There was an immense blowdown event of epic proportion maybe a couple years ago. Retired Jerry asked in a recent trip report:
Short answer: Yes.retired jerry wrote: ↑September 22nd, 2019, 5:42 amDid they ever clear out the section of the Paradise Park Trail, near the Zigzag trail junction, that was obliterated by fallen trees?
Long answer: All sources indicate it's still impassible. But I don't mind a little bushwhacking, I have a high level of determination, and I was willing to accept the possibility of failure, so I set off for a PP hike yesterday. Although it hasn't been publicized, I ran across one obscure online reference to a work crew on that trail a month ago, so I hoped it would be complete, or at least enough to make the workaround tolerable. Sure enough, when I arrived at the blowdown zone, it was a breeze. But after quite a while, the repaired zone abruptly ended at a big log that looked like people had been climbing over it. On the other side, I spotted a faint trail and flagging, but it was way too difficult to continue. I dropped into a gully to my right, which was fairly clear. I was able to follow it up without too much trouble. The brush was saturated though, and soon I was too, soppy below the waist. After just 10-20 mins (?) I saw something shocking: trail. It crossed the gully. I was lucky: if a tree had fallen on the trail here, I might have missed the trail, and I would have continued up the gully believing the trail was still to my left. Grateful, I followed the trail up, and found it to be in pretty good shape, no worse than one often encounters in the wilderness. There were a few trees to go over/under, and the trail was overgrown with Huckleberry bushes, but no big deal.
On the way down, when I came to my gully, I followed the trail down, knowing it would eventually become unpassable, but I knew the difficulty would be a short stretch. Imagine my surprise when I found smooth sailing all the way back to the point where I had given up on the trail and headed over to the gully. It looks like maybe they re-routed the trail through easier terrain (less work than cutting dozens of logs). At that point on my ascent, if I had just looked around 360, I would have seen the switchback.