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Sections of Pacific Crest Trail Poached by Mountain Bikers; Could Problems Arise in National Parks?

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Mountain bikers have been poaching sections of the Pacific Crest Trail in California. USFS photo.

The Pacific Crest Trail ranges from Canada to Mexico, running through Washington, Oregon, and California along the way, traversing not one but seven units of the National Park System in the process.

On its way north and south portions of the trail touch or run through parts of Yosemite National Park, Sequoia National Park, Devils Postpile National Monument, Crater Lake National Park, Mount Rainier National Park, Lassen Volcanic National Park, and North Cascades National Park.

While mountain bikers are not supposed to use the Pacific Crest Trail, recently some have been poaching sections in California. While the poaching did not occur in any national park sections, some have concerns that a rule currently pending in the Interior Department could open more national park trails to mountain bikes and, in the process, lead to the following scenario.

In its February issue, the PCT Communicator, the magazine of the Pacific Crest Trail Association, reported on trail damage committed by mountain bikes near the Parks Creek Trailhead in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest in California.

From Big Bear to the Tehachapi Mountains in southern California, to Donner Summit and the Sierra Buttes north of Lake Tahoe, to Castle Crags and beyond, mountain bikes on the trail are causing damage and creating a number of "PCT Places in Need."

According to the trail association, "under U.S. Government regulation, bikes are prohibited in the PCT. The rationale for the prohibition of bicycles is based on the "nature and purpose" of the PCT, as dictated by the intent of Congress with the National Trails System Act and subsequent regulations designed to protect the experience of the primary users. The Code of Federal Regulations (36 CRF 212) directs that "The Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail as defined by the National Trails Systems Act, 82 Stat. 919, shall be administered primarily as a footpath and horseback riding trail."

"Unfortunately, however, U.S. regulations and regulators have not, thus far, been able to fully curb the illegal use of the PCT by mountain bikers," adds the article. "The resulting trail damage and user conflicts can't be taken lightly. To complicate matters, bikes are permitted on many trails that lead to the PCT, resulting in bikers reaching the PCT on such trails and then proceeding along the PCT to pick up another feeder trail. Given land management agency staffing and budget issues, policing and enforcement is sorely lacking."

The article goes on to point out the problems associated with mountain bikes on the Pacific Crest Trail: the trail was not engineered to handle mountain bike traffic, it can be easily and quickly ripped up by bikes riding in wet and muddy conditions, erosion problems can arise.

"I can't stress enough the importance of responsible trail users reporting illegal uses of the PCT," says Ian Nelson, the trail association's regional representative for northern California and southern Oregon. "It is crucial that we hear from concerned users so that we and our agency partners can strategize as to how to curb the illegal use."

Comments

Kurt,

Most of the live experiments with alternate days uses allow hikers to use trails every day, and force equestrians and cyclists to alternate. Hikers can then decide whether they'd rather encounter a horse or a cyclist. For the multi day backpacking, this would have no impact. Furthermore, if one is hiking that far into the backcountry, odds are that the trails are pretty empty to begin with so that sharing them should not be a big deal.


Quick followups to some of the more recent comments:

Rolling Thunder: "this is totally flogging a dead horse with the same people commenting the same gripes and no one is giving an inch."

That's not accurate. I said earlier in this thread:

Some mountain bikers do recognize that we run the potential to compromise others' desire for solitude, absence of hypervigilance, and stillness in the wild. There's a lot of dogma on all sides on this emotional issue, and I refuse to be dogmatic.

Specifically, I and many others, I'm sure including Zebulon, are willing to give more than an inch. But since we have zero access now in certain places we'd like to visit by bicycle, we don't have much to give. All we can offer is that we'd go for alternate-day use and other established means of keeping disparate trail user groups as happy as possible.

Rolling Thunder, what inch would you be willing to give?

Random Walker writes:

I abhor the continuous lobbying for more development in our National Parks and Wildernesses; be it buildings, roads or trails for mountain bikes, horses or boots, and the belief that nature should conform to the trends of society.

That at least is a principled stand. I trust that Random Walker doesn't go to the national parks or Wilderness areas, lest the marginal impact of one additional visit impact nature negatively. But it's a politically untenable view. Wall off wildlands to the public and public support for them will evaporate. There's some evidence that this is happening with the national parks already. People dislike the $20 entry fee, the bureaucracy, the rules, the regimentation, and the mass-society and mass-consumption aspects of them. I have that impression, anyway. Wilderness seems to have a more stable following, perhaps because it's free and not full of parking lots, tour buses, and towaway-zone signs.

