The wheelbarrow has been there forever. All the cans and stuff people saw in it since the reopening were added during the fire closure by people who found the stuff on the way up there. The empty wheelbarrow been a constant fixture at the junction there for decades. It even disappeared for a while.
The cans and stuff that recently appeared in the wheelbarrow should never have been there in the first place. The El Dorado fire exposed many artifacts that were hidden prior to the fire. It’s a testament to the lack of foresight on the part of the forest service that a basic archeological survey wasn’t conducted prior to reopening the trail. Remember that anything you find up there that’s more than 50 years old is a historic artifact. Moving or removing it is a crime, per the antiquities act, so take pictures, but leave stuff where it is.
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