Why haven't we seen one scan of a ticket, one picture of trail-patrolling rangers or one shot of the cameras in the parking areas? I'm sure with all the tickets that are being handed out that SOMEONE has something to show us!

That is because rangers actually patrol in steath helicopters and are equipped with sniper rifles instead of ticket books. If the catch you riding out there, they simply shoot you and then airlift your lifeless body and bike away and drop them in the ocean.

There are also no cameras in the parking lots either. Instead there are trained south american indians with posion tipped arrows hiding where cameras would normally be. They shoot you with their special neuro toxin arrows, and drag your paralized but concious body back to their secret camp where they boil and eat you alive while stripping your bike to make more aluminum arrows.

I think there might also be velociraptors hiding out a the bottom of highway 9, but the last freerider I sent down there never came back. His bike was found a few days later with no front fork and a bite mark in the head tube.

 

That is because rangers actually patrol in steath helicopters and are equipped with sniper rifles instead of ticket books. If the catch you riding out there, they simply shoot you and then airlift your lifeless body and bike away and drop them in the ocean.

There are also no cameras in the parking lots either. Instead there are trained south american indians with posion tipped arrows hiding where cameras would normally be. They shoot you with their special neuro toxin arrows, and drag your paralized but concious body back to their secret camp where they boil and eat you alive while stripping your bike to make more aluminum arrows.

I think there might also be velociraptors hiding out a the bottom of highway 9, but the last freerider I sent down there never came back. His bike was found a few days later with no front fork and a bite mark in the head tube.

Thank god at least one other person here gets my sense of humor! Awesome post!

 

That is because rangers actually patrol in steath helicopters and are equipped with sniper rifles instead of ticket books.

I thought they were just doing a catch and tag program.

Tranquilizer gun shot to an MTBer's ass, wait till the biker folds on a hucker landing, tag them with a GPS unit on the ear (one of those giant hoop thangs), then load em up and release them into their native habitat (a downtown San Jose alley).

P

 

As an environmentalist who for the most part tries not to skid, I find the idea of using a bulldozer to shut down the environmental damage from trail building (in the winter) absolutely appalling.

As to erosion and vegetation damage, I estimate that
1 bulldozer = 1000 throttle happy motorcyclists = 2000 horses with riders = 20,000 skid happy mountain bikers = 50,000 normal mountain bikers = 100,000 conscientious mountain bikers = 150,000 hikers.

Ride with a smile, adopt a trail to maintain, give way to horses and hikers.

You do realize that it's not even possible to get a bulldozer in there, right? I don't think anybody said they used a diesel-powered steel vehicle of destruction. Bulldozed can mean shovels and picks.

 

Why haven't we seen one scan of a ticket, one picture of trail-patrolling rangers or one shot of the cameras in the parking areas? I'm sure with all the tickets that are being handed out that SOMEONE has something to show us!

Maybe so, but I think the real matter here is that the trails up there are illegal, and the situation has finally come to a head. Regardless of any proof of there may or may not be, we should all give the trails up there a break.

Who knows, maybe if we cool it for now, we may actually have something in the future!:thumbsup:

I rode the place pretty regularly up until all this stuff started. I have to say, some good has come out of it for me. I had forgotten how many other great places we have to ride around here. Now that I'm not flying down MC every weekend (I rode to the top dammit!!), I find myself back at all the killer spots I used to hang at. And there's plenty of them!

 

Maybe so, but I think the real matter here is that the trails up there are illegal, and the situation has finally come to a head. Regardless of any proof of there may or may not be, we should all give the trails up there a break.

Who knows, maybe if we cool it for now, we may actually have something in the future!:thumbsup:

I rode the place pretty regularly up until all this stuff started. I have to say, some good has come out of it for me. I had forgotten how many other great places we have to ride around here. Now that I'm not flying down MC every weekend (I rode to the top dammit!!), I find myself back at all the killer spots I used to hang at. And there's plenty of them!

Right. I just rode Demo for the first time in years a few weekends ago. Great to rediscover it.

Of course...we hit Wilder last weekend and cruised by the parking lot on 9 just to see....Ranger truck.

 

Hmmmm, maybe my ticket insurance idea ain't so bad after all. 10 bucks a month from all who wish to be covered, if you get napped on "illegal trails" we pay the ticket. Too many in a row you get booted. Come on, there has to be a market here.

 

Funny, I just rode this area a couple of weeks ago while visiting friends. I did'nt even know it was closed to bikes and found several nice trails and saw a few bikers. Ended up on highway 9, then followed the railroad tracks back to Santa Cruz. If they were serious about closing these illegal trails, why haven't they been covered up? I rode up at Soquel Demo forest also, which has some great trails, but you can ride everything there in one afternoon. With all the mountains surounding the Bay area and the population to build 'em, this place should have trails on par with Vancouver-Whistler, but instead there's just a few fairly small networks of easy to moderate legal trails. What's with that? I know, lots of private land and the public land is heavily regulated, the mountain bikers are not as organized as Vancouver, and the local business' don't have a clue how MTB'ing can stimulate the local economy. Well, good luck down there.

 

So does anybody know if Z or the old Z or whatever (heard it was taken down), was inside Henry Cowell SP? or was it still in the UCSC grounds?

 

Z's and the rest of the UC trails exist only in my mind.

And no, you can't ride them.

 

Since I got 'pinged' in this thread I'll just send a recent update on the trails situation that I sent to the mbosc list.

