost their home, including Matt. Our own Travis Engel began reaching out to companies, including Esker Cycles, RockShox, SRAM, Hope, OneUp, Mone, White Industries, Astral, and Robert Axle Project, looking to replace Matt’s beloved Advocate Hayduke. Advocate Cycles became Esker Cycles.

Photos by Brian Vernor

We all knew that if Matt and the Lowelifes were to get through this, he’d need a bike as soon as possible.

Thanks to those brands, Matt was soon rolling again on a familiar titanium chassis, pointing out on one of our scouting rides, “the bike just felt like home.” Tomorrow, we’ll look at the build in detail.

Photos by Brian Vernor

Trail Restoration

Typically, after a fire, the US Forest Service will close an area off to the public. This is to allow their crews to survey the damage and assess the risk of occupancy. Throughout this period, Secondary Succession begins, with grasses and ground coverings returning to the burn zone.

During the initial five years, trail teams like the Lowelifes will conduct surveys and assess the damage with USFS approval, then present an action plan. If the original trail mostly remains, it becomes a game of restoration. If the trail was lost due to a landslide, the crew will have to draft a new route with USFS approval.

Photos by Matt Baffert

Currently, after the Eaton Fire, the Lowelifes are working to reopen Idlehour, a heritage San Gabriel trail. Initially, Matt Baffert took Eric Melansen in to survey the damage. This all happened days after the embers had cooled on Matt’s own home. It was an emotional scouting mission, but having a second home, working in the mountains, and a vision for the future were crucial for Matt. He thrives on goals and dreams.

Shortly after that initial scouting mission, the team began planning for a trailwork campout, where volunteers are invited to enter the trail camp, spend the night, and work a full day on Saturday, followed by a few hours on Sunday morning before the crew packs up and heads home.

Photos by Travis Engel

The camaraderie that occurs during these trail work campouts is what the Lowelifes thrive on. Everyone feels the vested interest, and as shovels, McLeods, and Rogue Hoes rework the land, the community begins to officially heal.

Keep an eye on this space for updates on the Idlehour trail, hopefully next year!

Photos by Brian Vernor

Trail Revitalization

At other times, a trail falls into disrepair due to sheer lack of maintenance. In a mountain range like the San Gabriels, with its rapid growth and decomposition, trails can disappear due to geological events or plant overgrowth. In the case of the two trails below, Condor Peak and Kenyon Devore, they required extensive work to revitalize them for safe public use.

Lowelifes Dream Trail: Kenyon DeVore

A heritage trail, located off the north side of Mount Wilson, Kenyon DeVore underwent an overhaul during the pandemic. The crew split boulders, widened the bench cut, and improved drainage, all while maintaining the original trail’s path. It offers a unique riding environment with the north side of the mountain being shaded and relatively cooler than the south-facing trails. As you wind your way down through the dense forest, you’ll sample the most stunning views.

Lowelifes Dream Trail: Condor Peak Trail

Since the Lowelife’s founding in 2019, perhaps the most ambitious undertaking has been the Condor Peak Trail. A heritage stretch of singletrack that spans ten miles of rugged San Gabriel terrain, this trail took years to revive. In some sections, the bench cut trail is literally cut through vertical granite walls, offering barely 18″ of trail with abrupt drop-offs. Yet the views and terrain are well worth the exposure.

Read more about Condor Peak Trail in our Dream Trail Reportage, dropping tomorrow…

Bonus Los Angeles Rides

The Radavist has documented numerous rides in the greater Los Angeles area. For a sampling of our archival documentation of what else LA has to offer, be sure to check out our LA Dirt series:

Photos by Travis Engel

How You Can Help the Lowelifes

You don’t have to be a resident of Los Angeles to help out the Lowelifes. The non-profit has a web shop filled with merchandise like hats, shirts, and riding gear. They often hold fundraisers, like the one with San Marino’s The Cub House, or various efforts with CAMTB. Or you can donate via their web portal. Every penny goes to keeping the mountain bikers, trail runners, hikers, and equestrians stoked on San Gabriel dirt.

Thanks to Fox Racing

The Radavist would like to thank Fox Racing for supporting our Independent Reportage on the Lowelifes’ overwhelmingly positive impact on the greater Los Angeles area. Proceeds from this support went directly to the Lowelifes, paying it forward. If you want to know which companies to support, look no further than those working with independent media to make storytelling happen!

A very special thanks to Brian Vernor, Travis Engel, Matt Baffert, Erik Hillard, Steph Ortega, Eric Melansen, and the Lowelifes crew for making this story happen.