Illegal ‘bike park’ discovered in wilderness
February 16th, 2010, 7:51 am · 129 Comments · posted by Pat Brennan, science, environment editor
The winding trails through a back country park offer a thrill-ride for mountain bikers: wooden bridges, wooden jump-ramps and, for convenience, sandbag-reinforced trail connections.
There’s only one problem. The trails are illegal.
“There’s several trails connecting all the way up the slope — a steep slope,” said Vicky Malton, senior ranger at Limestone Canyon & Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park. “All this is on parkland.”
The trails on an acre or more of land on the Limestone portion of the park, which is closed to the public. They were discovered by biologists in early December, and will begin to be dismantled Saturday by volunteers. The Irvine Ranch Conservancy is calling for volunteers to take shovels to the trails and rip out the carefully crafted bridges and ramps.
Many such illegal trails have been cut through Orange County’s wild country in years past. But a network this elaborate surprised OC Parks officials. 
“This is kind of uncommon for us here at Whiting,” Malton said.
The trails, which cut through an area once thick with brush, were carved out of the landscape after the 2007 Santiago Fire.
Not only could they potentially increase erosion by channeling stormwater, but they were also cut through prime nesting territory for the troubled California cactus wren. In a few cases, the trails are cut through cactus patches that might otherwise have regenerated.
Wildfire has hit the wren’s coastal populations hard in recent years, the likely reason for a nosedive in the bird’s population.
“They did take sensitive habitat,” Malton said.
David Raetz, deputy director at the Irvine Ranch Conservancy, pointed out areas of erosion caused by the illegal trails on a visit to the site Tuesday. In some sections of trail cut directly across patches of burned prickly pear cactus, some of the cactus had been dug out to make way for the trail.
In other areas, the burned crowns of native shrubs, which can resprout after fire, also were damaged by the trail work.
The people who built the illegal trails seem especially aggressive, Malton and Raetz said, breaking nearby homeowner association locks to get to the site and tearing down “do not enter” signs almost as quickly as parks officials can put them up.
Volunteers from Oakley will take part in dismantling the illegal trails. The event begins at 8 a.m. Saturday. Find sign-up information at the Irvine Ranch Natural Landmarks Web site.
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save the bike park
This has got to be the dummest thing I have ever heard. I think all the tree huggers can move out of the O.C. and hug trees some where else. I also think park rangers need to get a life instead of worring about a few mountain bike trails and bmx step- ups. A do stuff about drugs and other things that are alot more important. They will tear them down and we will build them up.
ride on
If you don’t care about the natural habitat then move to New York, the reason people live here for what little bit of nature we have. In the last 15 years OC has become a ocean of cement, its really sad to see.
Really? I’m guessing you don’t mountain bike, and I would bet you don’t spend a lot of time outdoors! What good is nature if people can’t enjoy it, and the mountain bikers that use that area, are more in touch with it than anyone that has every been there before. They see it as part of their lives, they think about it while at work, school, and when talking to people like you that don’t want people to enjoy things unless they follow every rule by the book! Outdoor people didn’t cause the ocean of cement, they are trying to enjoy nature before businesses buy all the land and ruin it forever!
What is less eco-friendly than riding a bicycle? And before another mouth breathing tree hugging Lagunite says anything about the plenty of bike parks in the OC maybe they can point a few out. There is the facility at the YMCA in Orange and thats it. Bicyclists already gave up Coal Canyon close to 10 years ago and the replacement they were promised has yet to be provided. This wasnt cement, it was trails through cactus that people rode their bikes on, not exhaust spewing vehicles, bikes.
Until enough trails and tracks are provided for the enthusiasts, expect more Pirate Parks.
For those you that like to enjoy the wilderness, carve out those trails again when they are done tearing it all down. This is ridiculous that you cant go anywhere with out government breathing down your neck. Its God given wilderness and we should all be allowed to enjoy it. Sorry the stupid cactus wren isnt going to go extinct because of some walkers, hikers, joggers, or bikers… Keep building it up after they tear it down.
