|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Equestrians destroying trails in Wilder Ranch State Park.
Yesterday I was at Wilder Ranch State Park north of Santa Cruz.
The park puts up signs that after a rain the trails should not be used because when you use a muddy trail and then the mud dries the trails are full of holes from horse's hoofs and hiker's boots, and ruts from mountain bicycle tires. The trails yesterday were miserable. Full of holes from horse's hooves. But amazingly, there were no ruts from bicycle tires. I inquired as to the reason? "Mountain bikers are much more responsible than equestrians when it comes to staying off dirt trails after a rain. They obey the posted signs while many equestrians ignore them, and it only takes a couple of horses to wreck a trail. But also, it's not fun to ride a mountain bike in the mud or hike in the mud, especially with all the horse poop, so it's self-enforcing for those users, but equestrians don't mind riding in the mud because they are not going to get dirty." The holes in the trail, and all the excrement will remain until the next heavy rain, then the mud and poop will flow and fill the holes, and the smooth dirt will once again be wrecked by equestrians that don't wait until the dirt is hard before riding. Time to ban equestrians from our state parks--they make a mess of the trails and make it miserable for self-powered trail users, who are the legitimate park users. Banning equestrians would be no different than banning motorized off-road vehicles. Horses are the antithesis of "Leave No Trace." Bringing a huge beast into a pristine area, contaminating water, leaving piles of excrement everywhere, and destroying trails is NOT what normal trail users desire. Horses belong on private land, not in national forests and not in state, county, or national parks. Does anyone remember that deranged guy that attacked some mountain bikers near Berkeley and ended up spending some time in jail--even though the felony charge was dropped he still was either convicted of, or plead to, misdemeanor charges. I recall that one of his supporters was a big horse proponent. |
Ads |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Equestrians destroying trails in Wilder Ranch State Park.
On Mon, 26 Feb 2018 18:36:20 -0800, sms
wrote: Yesterday I was at Wilder Ranch State Park north of Santa Cruz. The park puts up signs that after a rain the trails should not be used because when you use a muddy trail and then the mud dries the trails are full of holes from horse's hoofs and hiker's boots, and ruts from mountain bicycle tires. The trails yesterday were miserable. Full of holes from horse's hooves. But amazingly, there were no ruts from bicycle tires. I inquired as to the reason? "Mountain bikers are much more responsible than equestrians when it comes to staying off dirt trails after a rain. They obey the posted signs while many equestrians ignore them, and it only takes a couple of horses to wreck a trail. But also, it's not fun to ride a mountain bike in the mud or hike in the mud, especially with all the horse poop, so it's self-enforcing for those users, but equestrians don't mind riding in the mud because they are not going to get dirty." The holes in the trail, and all the excrement will remain until the next heavy rain, then the mud and poop will flow and fill the holes, and the smooth dirt will once again be wrecked by equestrians that don't wait until the dirt is hard before riding. Time to ban equestrians from our state parks--they make a mess of the trails and make it miserable for self-powered trail users, who are the legitimate park users. Banning equestrians would be no different than banning motorized off-road vehicles. Horses are the antithesis of "Leave No Trace." Bringing a huge beast into a pristine area, contaminating water, leaving piles of excrement everywhere, and destroying trails is NOT what normal trail users desire. Horses belong on private land, not in national forests and not in state, county, or national parks. Does anyone remember that deranged guy that attacked some mountain bikers near Berkeley and ended up spending some time in jail--even though the felony charge was dropped he still was either convicted of, or plead to, misdemeanor charges. I recall that one of his supporters was a big horse proponent. I think that you are talking about Mike Vandeman who was alleged to have struck a cyclist with a saw cutting him across the chest. I don't remember a "big horse" proponent being a supporter but I do remember a news article that stated that before mountain bikes one of Mike's fetishes was that bulldozers were bad.... because they kill snakes :-) By the way, Vandeman's first trial had to be cancelled as it was said that over overly prejudicial testimony by a mountain biker compromised the jury and caused a mistrial after two witnesses. Ultimately all charges were dropped. -- Cheers, John B. |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Equestrians destroying trails in Wilder Ranch State Park.
Horse = larger land equities=more tax money
|
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Equestrians destroying trails in Wilder Ranch State Park.
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Hiking & Mountain Biking Wilder Ranch State Park Where Horses areBanned from Part of the Park | sms88 | Mountain Biking | 1 | October 2nd 12 12:56 AM |
Time to Ban Equestrians from Trails | SMS | Social Issues | 23 | August 24th 11 08:42 PM |
"Equestrians Say 'No Way!' to Mountain Bikes on City Trails " | Mike Vandeman | Mountain Biking | 0 | June 21st 09 11:45 PM |
Mountain Bikers Destroying Jasper National Park, Canada | Mike Vandeman | Mountain Biking | 1 | November 11th 08 12:14 PM |
Mountain Bikers Destroying Jasper National Park, Canada | Mike Vandeman | Social Issues | 1 | November 11th 08 12:14 PM |