Jim Burnett writes:

Although many of the mountain biking supporters who have made comments clearly don't accept the idea that their activities detract from the ability of other uses to safely enjoy trails, the point is that the hikers feel differently.

That's true, and those hikers who resent mountain bikes' presence are entitled to have their view respected. At the same time, there are negative impacts to excluding mountain biking too. Economists understand that life is about tradeoffs. Mountain bikers continue to offer compromises, but regularly meet with blanket "no"s, usually couched in the language that there are "concerns" that mountain biking would be "inappropriate." (I continue to criticize this kind of amorphous language because it's unanswerable, stifles debate, and makes it impossible to know what the writer of it means.) Very few parks advocates say, "Well, maybe we could try X."

Kurt asks Zebulon:

A question about alternate days—how does that work with backcountry travelers? Say a hiker, or a mountain biker, wants to head off on a multiday trip. Under an alternate day program, would they have to coordinate so they exit the backcountry on their respective "day"?

Mountain bikers and horse-packstock outfitters would have to stay in a base camp on the days they weren't permitted to ride. Hikers won't be affected by my definition, because I consider hiking not to be multiday. Backpackers would have to put up with horse-packstock trains on Day X and mountain bikers on Day Y. That could be a negative for some. But again, society runs on tradeoffs. No mountain biking has costs too, from a larger number of sedentary and physically unfit people to a narrower spectrum of people who are brought to value our nation's wildlands.

Kurt, let me ask the same question I am asking Rolling Thunder: what inch, if any, would you be willing to give in terms of departing from the status quo?

Let me add that this is one of the very few forums I know of where these issues are seriously debated. So Kurt is doing a great service and I appreciate it.


hi zebby & pro park mountain biker folks:

i just don't think the nps lands are good for mountain bikes. we'll never agree on this, but in my opinion there are plenty of places to ride, state, local, private, usfs and blm, that you really aren't missing much. so, imtnbike, respectfully submitted, not an inch when you are talking about backcountry trails in national park service areas.

i'd love it if imba and all the local mtn bike trail orgs would just get over this and start lobbying for more trail *maintenance* dollars to come down as well as concentrate on developing new trails... but that's probably a pipe dream, this nps issue has much media attention and people don't donate to organizations they don't think are standing up for them.

i don't agree, either, that not allowing mountain biking in parks will really have an impact on the nation's physical fitness. that's a pretty silly assertion, in my opinion. people are fat because they watch too much tv or play too many video games or eat "food" which is really processed crap.... not because they are banned from riding their mountain bike in a national park.

having introduced quite a few people to the sport of riding a bike on trails, it's very cost prohibitive (you probably won't agree with me here, either! ;) and takes a much higher level of physical fitness to really enjoy... hiking, as you know (aside from boring you to death!) has a much lower heart rate zone in most cases than biking does. at least in the hilly areas most parks occupy. i mean, i can take my mother hiking here out the west's mountains and she lives in the flatlands... but i could never take her mountain biking! no way! there is an undeniable difference in the level of fitness needed. hiking is more accessible to all walks of life. besides, most parks are super far away from population centers anyway, so there is another barrier.

i do completely agree that mountain biking needs to be included on other federal lands, it's a beautiful sport and i love it. it's much different than hiking and a great way to get out, keep in shape, etc. you just don't be the same rush hiking as you do mountain biking.

also, i love bikes. i ride one to work 8 months (mostly) out of the year back and forth to work, so i'm not anti-biker. plus, i do volunteer work days for mountain bike trails... so while we don't agree on this topic, i want to be clear that i do enjoy bikes + mountain biking.

speaking of which, i need a new bike. someone suggest a good dual suspension model!? 29'er?


IMTN, I guess I don't really see a problem. There are plenty of places to ride mountain bikes in national parks. The problem is not all mountain bikers like those options.

I struggle somewhat to understand that, for reasons I'll elaborate on below, but also because there is no shortage of beautiful places to ride outside the parks, places where the beauty is national-park quality. Here's a short list:

* The Vedauvoo area just east of Laramie, Wyoming

* The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

* The Sawtooth National Recreation Area

* The San Rafael Swell

* Moab's Slickrock Trail, where, by the way, you're not likely to encounter any hikers.

* The Kokopelli Trail. I'm not sure, but I don't think you'll encounter many hikers here, either.

If you've ever been to West Yellowstone, you're probably familiar with the Rendezvous Trail System. In winter it's one of the finest cross-country ski systems in the Rocky Mountain West. Come summer, it's a great trail system for mountain biking.

