Dear Trail Users of Marin County,
Last evening a few friends and I went out to ride a trail in the Cascade Canyon area of Marin called Split Rock. Yes this trail is restricted to bikes, but as we all know, it is a very well known trail and ridden frequently. For those of you who have ridden this trail you know there are many different entrances, most of which are NOT posted as no bikes.
Anyway, as we dropped into the trail we can upon some very nasty and extremely dangerous surprises. First, there were barbed wire fences built across the trail, followed by a big boulders rolled into the middle of the trail. The tops of these barbed wired fences were painted bright orange, so at least unsuspecting trail users could see these blockades as long as they were looking up. The most troubling booby traps came farther down the trail in the tree covered, dark section... The saboteurs had pounded rebar into the trail, spaced every 3 inches, and then BENT the rebar at a 45° angle to point directly at you as you approached it, this rebar was also painted dark green to further camouflage it to the unsuspecting trail users. I did not count the number of booby traps, but I would say there were at least 5-7 different traps extending down the first 100 yards of trail.
There are all sort off issued that arise from vigilanteism/vandalism of this sort, the least of which is trail erosion from users (hikers and bikers) going around the traps and the traps themselves holding water and causing the trail to break away.
I can only speculate who and why someone might vandalize a trail in this way, but in my mind it was done not only to deter mountain bike use, but most alarmingly to INJURE, MAIM OR KILL the bikers that do use it.
In my ten years of trail use (hiking and biking) I have never seen anything like this, and it is clear to me that the dispute between trail users has been taken to a whole new and deadly level!
It is no secret that a large portion of mountain bikers in Marin County ride illegally on single track trails, and we all take our chances of being issued tickets for doing so, this is an issue between bikers and law enforcement officials. It certainly seems to me that having legal trail users vandalizing trails in order to injure or kill other trail users is a FAR greater offense, and law enforcement officials should be turning there attention not to illegal bike use, but to the people who are doing the true damage to the trails and other people.
Most of us have been verbally,( and some physically) assaulted on the trails of Marin, as illegal users we usually try to talk calmly to our assailants or ride away, not wanting to endure the all to familiar rant of the legal trail users. I now fear not only for the bikers who might be injured or killed by these new traps, but for the hikers who might be opening themselves to the same physical violence by angry bikers who are tired of being targeted.
I can not understand why, as adults, all trail users can not come to some sort of agreement on trail use. These acts of violence serve only to escalate the problem and will no doubt end in tragedy for someone.
Please pass this on to anyone who you think can stop this violence.
Last evening a few friends and I went out to ride a trail in the Cascade Canyon area of Marin called Split Rock. Yes this trail is restricted to bikes, but as we all know, it is a very well known trail and ridden frequently. For those of you who have ridden this trail you know there are many different entrances, most of which are NOT posted as no bikes.
Anyway, as we dropped into the trail we can upon some very nasty and extremely dangerous surprises. First, there were barbed wire fences built across the trail, followed by a big boulders rolled into the middle of the trail. The tops of these barbed wired fences were painted bright orange, so at least unsuspecting trail users could see these blockades as long as they were looking up. The most troubling booby traps came farther down the trail in the tree covered, dark section... The saboteurs had pounded rebar into the trail, spaced every 3 inches, and then BENT the rebar at a 45° angle to point directly at you as you approached it, this rebar was also painted dark green to further camouflage it to the unsuspecting trail users. I did not count the number of booby traps, but I would say there were at least 5-7 different traps extending down the first 100 yards of trail.
There are all sort off issued that arise from vigilanteism/vandalism of this sort, the least of which is trail erosion from users (hikers and bikers) going around the traps and the traps themselves holding water and causing the trail to break away.
I can only speculate who and why someone might vandalize a trail in this way, but in my mind it was done not only to deter mountain bike use, but most alarmingly to INJURE, MAIM OR KILL the bikers that do use it.
In my ten years of trail use (hiking and biking) I have never seen anything like this, and it is clear to me that the dispute between trail users has been taken to a whole new and deadly level!
It is no secret that a large portion of mountain bikers in Marin County ride illegally on single track trails, and we all take our chances of being issued tickets for doing so, this is an issue between bikers and law enforcement officials. It certainly seems to me that having legal trail users vandalizing trails in order to injure or kill other trail users is a FAR greater offense, and law enforcement officials should be turning there attention not to illegal bike use, but to the people who are doing the true damage to the trails and other people.
Most of us have been verbally,( and some physically) assaulted on the trails of Marin, as illegal users we usually try to talk calmly to our assailants or ride away, not wanting to endure the all to familiar rant of the legal trail users. I now fear not only for the bikers who might be injured or killed by these new traps, but for the hikers who might be opening themselves to the same physical violence by angry bikers who are tired of being targeted.
I can not understand why, as adults, all trail users can not come to some sort of agreement on trail use. These acts of violence serve only to escalate the problem and will no doubt end in tragedy for someone.
Please pass this on to anyone who you think can stop this violence.