Wow, shows how much you care about the environment. There are so many bike/skate parks throughout orange county and you recommend tearing up the wilderness. There is so little wilderness left in OC and you don’t want to share it with wildlife? Just look up info on OC’s endangered and threatened animals – big surprise, they are in the wilderness parks that were meant to be enjoyed by people and also as sanctuaries for the animals that belong there. Another big surprise, people encroaching on these sensitive habitats are the reason of extinction. I can’t believe that you even posted that you enjoy the wilderness – a bike ramp is not the wilderness. Plus, there are so many bike trails in Whiting Ranch that people are allowed to be on.
Now, I’m not going into the semantics of “wilderness” (which bans all bikes) but to say there are similar trails nearby are vastly incorrect. The user community that builds and enjoys this type of riding is underrepresented and even discriminated against locally, which leads them to break laws in order to have a place to practice their sport. 15 years ago things like the X-games were considered fringe, today snowboarding an BMX are Olympic sports and “extreme” biking may soon follow suit. There are no legitimate places for these athletes to go, so until that question is answered I don’t think this will be the last set uncovered.
I agree with your principles and want to “save the parks”, but until the critters foot the bill open your eyes and have a little more patience for those that do.
Whiting Ranch is where there were mountain lion attacks on two mountain bikers who were on legal trails. So, how are you saying that mountain bikers are not allowed there? Plus, I have a trail map from when I went mountain biking there that was given to me by a Park Ranger – when I must have ridden with hundreds of other mountain bikers that day. I know the park was closed for a while because of the fire that went through a few years back, but it was closed for everyone.
If the Park did allow the illegal trails and structures to remain, you or others would be the first to sue if you were injured as a result of their use.
MANY injuries have happened at these sites and not ONE lawsuit. You are talking about trails that have been intact for 20+ years. Way before the fires. The people using these trails don’t leave trash, are respectful of the neighboring communities and most of these riders are kids on adventures. You are the kind of people who want to make our children wear helmets just to walk down the street. Injuries occur all the time, thats why most of these bmxr’s have insurance. Please show me a lawsuit for the 15+ injuries that happen in these places yearly. Ure’ just blowin smoke out of your ass in an attempt to sound like you know what you are talking about and you DON”T
then what you may want to do, since you are so passionate about the bikers tearing up the wilderness, is to complain to your local politicians about the need to constantly tear wilderness areas down for residential and commercial purposes….\
these paths are narrow and don’t take up much land compared to a 85000 sq ft mall or 120 house development…..
Ok so its not cool if some recreationalists use these trails that were carved out over time but its ok for the government to build parks on or around these same habitats just to make a buck off of it? Its ok for developers both of the gov’t and private sector to build over the egrets habitat? I dont hear you tree huggers complaining about that.
They dont want people on these trails because they love absolute control. If you are enjoying something, the government wants you to pay. This is one of a few things at least, that should be free. Like the beaches and mountains. Im not saying to thrash and trash the land and water. But we have a right to enjoy it. This is just a sliver of land.
Like MIKE said below.. If they die off from a few trails then they werent going to last anyway.
KEEP RIDING! KEEP HIKING! ITS YOUR LAND!
Cool. Then you won’t mind if I go there with my trials bike or dirt bikes, right? See you there.
I agree with Dethklok. BMXers and mountain bikers have been carving out trails and jumps all over OC long before cities started allowing skate and bike parks to be put in and nobody has noticed until now. Trails like this one and others like Sheep Hills and Hidden Valley are some of the roots for bikers in this area. If you want wilderness and care so much about a preserved environment move to Big Bear or Colorado. This is Orange County and an urban area not a wild life habitat.
Hidden Valley is gone and Sheep is no longer the real thing…
Biking is trashing the land idiot, and please post your address so we can ride through you backyard. I’m sure you’ll be open to it since its all for everyone to enjoy, Right??
Wilderness? We live in a desert. Most of the time, the hills are full of dead grass.
How many bike parks are there for bikes? Could you name them? Please understand that I wish to protect what is left of Orange County too. There are plenty of areas that could be used for extreme bicycle riding here but neither city or county are willing to.
nobody cares for nature freaks.
