Soon to-be Illegal Trail

[bananaseat]

Rode Aliso today... was on the short-single track on the west side of the upper ridge, one that folks ride between mathis & rock-it and stair step & links...

Ran into a Ranger. He told me those specific trails will be illegal as of tomorrow, Sunday 1/29/06.

[ECOdork]

Bummer! I just "discovered" those recently....

[Epic_Mtn_Biker]

Originally Posted by bananaseat

Rode Aliso today... was on the short-single track on the west side of the upper ridge, one that folks ride between mathis & rock-it and stair step & links...

Ran into a Ranger. He told me those specific trails will be illegal as of tomorrow, Sunday 1/29/06.

Hey Bananaseat,

Did the ranger mention why their status changed?

[project_d]

Originally Posted by bananaseat

Rode Aliso today... was on the short-single track on the west side of the upper ridge, one that folks ride between mathis & rock-it and stair step & links...

Ran into a Ranger. He told me those specific trails will be illegal as of tomorrow, Sunday 1/29/06.

Would those be Valhalla and Direct Dial? If so, those have been illegal for a while (if not the whole time). Still, those are some fun trails.

[dstepper]

I think he is talking about the extra credit singletracks that parallel West Ridge Fireroad. Not the SS trails that drop down into Laguna Canyon, they are all illegal excepts Stairsteps.

[TURNERob]

That seems pretty lame, but not a big loss really at the same time. Wonder why they are making those illegal, doesn't make sense

[Schecky]

Originally Posted by FXRob

That seems pretty lame, but not a big loss really at the same time. Wonder why they are making those illegal, doesn't make sense

From past trail work days, I have been told that they don't like to have a trail very close to another (or a trail that splits in two and then comes back together). It creates 'habitat islands' that puts the animules at a disadvantage. That could be why.

[Von-Diggity]

That is par for the course at Aliso. There used to be a fun trail that dropped of off Mathis called JT's that was a really fun technical singletrack. Then one day the rangers decided that is was off limits, and has been ever since. There were also some cool trails that came down from were Soka university is, and they too have been shut down. I would imagine if the rangers had their way, there would be no mountain bikes in Aliso....

[Von-Skipp]

Originally Posted by Schecky

From past trail work days, I have been told that they don't like to have a trail very close to another (or a trail that splits in two and then comes back together). It creates 'habitat islands' that puts the animules at a disadvantage. That could be why.

It makes sense about the animals here...

So why dont they close one side where it splits into. That side will grow back while the trail it still rideable with no turns offs now.

[JamR]

Originally Posted by vondur

That is par for the course at Aliso. There used to be a fun trail that dropped of off Mathis called JT's that was a really fun technical singletrack. Then one day the rangers decided that is was off limits, and has been ever since. There were also some cool trails that came down from were Soka university is, and they too have been shut down. I would imagine if the rangers had their way, there would be no mountain bikes in Aliso....

We need to be careful on these types of generalizations. The same generalizations are tossed around by other groups about mountain bikers and are used to try to keep bikers out of the parks. They are unfair generalizations, but if we toss the same ones around about other groups or Rangers, we have no right to complain when we feel slighted by others bad-mouthing mountain biking.

Aliso Rangers and County Rangers are not anti-mountain biking from my experience, and if they were we would not have trails like Stair Steps, Laguna Ridge, Rattlesnake, or the soon to be ride able Emerald Falls. These are there because Rangers and other land management agencies pushed to open them to the public and did not exclude mountain bikers in the mix.

We simply cannot have all the trails we want, and in the south coast wilderness area, we're certainly not lacking in trails. I think we need to be more conscious of how good we actually have it down here when it comes to mountain biking.

I've been to areas where all single tracks were closed to bikers and we were limited to boring fire-roads. We're not required to run mandatory bells on our bikes. And we have over 700 miles of trails and fire roads to ride in Orange County. Pretty lucrative in my mind.

Dumping on the Rangers does not help get trails opened. Just curious of when the the last time you helped the Rangers with trail maintenance, or attended a public meeting to find out about trail issues or to speak your mind on a particular trail to the land managers at a public meeting. I've been to every RRTAC (Regional Recreational Trails Advisory Committee) meeting for the past two years, but I've only seen a couple of regular bikers attending them and getting involved.

If you’re really passionate about something (JT's, etc...), you need to get involved. Complaining and tossing unfounded remarks at the Rangers does not get trails opened. Try calling the Rangers at Aliso-Woods this week and ask them about the new closures of the "braided" off-shoot trails. Go to the source if you want direct answers.

We need to be a little more constructive in our approach on these issues.

Thanks

Today we saw a bunch of people (assuming warrior society) up on that single track doing some work and it looked like they had all the sticks/branches/shrubs blocking off the entrance to it when heading from the top of Lynx towards Rock-It.

[boboso]

Couple of notes (and thank you JamR for your always positive input):

1) understand the "community" and impact
- the side trails along West Ridge are fun but may cause an impact by creating islands with the seperation, and though minor to us humans, may be major to some species of wildlife such as nesting birds etc. Also remember if you can't ride it, walk it. The widening of some trails (Rock-it) gets noticed.

2) get involved
- Aliso Woods RMP - Feb 21st @ 5:30pm (Open house) / 6:30pm (agenda begins) - Next week the County of Orange is having an Open House community discussion on the upcoming Resource Management Plan (RMP) for Aliso Wilderness area. The meeting will be a Soka Univ. Details here: http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=166715

- Join SHARE, or other group, or if you don't like to join stuff, come on out and work the trails, give back, when announced. Many of the parks have programs for users to participate in. Look at trail head signs for info...

Sorry for sounding off, but most is just getting the word out.