well F@CK

Thats totally weak. Poor sir schwills-a-lot. You guys got lucky you didnt get ticketed.

The way to handle that situation is to get down to the road (basically bushwacking) a few hundred yards down, then ride up the road.

The ranger would have no evidence that you were out riding trails and couldn't give you a ticket (unless you were parked illegaly).

"The ranger would have no evidence that you were out riding trails and couldn't give you a ticket (unless you were parked illegaly)."

True I got off on a ticket in Monterey (point lobos i think) because the ranger didnt actually see us on the trail one of the "do gooders" did. The trail wasnt marked so as far as we are concerned we werent in the wrong. Nowhere was listed no bikes on trails.

That sucks though, those tickets are expensive.

So what was the ticket for?

Yea i know, i live in S.C. too. Dare i ask where you were so i can be on the lookout. Ive seen a couple rangers on F.C. lately myself.

There was a thread on mtbr.com recently about rangers contacting riders along Hwy 9, and I've seen 'em talking to folks the last couple of weekends.

Oh yeah - How much is one of those tickets?

mine was $298 but that was in 1996

scurban said:

I got one on MB recently, it was $192

We ended up splitting it four ways.

$48.00 for all the times I've ridden MB, and all the other illegal trails in my life, I think $48 is an ok contribution.

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I see your point. And you've got some coll riding budies. Guess I'm just cheap; I have trouble rationalizing it like that, even knowing there's that risk.

'Illegal trails' on public land is a weird concept to me...

Why is people going and doing exercise a 'big problem'? Maybe the Ranger would rather you stayed home and got fat playing PlayStation and eating Doritos?

Changleen said:

'Illegal trails' on public land is a weird concept to me...

Why is people going and doing exercise a 'big problem'? Maybe the Ranger would rather you stayed home and got fat playing PlayStation and eating Doritos?

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The problem in the states is that unlike NZ we have messed upi liability laws. The state and city governments are scared to death they are going to get sued for multi millions of dollars if some kid is riding a trail that is not "ok'ed" to be safe by them.

It is totally lame that because people in the states can't take responsibility for their own actions the rest of us can't use "PUBLIC" property to have fun and get some exersice and have fun at the same time.

I live in San Francisco and ride in lots of areas around here. In my experience, trails being closed to bikes around here has almost nothing to do with liability or even erosion and everything to do with conflict with other trail users. Most of it is bunk, just selfish hikers and equestrians that want the trails to themselves. However, there is a legitimate argument that cycliing is not compatible with people on foot or horseback, mainly because of the different speeds involved and the fact that there are a lot of asswipe mountain bikers that don't respect the rules or other trail users. Those riders are ruining for everyone. Here in the Bay Area, there are thousands of people who want to use the same trails at the same time, so it's a real problem and sadly our use just doesn't mesh unless people ride safely and show some respect. It's less of a problem in other parts of the country and the world where there are fewer people getting outside, and more space to do it.

The trail that IronJim got a ticket on has never been an official trail and is not used by anyone but bikers.

It's closed because it starts in a nature preserve area, and ends up in a state park. Supposedly the rangers are open to the idea of biking trails in the area, but there is still the issue that all the trails start on another agency's land and they have it closed for conservation reasons.

It's kind of a joke though, on any given weekend you'll see at least 20 bikers in the area.

I'm going to try and be brief and no-partisan about this. I'm also going to be pretty broadbrush.

The voters in California have bought a lot of park land for both regional agencies and state parks the past decade. Yet the economy has staggered along, and funding for staff and infrastructure has not matched land acquisitions. The philosophy has been "buy it now, figure out how to use it down the line". The result is agency budgets are stretched thin, and staff scramble just to maintain the status quo.

Things like general plans for new parks, or even as simple as adding trails to an existing park require staff time, environmental review, possibly public hearings, scrutiny by other gov't agencies, and all too frequently, lawsuits by groups that aren't happy with some aspect of the planning process