Your house or wherever you lived used to be “god given wilderness” – do we all get to go there and take whatever we want and do whatever we want?
You sound like one of those aehoes we always have to deal with on the freeways. Go back to 909.
There is not any aspect of this rape that is God given. It is laws passed by society that regulates activities because many yahoos don’t respect what God actually did give us. Land to watch over so that mankind and all God’s creatures can co-exist. Land, water and the air we breathe are required for life to exist. This little corner of the world is just as important as the rest of it, maybe more so since we actually have the resources (and brains?) to know better than to wreck it. Enjoy it, yes, and leave it the way you found it for our grandchildren and theirs.
BAHAHAHAHAHAH.. enjoy the land in oregon
What is more devastating to the environment, a few people building jumps out of dirt to ride their bikes over or mythological spewing troglodites talking about their sky fairy wanting them to save land for their grandchildren? Over population is the most harmful thing to the environment, knowing that, how about making every family that wasnt living in Orange County in 1980 leave? Wheres the safe sex ads in this Green section? How about an article on how to pull out in time as to not infect the eco-system with another massive carbon footprint? What is more hypocritical than a hybrid car with a baby seat in it? Nothing is more Green than an abortion yet the enviro nazis want to rip out bike trails for what they think is the greater good. I could drive a Hummer to and from work every day hanging my butt out the window farting styrofoam packing peanuts and still have less of an impact on the atmoshere than a family of 3 who recycles and drives a Prius will.
Bukkake is eco-friendly, wheres that article?
Save the wildlife??? How about save the human enjoying the wild life! After they tear it down lets rebuild it! bikes are not harming any wildlife!
Get off your couch and go see what damage has been done and if it continues their won’t be any wild life left. Your the type that never leave their house so you don’t even know what your missing.
There are already enough places for all the idiot kids that should be getting an education and stop destroying the few acres of wilderness left here in O.C. Urban Sprawl is a great band, but urban sprawl itself shouldn’t spread into protected parkland.
Lets not get ridiculos. Enviros protected the land from develpment. It is not free, it is no longer open ranges, this is not little house on the prairie, there aren’t anymore cowboys – we live in a area of high urban development not the wild west. We are faced with rapidly decreasing wilderness, the open space is not a free for all it was set aside from total concrete destruction through the blood, sweat, and tears of envros that spent much of their lives battling to save remanants of one of the most ecologically diverse habitats in the country- (that’s in coastal southern California – not Colorado, study it up before you speak).
Bike groups and most of the people that scream about its our right , and by the way I ride a mountain bike, had nothing or very little to do with protecting the open space and parks in Orange County. They don’t understand the process, they get their facts from out of the air, and they don’t care about anything but thier own good time – incredibly uneducated and selfesh, and wouldn’t know a catus wren if it laned on their head.
Theres still open space left that isn’t accounted for yet – spend the next decade of your life protecting it, then tell me about who has the right to destroy it.
A few rogue mountain bikers can make the whole bunch look bad. If you see someone using their bikes to cut trails, you should report them immediately. Especially if you’re a rider.
I’d rather just smack them and feed them to the mountain lion if they are all as simpleminded Mr. Klok here. Ease off the red bull duuuude. Once the government zoned it as a park it is no longer free, it is no longer your land to do with as you please. If you don’t like the law, then go get it changed, fight the government. Petition to change the zoning law. Or is that too much work for you, too much thinking? Too lazy? Too many brain cels dead? Or do you prefer to break the law and complain like a little girl when you get busted? EXTREEEME! Yeah whatever…
Nice personal attacks Mr. Ed. Sorry but some small trails where people hike, run, walk, or bike isnt hurting anybody or animal. You are obviously in bed with the typical politicians that have greatly messed up our country. Yah kids shouldnt be out there riding bikes. They should be in the cities contributing to taxes or getting into trouble. Except there isnt many places the kids can go in the cities. They seem to be a nuisance wherever they go, right? Simpleminded? Your violent nature speaks oceans of the type of person you are. No different than the muslim extremists that wish to exterminate those of a different or no faith at all. Pat yourself on the back, Ed. Nature is our right. Like it or not. So those that want to enjoy it, will not be stopped by the likes of you or anybody.
