Mountain Bike Access Issues Flaring Up in San Diego County
Trouble in Paradise
![Carlsbad Highlands Ecological Reserve]()
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Land swaps such as the one that became the Carlsbad Ecological Reserve, have created most of the open space and wildland parks in Southern California. The puzzle-piece acquisitions have created problems, though, especially in San Diego County, where adjoining public lands are policed by a number of different state, federal, city, county, and private non-profit management authorities who are often at odds with each other. Trail access decisions, area closures, and environmental restrictions are subject to the whims of whichever land managers are flexing their muscles that month, which often negates lengthily negotiations between stakeholders. Fish and Wildlife's decision to target mountain bikers exclusively is one reason why mountain bike groups like the San Diego Mountain Biking Association have contested the posted rules. There is little scientific ground to support banning cyclists in the name of habitat and wildlife preservation from trails open to other public user groups.
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The Domino Effect
Why should anyone else worry about Southern California's mountain bike woes? It should be no secret that mountain bike compatibility and unauthorized trail building issues are contentious in many parts of the United States and elsewhere. Government and social agencies, however, are reluctant to act alone, especially when faced with a polarized constituency. When an agency finally musters the seeds to take action, like closing down a popular gravity zone, all eyes will be quietly watching to see how it goes down.
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If California Fish and Wildlife prevails and the mountain bike community quietly accepts their fate at the Carlsbad Ecological Reserve, agencies who are facing similar conflicts will most likely cite the success and follow suit. Conspicuous conflict resolutions thus create a domino effect. Sometimes the ramifications are positive, but in this case, a decisive loss would most likely empower further closures across California and beyond.
The San Diego Union Tribune posted a story about the State Fish and Wildlife's escalated efforts to keep mountain bike riders out of an ecological reserve in the city of Carlsbad in North San Diego County. Mountain bikers frequented the property, along with hikers and equestrians long before the site was passed into government jurisdiction as a negotiated land swap in exchange for permission to build a large development nearby.
At some point, however, Fish and Wildlife authorities posted signs banning bikes and horses - warnings which were largely ignored after park users realized that, for years, the agency rarely bothered to visit the 473 acre site in the coastal hills. There's a new sheriff in town, apparently, and now the agency is making a show of force with brand new trucks and officers who are issuing both warnings and tickets to mountain bikers who cross the line.
At some point, however, Fish and Wildlife authorities posted signs banning bikes and horses - warnings which were largely ignored after park users realized that, for years, the agency rarely bothered to visit the 473 acre site in the coastal hills. There's a new sheriff in town, apparently, and now the agency is making a show of force with brand new trucks and officers who are issuing both warnings and tickets to mountain bikers who cross the line.
Areas in yellow mark parkland and reserves controlled by California Fish and Wildlife.
Ted's, a popular gravity zone in North San Diego County, has been halved by two separate conflicts
Land swaps such as the one that became the Carlsbad Ecological Reserve, have created most of the open space and wildland parks in Southern California. The puzzle-piece acquisitions have created problems, though, especially in San Diego County, where adjoining public lands are policed by a number of different state, federal, city, county, and private non-profit management authorities who are often at odds with each other. Trail access decisions, area closures, and environmental restrictions are subject to the whims of whichever land managers are flexing their muscles that month, which often negates lengthily negotiations between stakeholders. Fish and Wildlife's decision to target mountain bikers exclusively is one reason why mountain bike groups like the San Diego Mountain Biking Association have contested the posted rules. There is little scientific ground to support banning cyclists in the name of habitat and wildlife preservation from trails open to other public user groups.
Not an Isolated Incident
A number of similar conflicts have gone poorly for mountain bike riders here. Anderson trails in East County were slashed from one of the area's best technical riding zones to a single loop, Tunnel trails near the Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve were restricted to a single mountain bike route after a lengthily battle, and a few miles away, the popular Ted Williams gravity zone was recently halved by California Fish and Wildlife, one of three authorities who manage the land there. Those losses have been offset somewhat by the construction of new trails nearby, some of which are gravity trails currently under construction.
The mountain bike community has not been entirely helpful. A longer rainy season has softened the hard clay soil and unauthorized building has escalated to a new level. Unlike heavily forested areas which mask the visual impact of most trails, diggers and subsequent trail erosion typically leave permanent visible scars on Southern California's low scrub and rocky landscape.
