Don't Read This and Don't Ride Here (Laguna)

Here's a cool little expose of a place I am lucky enough to call home:

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/tour-guide-hans-reys-laguna-beach-2015.html

OK, ride here all you want, but please turn off your STRAVA if the trail you're riding doesn't have an official name on a trail sign or trail map.

 

Strava can be turned off? On a bike?

 

Little late for that......

 

Not at all. There are still more horses in the barn.

In all seriousness, the governing agencies and the local grumpy hikers association will push and be pushed to remove mtb altogether if people keep documenting their riding of unauthorized trails. Stop documenting and enjoy the ride.

 

Unless Strava wipes all the date clean, it's forever out in the world......wide web.

 

I imagine a world in which all of that data suddenly stops accruing, beginning on August 20, 2015, due singlehandedly to my impassioned plea on a website or two. This imaginary world also has rainbows and unicorns and I have hair - and skill - and fitness.

 

If the weeds are not growing on that unauthorized trail the powers that be know its being used.

 

Don't use a map, so wouldn't know if it's on it anyway...
But I'm guessing given my reluctance to ride some of the trails in Laguna that I ain't going to add to the problem.

Besides, isn't strava evil akin to the devil himself?

 

Well, it is articles like this that truely expose these areas, these bandit trails. Let's take pictures of Hans riding these trails, then post them up in the article.

How many times have you read an article about some other place in the world and saw the pictures and thought to yourself "man, I would love to ride there".

Same goes for the GoPro peeps.

Sorry, but this does much more harm than Strava does. If you haven't used Strava before, it is a PIA to actually find segments and rides. Yes, while it is easy to track your ride and post it up...finding a specific segment or trail isn't always so simple. The smart people will nickname a segment something other than the trail name.

Personally I don't really ride any of the "off the menu" trails in Laguna....just not my cup'o'tea. The few I have been on were fun, and obviously been there for a very long time, and probably should just be made legal.

Just my $.02 and it is actually only worth about 1/2 that.

 

Agreed, and during our ride in LCWP yesterday it is very obvious by tire tracks where the popular unmarked off grid trails are and how much they are getting used. The rangers know these trails well, sure they get out there in the park and see the tracks in the dirt leading into them. If they wanted to shut them down or ticket people it would be very easy to do. It aint just strava, or this PB article, or twitter, FB or instagram, but the most telling are the tire tracks imo. So take a broom with you and cover your tracks (and don't even think about pulling off a bush branch to act as a broom)

 

WTF you talkin' about Dave - just launch yourself from the legal trail to the off-menu trail far enough that you won't leave any tracks!

 

I finally had time to read the article... I need to save his restaurant tips.

 

That's my mantra! But I do stop and take photos so I can remember where I've been.
I also think this is a good campaign slogan for D.Trump ...

 

Strava flybys makes it pretty easy to find alternative trails. I found a pretty sweet one at Laguna just last week with it. Plus, once you find someone who takes a lot of the alternative trails, all you need to do is add them and then examine their routes.

 

I was surprised to find there are actually segments for the SOT in big bear

 

You just reminded me of an event from 30+ years ago. It was in the 80's when rogue rangers started roaming the deserts and really started f@#$ing with people who were minding their own business. Scott and I rode together a LOT. We were out almost every weekend on our dirt bikes. We were good riders, we were experienced, and we enjoyed the real wilderness.

So one weekend we were deep in some remote SoCal desert, many miles from any other humans. We were headed back to the trucks, still about ten miles out, and were looking for any shortcut that could get us back to our ice chests more quickly. We figured we could drop into this wash and it would lead us in the right direction. We weren't sure, as was often the case, but it didn't matter because the Mojave desert is such a small place that you can't really get THAT lost. Right? The wash did, in fact, take us where we wanted to go. We came out of the wash into the canyon we were seeking, and only a hundred yards away were our trucks. How cool was that? Magellan had nothing on our navigational skills.

I blasted straight toward my truck, while Scott did a celebratory run up the side of the hill where the sand would accumulate from the wind. When we got to the trucks, who was there? It was Roger Ranger with his handy dandy ticket book and a pointy-sharp pencil. We were the only people for miles around, so if the ranger was going to screw with anyone that day, it was going to have to be us.

"You were riding in a restricted area! That area is off limits!"

Of course he was full of... beans, and I was not shy about expressing my disagreement. "I beg your pardon, but I have recent maps for this area which in no way indicate a closure."

"Well look at that row of boulders across the entrance to that wash! It should be obvious that the area is closed!"

"Indeed, had we seen your pile of rocks, we might have suspected a closure. See that range of mountains along the horizon? That's where we entered the wash. There were no boulders where we entered the wash, so we had know way of knowing of your closure."

Logic and facts only agitated the ranger further. "Well... well... you can't ride on the side of the hill like that," he sputtered as he pointed a shaky finger at Scott.

The ranger's notion was ludicrous. Even if the hill was closed, by the following morning the wind would have blown over the tracks and the hill would have looked as it did ten thousand years ago, and Scott told him so.

That didn't help the situation. "How would you like me to write you a ticket!"

"No, sir. I wouldn't like that."

"Well you've got a choice. Either you can take that rake from the back of my truck and go rake over the tracks you left, or I'll write you a ticket."

Scott opted for the rake and trudged up the hill to erase an eighth mile of motorcycle track in the sand. The ranger stood there glowering, and I sat back in my folding chair, cracked open a beer, and thanked the Great Spirit that it was him and not me up there looking silly.

Some fun adventures were had back then. I'll have to send this to my old friend and ask if he remembers this incident.

 

I love your stories Rob!!

 

Makes two of us...
...Rob, could you tell us more bedtime stories.... We REALLY like them. (As proof... I did indeed "Like" your Story. Bahd-up Pshish!)

 

Three of us!!

 

^^How'd you get a pic of my mom and her children??