Enjoy your Big Government Mr Ed!
Grow up Dethklok, you sound like a simple minded complainer. So since you think Nature is your right then you saying its okay to ruin it for everyone else. What a sad selfish child you are.
OH MY SAYS – Compalining? Nah Im just still gonna enjoy nature at its best. Walking, hiking, or riding. Sorry to put a damper on your sad existance. But you are right though.. So right! Small hiking paths and bike trails are ruining people’s lives.. ahahahaha Seriously, thats good stuff man. LOL Keep it coming… This is entertainment.
yes, lets conquer the wilderness, it’s our God given right!
save the bike park! what’s the point of “preserving” wilderness if no one is allowed to use it. if a few wooden bridges make the cactus wren go extinct then it was never going to make it anyway.
It’s threatened, not endangered. Look up info on how animails go extinct before posting on here. I can’t believe so many people would rather see animals go extinct for their own personal entertainment of cutting through habitat.
again,,think about residential and commercial properties..
TREE HUGGER!!!!!!!!!
Sure we will let you save the bike park if I can knock your @$$ out of my lane when I try to drive down Portola Parkway, or as you ride erratically through the local parking lots. Here’s a start, let’s restrict it to locals only, 92679 only!!! We respect Whiting Ranch, unlike you self-centered POS’s.
True most of the people who are abusing the park are people that don’t live near it.
SAVE THE TRAILS. DONT LET THESE DO-GOODERS THINK THEY HAVE ALL THE RIGHTS. I NEED THE EXCERSIZE AND SO DOES MORE THAN HALF OUR COUNTY. SAVE THE TRAILS. SAVE THE WOODEN BIKE RAMP. SAVE THE ORPHANS ON THE STREETS. SAVE OUR SOCIETY FROM THOSE WHO WANT TO IMPOSE THEIR AGENDA ON OUR LIVES. SAVE THE TRAILS. SAVE THE NEEDLESS DESTRUCTION OF OUR COUNTIES BIKE TRAILS THAT ARE MADE OFF THE BEATEN PATH. SAVE TIBET. SAVE THE BABY OTTERS.
Save the Cap-Locks key!
I heard you with out the caps…
How about save us from your verbal throw-up.
What’s the point in having a designated “wilderness area” if it doesn’t remain wild? Should we legalize trail-cutting, allowing anyone to cut trails wherever they see fit? Where does one draw the line?
There is already a line drawn with wilderness enthusiast – obey the rules and bring back what you take out.
If you don’t obey the rules of Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park, then all bikes will eventually be banned from all of the trails.
Is this in reference to the jump park located next to the Oakley building in Portola Hills? If so that is where a lot of our local youth go to dirt jump (not to be mistakened with killing micro organisms) after school and on weekends. Does this now mean the perpetrators (kids) that use the jump park can return to doing drugs behind the gym as in years past?
I recall Marijuana Plant Fields being discovered a few years ago in the wilderness dividing Mission Viejo from Rancho Santa Margarita. Let’s see if like-minded crafty criminals can make use of this newly shut down block of wilderness no longer under the watchful eye of our recreating community.
I say we should let the motorcycles out there too!!!! Let the mountain bikers and the motorheads battle it out for some turf.
YES!!!!
I wanna drive my sand rail up there too. It’s my God-given right to do whatever I feel like (Sarah Palin said so). If the endangered vermin can’t get out of the way fast enough, then screw ‘em. Survival of the fittest and the view from the top of the food chain looks marvelous.
But isnt that what all you tree huggers shove down our throats in school? Charles Darwin and the Survival of the Fittest. So if some egret dies off because of a few small bike trails then so be it. It was going to happen eventually. I like how all the people on the side of keeping people off these trails exaggerates their lame point by stating how they are going to run bull dozers and sand rails through there…Lol wow! Cause dirt bike riders are evil, right?
Oh and what did Palin have to do with this conversation? ooooooK
See but Dethklok if the survival of the fittest and smartest were something we would enforce where would that leave you??