It is doubtful that bird watchers appreciate the subtle contours of a pro-sized jump line, or that land managers look fondly on a new trail that meanders down a hillside only ten meters to the left of the one that popped up last year. Close proximity of large suburban developments to parklands is the ultimate digger bait, and so far efforts by both land managers and mountain bike stakeholder groups to control the quality and number of trails popping up have not been very fruitful.
A number of similar conflicts have gone poorly for mountain bike riders here. Anderson trails in East County were slashed from one of the area's best technical riding zones to a single loop, Tunnel trails near the Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve were restricted to a single mountain bike route after a lengthily battle, and a few miles away, the popular Ted Williams gravity zone was recently halved by California Fish and Wildlife, one of three authorities who manage the land there. Those losses have been offset somewhat by the construction of new trails nearby, some of which are gravity trails currently under construction.
The mountain bike community has not been entirely helpful. A longer rainy season has softened the hard clay soil and unauthorized building has escalated to a new level. Unlike heavily forested areas which mask the visual impact of most trails, diggers and subsequent trail erosion typically leave permanent visible scars on Southern California's low scrub and rocky landscape.
It is doubtful that bird watchers appreciate the subtle contours of a pro-sized jump line, or that land managers look fondly on a new trail that meanders down a hillside only ten meters to the left of the one that popped up last year. Close proximity of large suburban developments to parklands is the ultimate digger bait, and so far efforts by both land managers and mountain bike stakeholder groups to control the quality and number of trails popping up have not been very fruitful.
Most open space parks in the county have found a way to integrate some quality mountain bike trails into their overarching purpose, which is to conserve habitat and to protect native species.
The Domino Effect
Why should anyone else worry about Southern California's mountain bike woes? It should be no secret that mountain bike compatibility and unauthorized trail building issues are contentious in many parts of the United States and elsewhere. Government and social agencies, however, are reluctant to act alone, especially when faced with a polarized constituency. When an agency finally musters the seeds to take action, like closing down a popular gravity zone, all eyes will be quietly watching to see how it goes down.
Tunnel Trails are a network of foothpaths, hidden from view in a deep oak thicket - remnants of a tent city immigrant workers built during San Diego's construction boom.
If California Fish and Wildlife prevails and the mountain bike community quietly accepts their fate at the Carlsbad Ecological Reserve, agencies who are facing similar conflicts will most likely cite the success and follow suit. Conspicuous conflict resolutions thus create a domino effect. Sometimes the ramifications are positive, but in this case, a decisive loss would most likely empower further closures across California and beyond.
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This is why I left Marin. The place that was grown and filled with free-loving hippies turned out to be one of the harshest critics of anything related to bikes being ridden in the hills.
Trail access varies widely across SD county. Some areas such as Black Mountain are able to execute on awesome trailbuilding plans while others are left behind. It takes effort from the whole community and local leadership support to actually get anything done, and progress is often frustratingly slow. But areas like La Costa, Black Mountain, and Rancho Penasquitos have improved a lot recently. Proposals for new trails are being made, and some have been accepted. We need to put in time, money, and effort consistently or we'll see our access erode over the coming years.
Man the US seems to be anything but free
www.facebook.com/beaconhilltrails
There is even a 1/2 percent sales tax that goes to the OCTA that works the same way. In order to get approval to build new roads, they have to designate land as wilderness so they are using public money from the tax to buy up plots of land to develop as wilderness. Then, because their is such an anti-bike slant among the powers-that-be in these parts, the lands get opened up occasionally for docent-led hikes and horseback rides but no biking.
I've only lived down here 5 years from coastal BC but it's been an amazing contrast in terms of trail access and attitudes towards mountain biking.
Best thing we can do in San Diego is join SDMBA. When law enforcement authorities have to justify their actions to elected officials who oversee them, there will be compromise. SDMBA does very well representing our interests as mountain bikers. It can help protect us from the whims of law enforcement.
It does suck though. I live in north county & pushed very very very hard against the local diggers who wanted to build "alternates" all over the trails, citing the Calaveras area as a bowl of spaghetti example which environmentalists, locals & hikers hate / don't understand.
Basically, a large percentage of Beacon/Camp Sekani is on private lands that are currently part of a potential housing development. Evergreen East has more info up on their FB page.
here are some deets.
www.evergreeneast.org/beacon-hill-conservation-futures
Although, I feel like if the trails preexisted our modern civilization, like much of the ones in the EU, there wouldn't be an issue.
