This is ridiculous, we clear huge land masses for roads etc, but if someone build's a 12" bike path, they have destroyed the forest. At least the people who built the trail were enjoying the forest. I am almost speechless.
This is ridiculous, we clear huge land masses for roads etc, but if someone build's a 12" bike path, they have destroyed the forest. At least the people who built the trail were enjoying the forest. I am almost speechless.
Umm...As a former Portlander, who ever built the trail is a douchebag. The park is practicaly the middle of town and they built an illegal trail in the middle of what is essentaily a wildlife refuge. The "rouge trail builders" just set Mountain Biking back 5 years in that town with that ass hattery. Don't forget the P-town is very bike friendly. If it had been done right, it probably wouldn't have taken more than a year for a leagal trail/trail sytem to be approved and built. Its called "public perception" and the perception that results from that move is "dirtbags". In fact its asinine to compare it with land clearing for homes, roads, logging etc, because no matter how you might feel about it being done its done legally and with the opportunity for the pubic to discuss/stop it. Where as the trail cut through forest park was probably built by some hipster douchewads from Portland State and Pioneer Square in what is supposed to be a protected area.
I defiantly agree about getting permission, but I just feel they are making it into a bigger deal than it is, when I first saw the title I was expecting a bike park.
As much as I think we should have trails everywhere, Forest Park is not the place to cut one.
Imagine being a grafitti advocate and you decide to tag the Governor's mansion.
Forest Park is in Portland and heavily used. I've ridden there and it is immense but still, the trail builders had to realize that someone was going to see it, and pretty quickly at that.
Portland residents are more easily butt hurt than stinkyboy... bad on the trail slashers sure but in the big picture it's barely a scratch on the metro areas already fugged eco system.
Forest Park is in Portland and heavily used. I've ridden there and it is immense but still, the trail builders had to realize that someone was going to see it, and pretty quickly at that.
Oh no, the trail builders killed some of the ivy that is killing forest park. The humanity. I miss poaching the hiking trails on my way to work. Ride the MAX to the zoo, take the elevator up, bomb down the back side into town. Good times.
"This is nothing less than vandalism of our natural areas, and it will not be tolerated and the fact it happened in a pristine wildlife habitat makes it all the more outrageous."
I love breathless hyperbole. I bet if he'd have scrunched his face up at the same time he'd have got a single tear to roll down his cheek for dramatic effect.
I just wish people in this country could learn to take a deep breath and count to ten before getting offended/incensed about any kind of activity they don't understand or participate in. Particularly when the activity does not conform with your understanding of legal, everybody is so quick to bust out the pitchforks.
I can 100% guarantee that everyone reading this thread broke a law in the last 24 hours, but this knowledge, rather than causing us to have a sense of humor about **** and be forgiving of our fellow citizens somehow makes everyone even more bitchy and defensive of "the law."
Yeah, public land, nature preserve, etc. Tsk Tsk. They should probably have gotten approval first, and they probably should have known they would get busted given the location. But they were building something useful, something that improves the quality of life or at least doesn't harm the majority of their fellow citizens. And it didn't cost taxpayers a dime. It's not like they burned the park to the ground just for kicks.
I just wish people in this country could learn to take a deep breath and count to ten before getting offended/incensed about any kind of activity they don't understand or participate in. Particularly when the activity does not conform with your understanding of legal, everybody is so quick to bust out the pitchforks.
I can 100% guarantee that everyone reading this thread broke a law in the last 24 hours, but this knowledge, rather than causing us to have a sense of humor about **** and be forgiving of our fellow citizens somehow makes everyone even more bitchy and defensive of "the law."
Yeah, public land, nature preserve, etc. Tsk Tsk. They should probably have gotten approval first, and they probably should have known they would get busted given the location. But they were building something useful, something that improves the quality of life or at least doesn't harm the majority of their fellow citizens. And it didn't cost taxpayers a dime. It's not like they burned the park to the ground just for kicks.
I should point out trail access is different in the East Coast than it is in the West.
In Connecticut, there were a few places I rode, and you never saw a ranger, or even that many people on the trails.
Most residents do not go hiking, horseback riding, or biking, so anyone who did one of those 3 things were grouped together as "outdoors-types".
While I'm sure there was some bureaucratic BS to get a new trail system put in, no one seemed to care as long as you were not dropping property values.
Out here, there are thousands of trail users. I went to Tilden Park in Berkeley on Sunday, and I must have passed 100+ walkers, 50+ cyclists, a bunch of dogs, and 4 horseback riders.
Not surprisingly, each group is extremely defensive about their access.
While none of the local parks are as large as Forest Park, even those rogue builders had to know when they were busted, it would not be pleasant.
I told my buddy who is a board member of the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship (Downieville), "Yeah, building an illegal trail at Forest Park was a bad move, but at some point, if I was to be lectured over and over about this, I would take it up to a point, and then they can go F themselves".
Yes, a responsibly-built mile long trail along the ridgeline is a horrible thing, but let's get real here.
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