OH MY -Try bringing something to the table. Im happy that I have power over your emotions but lets stay on topic here. If you think people should stay out then great. You are allowed to have that opinion. And I have mine. Thats life. Deal!
Oh and “enforce survival of the fittest” ? Hu? …..K
Ladies’ & Gents’,
We have much bigger problems. This seems to be to be an attempt to justify a job that likely shouldn’t be a full-time position. How does a “mountain bike park” get built and not discovered for months?
Mountain bikes are allowed at that park – but on trails that already exist. There are miles and miles of legal trails. The ones in question are illegal trails that were made through senistive habitat.
I meant “sensitive” and not “senistive.”
Great post and stated perfectly!
our government is so lame cause saddly its been there for over a year
So using shovels to tear out the trails is going to make it all better? Right. Humans are part of the environment too, and what they do is just as natural as a bird that likes to live in the brush. Some species go extinct, thats just how it works. Someday us humans will be extinct too, and I bet little birds won’t try to save us either.
Maybe you should take a “trail maintenance” workshop offered freely by one of the local organizations – I don’t want to provide names of specific organizations so that some of the people leaving comments on here don’t try to say I represent those organizations. You will learn how volunteers and employees help to build trails and maintain them for the public (making it so that it does not wash away with large rains). You will also learn how to do all of this by being as minimally invasive to the environment as possible. People spend lots of time and energy to provide these legal trails to the public, it is also time consuming to get rid of the illegal trails – it is also done in a way to minimize the impact on the environment. The main point about this, people making the illegal trails are not making them safe trails (you never see an illegal trail with a water bar for heavy rains) or even care about what sensitive habitat they are going through.
Who cares? in 60 years it will look like the hillsides above Tijuana.
There are books that are full of places to ride in the OC, LA County, Ventura County,….there are no shortages. My brother & I go riding at all these different places – heck yes it’d be way convenient if that place was in my own backyard, but that’s not the case as we drive far just to ride. Take the bus or get a bike rack for your vehicle. Preserve our wild lands and protect them. I won’t say rat on your fellow mountain biker, but if you have the guts – tell them to stop. If they intimidate you, then they shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
Reporting law-breakers is a civic duty and should not be considered “ratting”. Usually the ones who call it that are the ones breaking the law.
Sure, you can tell someone to stop tearing up the wild, but if they don’t listen, you should never take the law into your own hands… it makes you just as much a criminal as it does them.
Otheerwise, Minos One, I agree with your post. There are plenty of places in and around the OC to ride. No need to start blazing your own trails.
where is this whiting ranch place at? i need to go tear some sh** up out these trails before they knock it down. go teletubbies!!!
Who Cares.
Judging by the sun baked wood, those ramps have been there over 8-10 months
believe me I know my wood
With 4300 acres of land there has to be an area that can be designated as bike friendly.
The issue comes about when these ramps and bridges begin to deteriorate and someone gets hurt on county land and then sues the county because of it.
Some of these bike companies should be able to fund the creation and maintenance of a trail system for the mountain bikers. The county could provide some land from the park and maybe the bikers could learn something about the wilderness they ride in.
If mountain biking is such a part off your life that you have to break the law to do it, move to a more mountain bike friendly place like Utah or Arizona and have at it.
This is why we need to outlaw mountain bikes once and for all! These mountain bike riders are out of control and they must be stopped!
If we Only Moved as fast as this to get Rid of Illegals !
Those ramps look like so much fun… think of all the kids & people who will have nothing to do now once you tear that out.
I wish I could have flattened the tires of the IDIOT I saw biking all the way to Red Rock Canyon @ Whiting Ranch a month or so ago – a HIKING ONLY trail.
I prefer hiking only trails, why you may ask — perfect example was the dummy who nearly ran into me yesterday coming back from Red Rock Canyon because he was going too fast on his bike, wasnt watching where he was going and was on the left side of the trail when he should have been on the right hand side of the trail.
Did you let him know, or are You just telling us to relay the message?