My local lakes have mtb and equestrian trails all you have to do is go down a horse trail and you will see the damage they do.
For sure, f*ck horse people, but that user group isn't viewed by stakeholders as the problem... mountain bikers are, and ebikes are an extremely easy target to shut down access. Get ready to see it happening.
Good thing ebikers and ebike manufacturers are out there forming their own advocacy groups to educate land owners/managers on what an ebike is and why they should be allowed... oh wait... crickets, just riding coat tails of mountain bikers.
We have separate trails for horse and mtb. The mtb-hiking-running trails are well maintained by the people who use them.
The horse trails are muddy ruts with biting flies and shit.
Trail runners and mtb and emtb coexist and are polite to each other.
All you are doing is shitting on emtbrs like the hikers and equestrian have done to you. Grats.
My crap this morning was “just last nights stir-fry”. That doesn’t mean I’m going to leave it in the middle of a trail for others to ride/step in.
Just would have to pick it up and there in lies the problem.
My point is, it doesn't stop with ebikes. Yeah, they are the new kids on the block and many of them need educating but, as more electric motor devices come onto the market, the more devices are on the trails. Where do land managers draw the line if ebikes are allowed? The line has been drawn at human powered vehicles but that's not good enough.
You can go anywhere on foot, by bike or on horseback as long as you leave no trace and damage nothing.
But our land use laws and rules are based in English common law, which is very different from Scottish, which is more like Norway. Lucky you. The problem with the Scottish system is when people start walking up to my house and being a pain. Or leaving gates open and my sheep run away. Or camp in my driveway. Or...
You realize how hard that was to do?!
To your point, I had to take into consideration the tenderness of aaa-ll Canadians and it was still....too...much..hurt. (sniff)
I had help & by no means did it all alone.. but we had some tight crews and we made it into something fun. People flocked. People got in over there heads.. People got hooked and people got hurt but people got better.. and most of all they had fun. The one thing that never got better was the Access. No new trails were granted...no one EVER built anything sanctioned that was worth while.. they actually consistently did the opposite. The enforced their rules.. they forced cyclists out.. they limited access (PQ - Tunnels).. and they never.. ever.. gave back to the local cycling community. California .... SPECIFICALLY Southern California... is literally one of the WORST placed to try be a mountain biker. The state has more resources.. more revenue ...and more riders (spending top dollar to buy bikes and support cycling ) then most of the rest of the US combined. Yet our CA "legal".. purpose built.. funded trails are such a pipe dream that it is almost hard to comprehend. From the content of this article.. and from local friends... its become abundantly clear that its gotten worst. rather then better. LA OC SD has MILLIONS of cyclists yet the trails and for that matter the green spaces.. are drying up
I can tell you from experience that California specifically SO CAL is 100% wrong on this.
I feel like i can type for ever on this.. and am kinda just so frustrated that i will just sum it up a bit. 3 years ago i had to move to Seattle for work. I was SHOCKED to find out how many amazing sanctioned... Evergreen built.. locally supported.. machine dug features and generally...SUPER RAD trail systems there were to enjoy. They're the model nearly every state should look to follow in the foot steps of. If you love riding a bike and can Hack the rain... go and don't look back. I don't like the rain much... and i honestly wish i could have hacked it.... because i didn't have to go out late at night and make fun things to ride in the dark under my own toil after work.... because Washington State cared about cyclists... trails.. and supporting the community that cycling creates.....rather then filling its pockets with money for pot holes (they never fix) or a new lane on the 405 (which never works). Im currently back in Cali..& am sad to find that the trail situation is worse. Im going to put the shovel in the ground once again.. just got to find a quiet place to do it.. and keep an eye out for the land cops and the trail police and the Equestrian clowns ( something that shits on the trail..seriously) and the myriad of haters and instagramers, and spot claimers/youtube blower uppers and assorted California bullshit that stands in my way. The silliest thing about it all is that the bikes they are stifling are sooooo expensive to buy.. and the riders are spend sooooo much money... on gear.. and food and lodging.......yet the State of CA which is SOOOOOO money conscious and greedy is literally forcing its best clientele (the outdoorsman with $$$$) to look elsewhere to set up camp.. and spend the MAXIMUM amount of money building homes, businesses, and communities that embrace Cycling. SD wake up... bikes are the answer.. communities need cycling and GOOD quality trail systems. Stop paying Clown Cops to take bikes away from people and start creating jobs and crews and sanctioned areas for cycling to flourish. Of course these clown cops with their new trucks are cracking down and limiting access... they are just greedy selfish chumps that want to have a nice new truck and a steady job doing whatever it takes to keep a gov paycheck coming in.. even if its crushing peoples hopes and ruining communities that pay their salary. WORD!
