RR: Riding Legal in the Santa Monicas

[hoovermd]

Much to my surprise (and many others as well) one of the trails I mentioned in my earlier RR was not legal so...

Here is a more PC ride report...

Looks like those of us who tried to hook up on Saturday missed each other so I ended up riding this one alone.
I didn't take many photos up along the fire road because there was nothing to see due to the fog/low clouds.

This did make for a nice ride because it stayed cool the whole time. 18 miles and it is all Single Speedable.


Most of the trail was pretty nice but there were some heavily washed out sections
Here is what much of it looked like:


Here is a nice 2 foot dropoff that caused me to dismount as I was riding alone and w/o any suspension. Earlier on the trail I managed to burp my Tubeless front tire hard enough to need an air fill. Don't know the name of this place since it wasn't mentioned on the Geoladders Route I took.


Here is a shot of some more of the downhill. The camera doesn't really do it justice I'm afraid.




There were quite a few booby traps on the trail that made me pretty cautious. It is one thing to OTB into the rocks but quite another to run into these babies:






So, next time any of you are headed up that way, bring some old tennis balls to place over all this metal on the trail!

This was a fun route, but be careful as I have been told that only signed trails are legal and it doesn't look like anyone spent many dollars on signs.

[OMR]

Have you named your monkeys yet, Mark?

[Nagaredama]

Or bring a hammer and drive them deeper into the ground.

[Abui]

Regulations are worthless without enforcement.

[silkworm]

So what is legit up in the Santa Monicas? I met up with one other, we did Farmers / Backbone / J Drop / Squirrel Cage. There are no signs saying no bikes or anything, in fact we took a little detour passing the entrance to J Drop out to the bridge and there are signs that say bikes should get off and walk because the trail is to dangerous (which i agree with!), but there were no signs that said no bikes. But we went back and attempted J Drop which was a joke, it was more like eco-challenge with the bike over my shoulder for the most part... The cage was manageable, but definitely not a breeze.

So what is legit?

[Pain Freak]

Once again guys...

If it isn't signed,it ain't legal. This goes for the Santa Monicas mostly,but could go for some other places too.

[hoovermd]

Originally Posted by Pain Freak

Once again guys...

If it isn't signed,it ain't legal. This goes for the Santa Monicas mostly,but could go for some other places too.

Ok, I'm not one to poach but realistically I guess I'll never ride the SMs again.

I understand the "no sign, no ride" policy but my god! I saw all of three signs on the whole freakin' ride. Those were at the fire roads. does the lack of a sign mean no hikers also? Usually if I see a bunch of tire tracks, an open entrance and footprints as well I assume it is legal.

The survey stakes were more numerous and prominent than any trail signage.

In fact, there was no sign on the switchback climbing out of the creek bed so was that legal? There is little attempt to even make these clearly well ridden trails even look like they are closed.

just my 2 cents.

[Abui]

Originally Posted by hoovermd

Ok, I'm not one to poach but realistically I guess I'll never ride the SMs again.

I understand the "no sign, no ride" policy but my god! I saw all of three signs on the whole freakin' ride. Those were at the fire roads. does the lack of a sign mean no hikers also? Usually if I see a bunch of tire tracks, an open entrance and footprints as well I assume it is legal.

The survey stakes were more numerous and prominent than any trail signage.

In fact, there was no sign on the switchback climbing out of the creek bed so was that legal? There is little attempt to even make these clearly well ridden trails even look like they are closed.

just my 2 cents.

So if hikers tear up a sign you'll not ride the trail?

The Backbone trail into will Rogers is 100% legal. I can't recall any signs.

There are signs that say (or mean) No Bikes, such as the shortcut from Mulholland to the fireroad leading to the Hub. To add to the confusion you have to consider the agency managing the land, NPS, CA State Parks, Conservancy, or City X. There are ST's in Woodland Hills outside the boundary of SMMNRA. Go ride, use common sense.

[silkworm]

There are signs for farmers and backbone, they are clearly marked - but you could easily make a wrong turn at J-Drop. We passed a bunch of people with brush wackers and etc clearing the middle parts of backbone that were very overgrown...I'm glad i brought my pads, shins would have been all kinds of cut up.

[hoovermd]

Originally Posted by Abui

The Backbone trail into will Rogers is 100% legal. I can't recall any signs.

This was one of the three signs I saw.

Common sense cannot be used because none of it makes any sense.
If there is no attempt by the authorities to block or mark a trail as closed (especially in places like SM, San Gabes and Cleveland) I really feel they are probably OK to ride.

There are other places (Aliso Woods, El Moro, Whiting Ranch) where it is pretty clear what is open and what is closed.

OMG! I'm becoming a poacher!!!

[Burner]

effin poachers

[MTBBill]

The no sign not legal makes very little sense. In almost all of the National Forests the inventory of trails is larger than the signed trails. There are plenty of trails that are certianly open to bikes but not marked so on the signs. If it is really important for the FS to keep bike off of a trail, they will usually mark it as such.