Karl Tallman has been selected as the permanent sector superintendent for the mountain sector of Santa Cruz district state parks.

Karl has been the interim-superintendent and I have worked with him on the compromise for the Cowell enforcement issue and setting up the conditions to address our trail conversion proposal. Karl just contacted me to set up a meeting to move our trail proposal forward. Tom Ward and IMBA California will also be involved in this initiative and meeting.

For those of you who are new to this list. We submitted a request to State Parks about 2.5 years ago to convert about 24 miles of single track and 12 miles of fire road from limited use (no bikes) to multi-use in Big Basin, Fall Creek and Castle Rock.

http://mbosc.org/2006/11/trail_proposal/mbosc_trail_conversion_final_Ver2.pdf

This is good news. As you may recall, the District Superintendent (Karl's boss) said that finding more legal mountain biking opportunities in State Parks is the highest priority of the Mountain Sector Superintendent. Karl has contacted the Sacramento offices to get the state trails specialist to come to Santa Cruz County to get the resources to address our proposal.

I'm really pleased that our state parks are willing to address mountain biking issues in a constructive and co-operative way.

 

Since I got 'pinged' in this thread I'll just send a recent update on the trails situation that I sent to the mbosc list.

Karl Tallman has been selected as the permanent sector superintendent for the mountain sector of Santa Cruz district state parks.

Karl has been the interim-superintendent and I have worked with him on the compromise for the Cowell enforcement issue and setting up the conditions to address our trail conversion proposal. Karl just contacted me to set up a meeting to move our trail proposal forward. Tom Ward and IMBA California will also be involved in this initiative and meeting.

For those of you who are new to this list. We submitted a request to State Parks about 2.5 years ago to convert about 24 miles of single track and 12 miles of fire road from limited use (no bikes) to multi-use in Big Basin, Fall Creek and Castle Rock.

http://mbosc.org/2006/11/trail_proposal/mbosc_trail_conversion_final_Ver2.pdf

This is good news. As you may recall, the District Superintendent (Karl's boss) said that finding more legal mountain biking opportunities in State Parks is the highest priority of the Mountain Sector Superintendent. Karl has contacted the Sacramento offices to get the state trails specialist to come to Santa Cruz County to get the resources to address our proposal.

I'm really pleased that our state parks are willing to address mountain biking issues in a constructive and co-operative way.

oh dear lord, if they approve castle rock let me know ahead of time so I can be there with a med bag when Miles has an aneurism

 

I would LOVE to get Fall Creek open. I miss that trail so much.

 

This whole thread makes me so f_ _g sad...........I discovered mountain biking while a student at UCSC in the early 90's and I remember riding all those trails behind the campus and across Hwy 9.....

I'm in SoCal now......and the city recently put up chain-link fences blocking access to some of the trails my nearest riding area (Southridge in Fontana)........let's hope that never happens to the trails behind UCSC.....

 

oh dear lord, if they approve castle rock let me know ahead of time so I can be there with a med bag when Miles has an aneurism

Miles (the Castle Rock Head Ranger) is already well aware of the possibility of opening up a handful of Castle Rock trails to bikes; he and I serve on a committee that's writing up a new Trails Plan for that park that (among many other things) mentions this possibility.

It's still too early to say for sure what's going to happen in the future wrt. Castle Rock and bikes, but at this stage it looks like we have a very good chance of getting the Skyline Trail (on the north side if hwy 35, which connects to Sanborn) opened to bikes, and a reasonable chance of getting the Saratoga Toll Road (a long fireroad, parallel to highway 9) opened to bikes. Most trails in Castle Rock, however, will stay closed to bikes - in part because there's a large State Natural Preserve in the middle of the park.

Ross.

 

There are no trails in Santa Cruz!

Just a Folk tale!

:madman:

 

To mrtoadsc, so how will the current economic situation effect the proposals you're working on?

 

To mrtoadsc, so how will the current economic situation effect the proposals you're working on?

OMG Rich is alive!

You riding again?! Lets go Saturday! Text, email, or call me man!

 

Will be meeting with Santa Cruz State Parks officials

To mrtoadsc, so how will the current economic situation effect the proposals you're working on?

Great question and this is something I'm curious about that as well.

Tom Ward (IMBA CA) and reps from MBOSC including myself will be having a meeting with the new Sector Superintendent on June 8th so I'll know more after that date.

I have been probing the budget impact issue with the new Sector Superintendent in email but he seems to be executing his plans for addressing our trail proposal. I'm sure I'll hear about it in our meeting.

BTW, our trail conversion proposal uses the same State Parks policy that Marin used to open Bill's trail. It's important to provide feedback to State Parks (in another thread) that you support mountain biking on these trails. Hopefully, this will come around when we solicit support for opening trails in Santa Cruz.

 

I'm in SoCal now......and the city recently put up chain-link fences blocking access to some of the trails my nearest riding area (Southridge in Fontana)...

you mean, blocking car access? I can't see how, where, a chain could go at Southridge that would block off the trails after you've pedaled or pushed up.

 

Was reading this thread as I plan to go check out the UCSC trails for the first time in the coming days - just wondering how the ranger situation is at the moment, and any updates on the legalization of the trails?

Thanks :thumbsup:

 

Zombie thread

In light of recent events.... this thread is being resurrected

 

In light of recent events.... this thread is being resurrected

Not a good idea. Let us not talk about illegal trails and draw attention to them.

fc