Amen brotha Dave!
Seriously, don't night ride on County Open Space
Boulder County that is. Well, I guess it's not legal in JeffCo either. A lot of local Lyons residents have been seeing folks night riding at Hall and Heil, especially with the full bright moon as of late. Don't do it. Patrols have been stepped up. Not only does this make the rest of us look bad, it's a waste of tax money to have rangers patrolling the parks at night.
Keep the rubber side down and keep it legal y'alls.:thumbsup:
Keep the rubber side down and keep it legal y'alls.:thumbsup:
1 - 20 of 22 Posts
Full agreement there.ignazjr said:it's a waste of tax money to have rangers patrolling the parks at night.
Wish they would simply change the rules for night closures. Typically, reasons for the closures i've seen are for not disturbing "nocturnal creatures" or "giving nature a break from humans". Both of these reasons seem patently ridiculous to me. What about "non-nocturnal creatures" we "disturb" every time we ride during the day? And how much traffic would the trails see at night anyway? Well, maybe a lot this time of year since it's mostly night...
How about a list of free for all local legal night riding areas? Post your favorites. Mine is the Longmont Bike path(St Vrain Greenway) There's some cool sections of singletrack along the river with berms and jumps. It's no Hall ranch but I get my fix for a day or so.
Fort Collins city open space is open 5am to 11pm except Bobcat Ridge.
The areas open until 11 include:
Coyote Ridge to the lookout
Pineridge
Maxwell
Reservoir Ridge / Michaud.
The areas open until 11 include:
Coyote Ridge to the lookout
Pineridge
Maxwell
Reservoir Ridge / Michaud.
we used to ride the hogsback a few years back at night.. until we came up on an underage drinking party one night getting busted up by the cops/rangers, they kindly asked us to leave while booking about 20 kids for underage drinking MIP, and possession of the sweet mary.... (and calmly said if they ever saw us again we would get fined etc... )
As far as Boulder goes, the city trails are all legal. Namely the Marshall Mesa area, I don't know if any specific off-limits trails in city land. Someone correct me if I am wrong.dash said:How about a list of free for all local legal night riding areas? Post your favorites. Mine is the Longmont Bike path(St Vrain Greenway) There's some cool sections of singletrack along the river with berms and jumps. It's no Hall ranch but I get my fix for a day or so.
I agree though, would be nice if the county would change the rules to allow at some night riding. For now, we have to obey the law. No poaching! :nono:
Are you a wildlife biologist?Stefan_G said:Full agreement there.
Wish they would simply change the rules for night closures. Typically, reasons for the closures i've seen are for not disturbing "nocturnal creatures" or "giving nature a break from humans". Both of these reasons seem patently ridiculous to me. What about "non-nocturnal creatures" we "disturb" every time we ride during the day? And how much traffic would the trails see at night anyway? Well, maybe a lot this time of year since it's mostly night...
Are you?zrm said:Are you a wildlife biologist?
Nope, but I've hired a few of them to work on NEPA documents and term special use permits. I've also done trail planning and race planning in conjunction with them. I've plowed through a mind numbing amount of documents on the Federal Register in regard to impacts of recreation on wildlife in general and diurnal and nocturnal animals in particular.
You sound very informed. Please shed some light on this dark subject.zrm said:Nope, but I've hired a few of them to work on NEPA documents and term special use permits. I've also done trail planning and race planning in conjunction with them. I've plowed through a mind numbing amount of documents on the Federal Register in regard to impacts of recreation on wildlife in general and diurnal and nocturnal animals in particular.
I just youtubed Hall ranch and one of the first things that pop up is a night riding video of Hall featured by Redstone????
Tell me that's not you
Tell me that's not you
Yep, that was us. Proud of it, too. If you had clicked on the "more info" link, here's what you would have seen:
"We had a group of guys doing trail maintenance at Hall Ranch instead of our normal Tuesday ride. Since we worked until dark, we had the caretaker/ranger's ok to ride out with lights. Sweet! "
Here's more info:
http://redstonecyclery.blogspot.com/2008/08/what-night-last-night.html
I'm happy to take down the youtube vid if you'd like.
dave
"We had a group of guys doing trail maintenance at Hall Ranch instead of our normal Tuesday ride. Since we worked until dark, we had the caretaker/ranger's ok to ride out with lights. Sweet! "
Here's more info:
http://redstonecyclery.blogspot.com/2008/08/what-night-last-night.html
I'm happy to take down the youtube vid if you'd like.
dave
It's not the video that has the descriptionstarladear said:I just youtubed Hall ranch and one of the first things that pop up is a night riding video of Hall featured by Redstone????
Tell me that's not you
was it?We had a group of guys doing trail maintenance at Hall Ranch instead of our normal Tuesday ride. Since we worked until dark, we had the caretaker/ranger's ok to ride out with lights. Sweet!
This is the logic that I don't understand. What made it OK to ride there at night with the ranger's permission vs. any other time?ignazjr said:Since we worked until dark, we had the caretaker/ranger's ok to ride out with lights. Sweet!
I remember an article in Boulder's Daily Camera about how there were to be weekly ranger-guided outings at night at Heil Ranch last summer. Not sure if those ever happened, but what makes it OK to go hike there at night with a ranger instead of alone? Is it a trust / responsibility issue? Does OSMP not trust users to obey the same stay-on-trail, leave-no-trace rules once the sun sets?
The Indian Peaks Wilderness (or any Wilderness for that matter) and RMNP do not have restrictions for hiking on their trails after dark. Is the wildlife in Boulder's OSMP somehow more sensitive to humans at night than in designated Wilderness areas or in National Parks? Seriously, what is the reasoning behind closing areas from sunset to sunrise? It's OK to ride Hall Ranch at 7pm in July, but not January?
zrm, I am eagerly awaiting your response, as you give the appearance of, perhaps, having more knowledge on this subject than other forum posters. Are any of your trails up in Summit County closed after dark also?
I want to be clear that I am not advocating that people go and break the current rules and regulations. I am, however, questioning the reasoning behind what (to me) seems to be a rather arbitrary restriction.
Don't forget HTMP/Lory
No time limit at either, except for Lory's gate closing. Park outside and ride in.sgltrak said:Fort Collins city open space is open 5am to 11pm except Bobcat Ridge.
The areas open until 11 include:
Coyote Ridge to the lookout
Pineridge
Maxwell
Reservoir Ridge / Michaud.
Just don't ride the damn thing at night, simple enough.
Yeah, it was sweet. I did some editing to the title and to more info for those that don't look beyond the immediate content of youtube. I'd make an intro to the vid, but I'm just not that computer savvy.
Stefan, the impression that I got from the county was that it's ok on occasion with permission. I had asked the county about a month ahead of time if it was ok and they ran it thru all of the proper channels. My guess is that they are concerned that a regular pattern of night usage will be enough to have an impact, where something on rare occasion won't have impact?
I don't really agree with the policy either. Wish I could shed more light on it. Pun very much intended
I don't really agree with the policy either. Wish I could shed more light on it. Pun very much intended
From what I recall about the situation here
It's more to cut down on underage drinking/other illegal activities, than a resource issue. We had several serious accidents/deaths involving "party'rs" several years back around Horsetooth Res.and that's when they instituted the partial night closures.Stefan_G said:This is the logic that I don't understand. What made it OK to ride there at night with the ranger's permission vs. any other time?
I want to be clear that I am not advocating that people go and break the current rules and regulations. I am, however, questioning the reasoning behind what (to me) seems to be a rather arbitrary restriction.
1 - 20 of 22 Posts
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