Another closure: Turnbull Cyn - Orange Grove Ave (nr Hacienda La Puente School)

Discussion in 'Trailhead' started by Andy, Mar 7, 2015.

  1. Andy

    Andy Member

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    Arrived at Turnbull Cyn this a.m. to see this -

    2015-03-07 12.11.37.jpg

    This is at the end of orange Grove Ave.

    Brand new lock on the gate, apparently only done within the last few days

    As the sign says, the trail head at Orange Grove and 7th is still open

    Met a rider handing out flyers -

    2015-03-07 17.55.06.jpg

    Never ends does it...?
     
  2. Rumpled

    Rumpled Longtime Newb

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    Looks kinda fishy to me.
    What is a MRCA? Not a normal term for me as as ordinance nomenclature.
    ....and a few individuals or whatever.
    The tone of this sign seems to be something like, "someone wants to close this, but if you get it together; we can stop this"
     
  3. chubacabra

    chubacabra Threapy Dog

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    The Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA) is a local government public entity established in 1985 pursuant to the Joint Powers Act. The MRCA is a local partnership between the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, which is a state agency established by the Legislature, and the Conejo Recreation and Park District and the Rancho Simi Recreation and both of which are local park agencies established by the vote of the people in those
    communities.

    The MRCA is dedicated to the preservation and management of local open space and parkland, watershed lands, trails, and wildlife habitat. The MRCA manages and provides ranger services for almost 69,000 acres of public lands and parks that it owns and that are owned by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy or other agencies and provides comprehensive education and interpretation programs for the public.

    The MRCA works in cooperation with the Conservancy and other local government partners to acquire parkland, participate in vital planning processes, and complete major park improvement projects.

    Liberal Bull----shit, the trails been there for 50 years. Al of a sudden its a threat to wildlife?
     
  4. blixet

    blixet New Member

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    It's not about wildlife. Someone was injured and is suing the Sanitation District. A number of the residents who live near the gates on Orange Grove and Los Robles are sick of the low life crap that goes on. Unfortunately, the so-called public access meeting that was held was pro-forma and the outcome predetermined. I guess it's possible that the closure could be reversed. Now, everyone must use the single access point on 7th if you want to access the hills from the hacienda heights side unless you want to drive a bit. The trailhead is in my opinion the worst section around there. It is steep, narrow, rutted and has sharp blind switch backs making it very dangerous to funnel hikers, dogs, mtbers and even potentially horses (although I have never seen them on this section) all together. The older hikers, mostly locales, that use the old entrances to get up the more benign trails are either out of luck or going to be at high risk of injury. Talk about a liability magnet. We'll see how it all shakes out. It pisses me off as I ride this all the time, it is essentially my back yard. I hate that section of trail. You can't ride up most of the bottom part and I would never go there on a weekend now. Even weekday mornings this past week has been scary. Lot of people I've talked to are pissed.
     
  5. Sir Laplack

    Sir Laplack New Member

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    I think you mean Leftist. There's nothing Liberal about banning access.
     
  6. fueledbyex8

    fueledbyex8 Member

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    Yes the entrance at 7th & orange grove to get up is very steep " if anybody can ride that up
    more power to you, but it is a bit of a hab" Either way you start now will be a challenge on beverly
    you need to find parking away from parking permit required signs, and if you choose to start on hacienda hills trailhead
    like i said it is steep! Nor sure how all the hikers felt seen a bunch of mtn. bkrs. on that trailhead trying to
    ride up and or going down, be safe out there you guys as there is a lot of pissed of people.
     
  7. blixet

    blixet New Member

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    Talked with a hiker this morning and he said that Sunday the 7th Ave gate had sheriffs and habitat authority rangers preventing any mountain bikers from entering. It must have been a zoo since this was the first weekend since the closure. I generally avoid the hills on weekends due to the crazy amount of foot traffic so I didn't see it personally. Today, there was no restriction to my access. On the positive side, the Native Oak loop has had almost nobody on it lately and is more pleasant to ride now.
     
  8. Bruce in SoCal

    Bruce in SoCal Member

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    If it is a lawful trail, do they have authority to prohibit mountain bikers? Is there an ordinance prohibiting MTBs or is it just a matter of convenience that they have rangers there?
     
  9. skyungjae

    skyungjae Member

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    Wow, it's going to suck if there is a ban to mountain biking on those trails.
     
  10. Earn Your View

    Earn Your View Member

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    I've been searching online for any articles about this and I haven't found anything. Any updates? I'm planning to ride there this weekend.
     
  11. Bruce in SoCal

    Bruce in SoCal Member

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    If rangers or sheriffs are stopping bikes, politely ask for their authority to do so. If I have a statute or ordinance number to look up, I'll follow up.
     
  12. blixet

    blixet New Member

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    I tried to find out more about what is going on from the Habitat Authority. This is the response I received. It doesn't directly address the issue of restricting mtb access to the multi-use trail at the 7th ave trailhead. But it does say that it will continue to remain open. I continue to talk to everyone that I can and hope to find out more eventually. So far, Sanitation, Sup. Knabe's office and Parks and Rec have failed to respond.
    --------------------------------------
    Thank you for your email.


    After nearly ten months of a multiagency effort to mitigate issues at the Orange Grove and Los Robles access gates in Hacienda Heights, the Sanitation Districts, which owns the property, had no choice but to close the access gates due to liability concerns and continuous complaints by nearby residents of illegal and nuisance activity such as staying in the Preserve after sunset.

    The Hacienda Hills Trailhead will continue to remain open. It, and the ridgeline Schabarum Trail, are the designated trail access points for the 6-mile multi-use trail system in the immediate vicinity which includes Puma, Coyote, Ahwingna and Native Oak trails. These connect to approximately 38 additional miles of trails in the Puente Hills Preserve.

    More specifically, the upper portion of the Ahwingna Trail, the Native Oak Trail, and Schabarum Trail are owned by the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation. They are currently assessing the trails for possible improvements. They can be reached at (213) 738-2961.

    Andrea Gullo

    Andrea Gullo
    Executive Director
    Puente Hills Habitat Preservation Authority
    562.945.9003
    www.HabitatAuthority.org
     

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