I'd also really like CFW to do their own study or hire a consulting firm to do an impact analysis for some of these "illegal" trails that quantifies the amount of impact caused by different trail user groups. I get that the "rundundant" trails as they call them likely have a significant impact on the land, but most mountain bike trails around here probably don't have as large of an impact as some of the 10-foot wide hiking trails with gullies running down them.
So then we are back to, well who pays for it. And that becomes a cyclical argument that many that have worked in government aren't really willing to go through. The quick and easy answer (not necessarily the RIGHT one) is to close the trails until someone bitches enough to get them opened. Or in this case, offload the issue to someone else (e.g. sell to another group, do a land transfer, etc.) and let them deal with it.
First step is working with the local agencies that own the property and land and then move from there to get them DESIGNATED as trails. This will HELP is slowing the process of these land acquisition trades and what not. Not a perfect answer but it helps.
All I'm saying is the riding here is great. Sure it would be great if the trails were legal, but for now they're not. Lots are though and more are on their way to becoming legal. Look at Black Mountain and Fanita Ranch. Absolutely fantastic trails with advocacy and support on all sides.
Plus since those are illegal trails, how accessible is it for the budding new mountain biker when these so called 'great trails' are spoken in whispers? "Nah bro, can't let this place get too crowded or the 5-0 will start to notice. If you wanna ride, I gotta be there to show you. Don't tell nobody else though. Gotta keep this place on the low-low." Gatekeeping doesn't help promote mountain biking in a positive light. And therein lies the biggest problem - accessibility. I can go to mostly anywhere, open up Trailforks and MTB Project, pick a trail, and ride. In SD, I have to beg the locals to show me around or I'll be riding fire roads or trails littered with hikers and runners.
The builders have done an amazing job with the bandit(I don't like the word illegal) trails there. And I KNOW a lot of riders there are busting their asses off to get MTB trails built and sanctioned. But a great place for a mountain biker it isn't. Especially if there's the potential of you waking up one morning and your favorite bandit trail has been closed down for good.
@PullMyBrakeLever You need to get out of SD a bit if you think anything at Black Mountain is "fantastic". Go ride Downieville, Oakridge, Whistler or even some stuff at Mt Wilson to find out what "fantastic" really means.
@Almazing Your half right....the trails in SD aren't anything special compared to many other places. Very sad considering the large population, number of riders and amount of backcountry areas we have. However, riding private property doesn't always equate to "illegal" or trespassing. There's a fine line and at least for Calavera, many, many, MANY sides to this story.
Not everyone is a bureaucrat, some people just like to get shit done. Why the hate for the people that are supporting your habit and cleaning up your mess, yet no hate for the disorganized “representative organizations” that don’t do anything but concede, and vilify the very small percentage of people who are willing to actually put in a hard days work while everyone else is riding and posting selfies on Instagram?
Trolls and betas.
Another prison system
Alberta’s oil sands have massive swaths denuded boreal forest ... yet if you want to build a few trails / argument existing MTB trails people have a shit fit... police helicopters patrol bike use areas to stop builders fixing / doing improvements.
Truly a crazy world...
As much as we bitch about the SoCal trail access issues, it's one of the few places I'm aware of where you can have a niche-type career in this massive economy down here and still have trails close enough to ride before or after work and even some very technical trails too; of course the good ones are all illegal but until about the last 8 months weren't being enforced too vigorously (Laguna beach area). Once you get used to riding 5-6x/week instead of per month it's really tough to leave, even despite the fact you have to be on-edge because you know you are poaching and could get caught.
Sucks to hear about SoCal though. At least for now, I haven't heard about anyone handing out tickets here
Or, When running over offending poop pile getting sprayed in the face by horse and dog shit or a mixture ... Ya, no health and safety risk on that one ????
Why pickup the poop only to place it in a tree? That isn’t cute
Not to mention, the plastic that gets left behind or washes into the river... hurting wildlife..
Might as well not pickup the poo at all?
