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This afternoon I headed out to River Bends and installed the temporary signage mentioned yesterday. Everything went great and I used ~31 of the signs to mark a route from the parking lot all the way through the single track and to the return trails (paved and two-track). Each sign was (for easy removal) loosely nailed to a tree approximately eight feet above the ground; a height which will hopefully curtail casual vandalism.
Needing something to stand on in order to reach this height I brought along a milk crate which was light enough to carry easily and sat surprisingly stably on the ground. It provided both a work surface for applying the arrow decals to the plastic and a one foot step so that I each sign only had to be hammered in a comfortable height above my head.
Here’s a few photos of the newly placed temporary signs on the trail:
· Temporary mountain bike route sign at River Bends trailhead.
· Signs located at the T where one can continue on River Bends regular single track loop or down into the Seasonal Loops.
· Temporary signage at River Bends was placed by nailing over my head while standing on a milk crate. This placed most signs at about eight feet off the ground; hopefully above easy vandal access height.
While walking the trail I was noticing a good bit of damage to the trail caused by dirt bikes. I figured that people were sneaking out on to the trails in the evening and damaging them, but not long after getting started I heard the sound of motor and saw two guys riding on the trail not far from me. I wanted to talk to them and ask them to go easier on the trails, but as soon as they noticed that I was paying attention to them they hurried away.
I personally don’t have much concern for what people do as it’s not destructive or injurious to others. Unfortunately, their riding on trails can’t be ignored as it has resulted in large, loose ruts, particularly on hills and around corners. A trail surface normally transitions smoothly from the compact surface to the softer, leafy forest floor, but the dirt bikes have ripped up corners there are 3-4″ wide grooves 1″ deep full of loose soil along the edge. Not only will this contribute to erosion it makes the trail less safe as corners then have areas that make a front wheel wash out more easily, which is almost guaranteed to cause a fall. There are also places where the outside edge of bench cut is being eroded making the trail more off camber than desired. These trails are built to be sustainable when traversed by foot or bicycle traffic, but they can’t take the load of a heavy motorbike, particularly not when it frequently has a spinning rear wheel chewing away dirt and tossing it around.
Here’s some photos of fresh damage caused by dirt bikes on the trails at River Bends: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4