I’m guessing you’re one of those iTarded walkers, who can’t hear anything because of your damned iPod.
Illegal work created by illegal Americans.
Where do I sign up for the rebuilding of the bike trails.
Tear down starts at 8:00 AM Saturday. I’ll be there at 9:00 for the rebuild.
By the way GN, there is a way to move quickly on the illegals and that is to boycott every sitdown and fast food restaurant. But you absolutely cannot convince the majority of Fatsos in So Cal with their insatiable urges to eat out.
My GOD! now its illegal for us to make trails in our god given earth using HARMFUL wood as ramps and EVIL sandbags. This control is getting out of hand. excersise your rights or lose’em.
Pat, I’m curious. That ramp pictured looks like part of one of the old bridges. Did they vandalize a bridge to build this ramp?
Also, do you have more pictures of the illegally constructed trails? A map would also be helpful.
And for bicyclists who feel it’s okay to build trails wherever you want, here is a brief exerpt from ocparks.com/whitingranch/:
“Though 90% of the park burned in the Santiago Fire of 2007, the land is in the recovery process. Please respect that process by staying on marked trails and following park rules.”
Wow.
“GN” – that was perfect.
To call that area wilderness is to give wilderness a bad name. That area is surround by buildings.
After they get done with that project I know of some dangerous rope swings and tree forts that need destroying. Besides those kids should be out taggin’ and bangin’ not riding their bikes.
hobby used to be fun, not anymore!
I took up r/c planes, then later on… flying fields closed down, more rules are imposed, it got crowded, and fees went up! So I left. Then I took up aquarium hobby, SCE charge so much for electric bills and only to get higher later on. Now as a road cyclist, Im not welcomed by some of the drivers out there.
I know what you mean. I wish drivers would learn to share the road with people who ride on the road. It’s impossible talking to the people who are against it. I tried, and even explained how to legally pass a bicyclist. Perhaps a future OC Register article on how to share the road? – maybe it will help get the word out.
Been there done that (LOL)
California cactus wren. ( Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus) A coastal population was nominated for subspecies status as C. b. sandiegensis in 1990 and subsequently proposed for Federal Threatened status in 1991. Since this suspecies designation was not recognized by the American Ornithologists’ Union Committee on Classification and Nomenclature, the population was declined for Federal Threatened listing by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1994.
You know I though I smelled a rare rat (Dipodomys Elator).
Thanks for the info, but it’s still a species to look out for as it’s habitat is in trouble – look up info on the Cactus Wren survey that’s done in Orange County. Also, please post your sources when you leave comments with information from another source.
Has anybody asked the Cactus Wrens? Maybe they’re cool with it.
What is the plural? Cactus Wrens or Cactii Wren?
It’s not necessarily the wren that are not cool with it. This is a designated “wilderness” area. There are plenty of other places other than designated “wilderness” areas to build “thrill rides” for bicycle enthusiast.
Could you please, oh please name me a place where you can build. Pretty please with sugar on it.
There are plenty of acres on privately- or county-owned property in Orange County. If you really want to build a bike park, you’re going to have to do the footwork yourself. You have a computer… it’s really not that difficult. Anywhere except for designated park areas would be fine with me.
why did we let the T-Rex and Raptor go extinct? oh yeah, they would have eaten us.
You are all on Indian land anyway.
all kidding aside, this really is ridiculous. the two photos are laughable. it’s as if they are showing evidence of an underground meth lab, or nuclear reactor. instead, it’s just two ramps in the dirt. unless they can show us a cactus wren’s head pinned under one of those boards, i just don’t see the seriousness.
Wow, can you please give an exact location so I can go enjoy it before these do-gooders destroy it?
I’m sure that a few trails a couple of feet wide are going to push a plant species to extinction!!! Really? Cmon, even you can’t believe that.
Hey do-gooders, sorry we’re having more fun than you. Go ahead and get a few minutes of satisfaction destroying it. You can go home with a smile on you face thinking that we’ll see that the track is gone and then we’ll stop having fun forever. We’ll see your logic and sell our bikes for bird watching binoculars. Ha! Don’t worry, we’ll build another one and then whatever species we push to extinction at the new location will be on your heads.