Similarly, in BC piles of horse and dog shit are ok.. but removing fallen trees post- windstorm on Multi use trails is a mortal sin.
End rant.. I was bored
Having been a 47 year SoCal/San Diego native... the amount of trails that have been paved over and the amount of trails that have been closed is heart breaking.
Advocacy groups are HUGE... do your part to support them.
Feels like I've been through this before... skateboarding from 20+ years ago anyone?
Sadly, for SD and other places in CA it may be a lost cause for the time being -- governments are strapped and may see releasing land to developers as a better alternative to raising local taxes to get their budgets balanced. Put that to a vote, and the majority is likely going to prefer giving up the land to paying more in taxes. And unless governments see mountain bike access as something to improve revenue, they are not likely going to be very supportive.
As far as eBikes, that is going to be interesting to watch. I think it's perfectly reasonable for someone with physical limitations (age, injury, etc.) to be allowed to use a motor-assisted bike on trails, but a bunch of hooligans ripping around on eBikes isn't going to do us much good for access. We need to turn the conversation to, "That's neat that due to technological advances, you can get out and enjoy mountain biking." Not, "Why are you riding that motorcycle on the trails?"
Police cannot force you to show ID without just cause, so they cannot arrest you for simply refusing to identify yourself. California does not have what is called a “Stop and Identify” or “Papers Please” statute that requires you to produce identification to the police when asked.
As the bikes get more capable and riders get faster mountain bike detractors have more fuel to point to the mountain bikers as the problem. Assuming what is here today will be there tomorrow could be one bad injury lawsuit or one A^^hat rider away from losing access. Rather than fighting the folks that work on access - sit down and understand them and they will do the same because at the core they are just as passionate about mountain bikes as everyone else. Never take any mountain bike trail for granted.
We still can ride pretty much everywhere despite few "fights" between mtb communities, trail runners, horse riders and (last but not least) hunters.
From like 3 years now the local government from Madrid declared a big mountain area as a protected environmental park as part of the campaign for olimpic games. This ended with mountain biking forbidden from trails narrower than 3 meters (basically fire roads).
Ok, all mountain biking community accepted that with sadness but still have lots of areas to ride. The problem began when hunters lobby (which makes lots of money and count with big names between their members) started to make some pressure on politicians for extending this regulation practically everywhere.
Now we can find traps, signals of "riding bikes forbidden" (even when the law is not approved yet) and forestal cops fining and kicking out mountain bikers. This regulation based on inconsistent environmental reasons is being also applied now in Ibiza, Mallorca and more local governments expressed their desire to "regulate" (here is the same as forbid) the mountain bike riding
Hope some of these problems can be sorted out, but will take a lot of work, so much for land of the free!
San Diego is a developer's town. Always has been.
San Diego is a developer's town. Always has been
San Diego is a developer's town. Always has been
You guys wouldn't believe what a great living I make by helping a couple of good-hearted Cali businesses make sure they comply with the regulations of the FIVE different environmental and zoning agencies that regulate them. It does get tiresome at times, though.
I get that the governments and stewards of the land are part of the problem, but mountain bikers in general need to be aware that sharing the land means actually being cognizant of our impacts on other people that use these trails. You can’t be building a jump line on a piece of single track that was already space limited. You have people with full face helmets blasting down public trails with no regard for what’s around the next switchback and that just pisses people on the trail off.
I miss being able to ride year round down there, but that’s about it.
www.trailforks.com/region/california
If its such total shit, why is it ranked #3?
Global Ranking: #3
Trails (view details): 7,352
Total Distance: 10,565 miles
Total Descent: 2,457,044 ft
Total Vertical: 11,831 ft
Highest Trailhead: 11,833 ft
Reports: 17,895
Photos: 23,010
Ridden Counter: 300,925
Me: Did you guys see the migrant camp in the bushes over there throwing trash all over the place?
F&G: No, but we tore down those jumps hidden in the trees.
Priorities need to be examined!!
Then there's the whole issue of these land swaps and how they're managed with years and sometimes decades of "study" before they're opened to the public.
Well written, thanks for your help here
-Tighten stem bolts bottom to top, ride it.
-Tighten stem bolts top to bottom.
-Also with try it with the handlebars bolts.
You will notice it feels different and also gives you different handling.
The Pros have a specific bolt tightening sequence to make the bike being capable to jump and ride faster.