LOCAL CAMPSITE ACCESS LIMITED SOME ROADS OPEN; CROWDS EXPECTED.

Byline: Daily News

ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST - Two-thirds of the storm-damaged forest roads in northern Los Angeles County remain closed this holiday weekend, but some routes to campgrounds and other recreation facilities have reopened, the U.S. Forest Service said Friday.

Access roads to the popular Sawmill and Cottonwood campgrounds in the northern forest are open, and Tule-Burns Canyon Road, South Portal Road and Lake Hughes Truck Trail, all in the wilderness between Castaic and Elizabeth Lake, are passable.

Cid Morgan, district ranger for this stretch of the Angeles National Forest, said officials are expecting crowds this weekend because of mounting gas prices.

``We're anticipating that with gas prices being so high, people will stay closer to home,'' Morgan said.

By Friday afternoon, campgrounds were filling up with higher than expected crowds. Also, campgrounds aren't as plentiful this year - Streamside and Zuni in Bouquet Canyon and Spunky campground near Green Valley remain closed because of storm damage.

``We've been plugging away, but there's a lot of work to do,'' Morgan said.

San Francisquito Canyon Road, a forest highway linking the Antelope and Santa Clarita valleys, isn't expected to open until the end of the year. Large segments of road were washed out while other sections were covered by slides after the winter storms that dumped some 50 inches of rain in the forest.

Morgan said officials have been working with a contractor to repair Dry Gulch Road, which links San Francisquito and Lake Hughes roads.

``It got decimated,'' she said.

The rain devastated the region, where wildfires the summer before had stripped large swaths of brush and vegetation and left the land vulnerable to erosion.

For months, Forest Service personnel were unable to assess the damage because roads were impassable and the ground was spongy. Eventually they found ravaged roads and trails and have since cleared the routes and, in come cases, regraded them.

The high fire danger has returned, forest personnel advised this week. Restrictions are in place that limit campfires to developed campgrounds only. Gas, jellied or propane camp stoves are the only types permitted.