They should find and hire those guys to build the Great Park. They’re much farther ahead than Agran.
I can’t tell where these trails are based on the pictures, but if they are the ones east of Glenn Ranch, they were created years before the 2007 santiago fire. Those have been around at least 7 years, and probably shortly after Foothill Ranch was created, and likely predate when the area was considered “wilderness”. There are access roads, borings, trenches, and remnants of prior construction activities throughout the area since there was a time not long ago that the area was to be developed as a commercial/residential site. And the Edison roads that run right next to those trails are bulldozed twice a year. Hopefully, if those are the trails pictures, they won’t be demoed.
Who cares
This is what happens when you exclude a usergroup from entering an area that other usergroups are allowed to go. Don’t tell me that a 40 lb bike does more trail damage than a 500 lb horse does? And if walkers are using those ski poles to hike aren’t they gaining a mechcanical advantage to those who don’t? Shouldn’t horseback riders be bareback? That saddle gives a advantage over those who don’t use them. The Wilderness act needs to include bikes or you will always have this element of them vs. us. Get over yourselves Sierra Club supporters and mountain bike haters the time has come for a working and sustainable solution for all trial user groups.
Booger Boy and BGR make excellent points that speak to the root of this. While I won’t condone the actions of the builders or partake in that risky of a ride it’s clear to see their motivation. All of the user groups enjoy the outdoors, in rare cases I’ve even seem them come together and produce some great results. It’s at least 5-10 years (hopefully) before the blame game stops and advocacy groups combine their efforts. Until then it sucks to see people with the same goals and interests in-fighting over semantics.
Let’s ride.
Who gives a crap, this state is flirting with bankruptcy and we are actually making a big deal of little bike path in the wilderness. I don’t see how a small bike trail can affect any of the plants or animals in the area. The riders there were obviously keeping a low profile and not disturbing anybody.
As kids, we used to make bike paths and forts all the time in the wilderness. I guess that was breaking the law too. This country and especially this state have gone off the proverbial deep end.
“Undocumented” bike park is less offensive terminology to bike park wnthusiats. Please refrain from using derogatory terms like illegal.
btw…
Does cactus wren pair well with white wine?
“Hiking only” = people that refuse to share
Seriously? I used to build ramps like that every day when I was a boy. It’s called “growing up outside” instead of “playing virtual mountain-biker on Nintendo Wii in front of your TV.” Please, we’re talking about one in 50,000 acres people… for God’s sakes, this isn’t China… let the kids ride their damn bikes! Environmentalists, you should be embarrassed by your completely transparent desire to litigate every square inch of nature the way YOU want it to be. Self-righteous, overzealous defenders of mother earth make me want to throw a coke can out the window. Maybe that guy never got a bike when he was a kid…
So the Mountain Bikers built themselves an illegal BMX park. Most of us stop doing such things when we are 12 years old.
the bikers park on glenn ranch rd. west of el toro rd and leave the trash behind, nice bikers
Call Jack Bauer, he’ll take care of it.
It is great that some kids too the initiative and got away from their computers to enjoy the great out doors. We did stuff like this all the time when I grew up. Now when I go back to where we had jumps, etc. you can’t tell we were there 30 years ago. So I hardly think this is some great crime against the environment.
If this is reference to the ladders by Glenn Ranch Road close to Oakley it has been there for six or seven years. Most of the ladder were sawed up when the area was plowed a couple of years ago. All of the big drops and trails were erroded. If you check the tires marks you will see that fifty riders (small dirt bikes) like the spot. I recently warned a soccer mom in her black SUV dropping of a load of kids to ride there twenty inch bikes there about the rattlesnakes and see said it will be okay as they have a cell phone. It is a nice place to hike or ride a push bike but most of the jumps just suck.
I grew up in El Toro more years ago than I want to admit, and in my teen years my friends and I tore up and down trails all over the area in question on dirt bikes and mini-bikes. This was before any “wilderness” areas were designated when most of the back country was owned by Rancho Mission Viejo for the use of their cows and farming activities. If one wants to play the “who was there first” game, we won. Except for the native Indians, of course.