A couple years ago my wife and I and a friend spent a morning riding our mountain bikes on the 25Ks of trails. The next day we headed into the park and hiked the Mystic Falls Trail. Same trip, two totally different experiences. How might the Mystic Falls experience have differed if there were mountain bikers on the trail?

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that there are plenty of opportunities to enjoy both mountain biking and hiking, and that each in its own can be a unique experience, a different experience. I believe we need to maintain each of those experiences...but at times keep them separate as well. Now, I realize some will take that last statement and quickly point out that such separation exists in officially designated wilderness, which currently is off-limits to bikes. But how likely is a young family to hike all the way back into that wilderness for the experience?

Over the years I've come to believe, to accept, that the national parks are a different animal than other public lands. They are managed for an entirely different purpose, one focused largely on conservation/preservation, not meeting everyone's recreational preference. Is that too idealistic? Perhaps.

Is that a waste? Is that a misuse of taxpayer dollars? I don't think so. I'd like to view it as wise and prudent to hold onto something from the past and not let it be overrun, so future generations can experience it that way.

The other day I cited a passage about going out into nature with our encumbrances left behind. That is part of the essence of heading off into the backcountry of a park, whether it's just a short mile-long walk or a multi-day sojourn.

Now, under its current lobbying platform, the International Mountain Bicycling Association has been seeking access to more trails -- and to cut new trails -- in the national parks. They've stressed the importance of single-track, saying that's what mountain bikers want, that dirt roads are too boring. That indicates to me that mountain bike access in the parks isn't about seeing nature from your saddle, but rather expanding the possibilities for another thrill sport.

Now, if that effort succeeds and all of a sudden there's a mountain-bike presence on park trails, how will that impact the young family with toddlers and tweens going for a short hike to a lake or an overlook? Will we encounter mountain bikes at the base of Delicate Arch?

If IMBA succeeds in having wilderness closed not to "mechanized" travel, but "motorized" travel, thus allowing mountain bikers to head off deep into the backcountry, how will that impact the backcountry experience? Will it impact the backcountry experience? Probably not in every place, simply because some areas are just too rugged for bikes. But in some places it will. Is that a plus for the national parks, or a minus?

Should we have places where you can only go as fast as your footsteps will carry you? Is that a benefit to our natural souls, or is that a joy and experience of a bygone era?

You say that folks dislike the "mass-consumption" of national parks. But isn't throwing the doors open to mountain biking one more example of catering to that mass-consumption? You also say that wilderness has "a more stable following." If it's officially designated wilderness, it also comes without mountain bikes. Does that explain the "more stable following"?


It's like ATV issues...ride your bikes on Forest Service or BLM land. It's just as spectacular (usually)


RT: There are plenty of bikes out there to choose from. The Ibis Mojo seems to be a great all day trail bike, light enough for a long ride, with plenty of travel to go on rocky trails. I don't get the 29er thing, but then again, I'm short. :)

One point I'd like to make is that I don't want to have access to each and every trail out there. I recognize that trails with very high foot traffic should remain close to bikes as it would lead to user conflicts. However, such trails are a small fraction of the overall trail system. Again, the average hike is probably a few miles, whereas the average bike ride is around 20-25. Past the first couple miles from the trailhead, traffic dissipates and user conflict is diminished. Now, I'm sure that it'll take away from the experience for a hiker. I get that part, but I don't believe that taxpayer funded trails should be reserved for a chosen few.

I also get that cyclists don't enjoy the park the same way that hikers do. Again, I don't see it as a problem. Let people enjoy the parks the way they want, so long as it does not negatively impact the park. The more people get in the parks, the more support they'll get. Hiking is more contemplative, whereas cycling is more of a flow thing. So what?


"Over the years I've come to believe, to accept, that the national parks are a different animal than other public lands. They are managed for an entirely different purpose, one focused largely on conservation/preservation, not meeting everyone's recreational preference. Is that too idealistic? Perhaps. Kurt"

Thank you, Kurt. You summed it up beautifully. It is important that there be places within relatively easy walking that are free of mechanical vehicles, both motorized and non-motorized, where people may have a quiet visit with nature. This issue should not be seen as a decision between complete exclusion of mountain bikes from all backcountry trails or opening all trails to mountain bike use. There should be and are many places where mountain bike enthusiasts can challenge themselves and thoroughly enjoy their sport. Equally, there should be places that allow only non-mechanized travel where hikers may find some semblance of natural solitude free of mechanical intrusions. The value of a non-mechanized access trail should not be measured in how many people may travel it but rather in the quality of the experience it offers.


Kurt, extremely well expressed! The less tire tread in the National Parks, the better off will all be to enjoy the true solitude of mother nature. Silence is golden Zebulon!


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