"2. Changing the trail to accommodate melting patterns -- was such a luxury a sign of the times or would such an undertaking be considered today?
Trails seem to get changed or improved, and this trail is one of the most traveled in the Sierra, so fixing it makes sense. I am sure with budgets these days, there is not as much trail construction as in the past."
It is my understanding that the old trails were a nightmare of maintenance. The slopes are simliar to that below Shepherd Pass....loose scree and boulders, constantly shifting and falling onto the trail, wiping it out. To maintain it required huge efforts. The current trail is built into more solid rock (I understand a fair amount of blasting was required), and is far more stable. The work that has to be done now, is far less technical that that of the old trails. So, it seems that it was a "pay me now or pay me later" type of situation, where future funding was doubtful.