I am not surprised at all that this exists, there is more.This is called wilderness and if it is not protected it will be lost. There is plenty of challenging riding that can be found in our concrete jungle.It is unacceptable for idiots to be able to rape and pillage the natural landscape that remains.. I’m always watching out for this kind of destruction and I will report it when I see it. I am clear that more people can and do get out in the hills on mountain bikes than on foot. This does not imply that it is good for the hills and wildlife. It is not. Bikers take advantage and frequently threaten hikers on shared trails with thier speed and agression. There are going to be more closures because of the impact and attitude of cyclists.
It’s the people’s land. Who are these people to repurpose public land for their enjoyment.
Where does it stop? Who decides what groups get to designate their own little plots of land?
Pat, thank you for the photos. However, some of the captions say that the bike park is “near” Whiting Ranch. Your article clearly states “All this is on parkland.” Aren’t these contradicting statements?
The Bigger the Government, The Smaller The Individual…small than a Cactus Wren, as it were.
No one should have the right to destroy public anything, be it public buildings, public beaches or public parks. If you want a skate park, do it the legal way.
I bet the persons who defaced this area and the mountain bikers that rides these illegal trails opposed the 241 toll road extension because that would destroy the wilderness.
I remarked earlier and after reading the web site where the trail repair will be held it is not the Oakley Trails off Glenn Ranch Road. The site is near the west end of Portola Parkway past Paloma Drive.
I’ve read this article twice now and I still don’t get all the hubbub. When we were younger, we would build treehouses or forts with scavenged lumber in parks. We didn’t do it to be destructive, but rather to be constructive. It’s what boys do.
Yes but if you have lived here for more than 10 years you would have noticed alot less wildlife and free space so we need to take care of what little is left.
Soooo…. Lemme get this strait.
1) Bikers destroy the wilderness with some hand tools. This MUST be stopped or all all of California’s natural habitats will be lost forever.
2) The massive development of Foothill Ranch with years of huge earth moving equipment cutting down hillsides is fine.
Ya, I’m having a little trouble getting on board with this…. I’m gonna go ride my bike. I may even go off the trail.
“The trails are illegal”, so are the park maintenance people across the street here in Lake Forest (the city that doesn’t need E-verify)
I think the people that built the trails are so great!. They spent so much time building them and didn’t bother anyone. They may have cut through cactus, but it was all dead cactus. All the money they spent into building jumps is just going to get torn down by some fat park rangers. Mabye if they let people that new what they were doing build trails in whiting Ranch then they wouldn’t have to build trails there.
The propaganda continues from Irvine Ranch Conservancy. Notice the added illustration of the damage done by bikes. What happens when you run over a catus? Well you get multiple thorns in your tire and a flat. So we avoid them. Also no mention of hikers, runners, or horses creating illegal trails or damage. IRC has spread lies and exaggerations about Mountain Bikers for years. They have a anti MTB agenda that I have never understood. Truth be told a birdwatcher causes more stress on the Cactus Wrens than a bike quickly passing thru a area. If you want a wilderness experience I strongly suggest a quick trip to the Sierras.
LW
HOW CAN THEY DO THAT TO THE PRICKLY PEAR CACTUS?!!
Funny that the Ranger had no trouble driving their trucks through whiting leaving its tracks all over the fire roads. To soon for MTB to enter the park but not to soon to do some hot laps around the park in their trucks. And today seeing a lot of Horse Tracks digging into the single tracks leaving pot holes everywhere. Any comment from the Rangers regarding that? Didn’t think so.
Where can I volunteer to help tear that garbage out?
It’s selfish fools like the wannabe extreemos who “built” this abomination who get legitmate trail users banned from areas like this.
This is the local spot for both of my sons, particularly my 7 year old . It rocks . Rip it down and we’ll be digging another. Yup he rides every park and track in the area and there arent enough.
Funny how all the armchair citics are weighing in when likely they would never have the energy to get up from behind their laptops and likely would never get any further than the Starbucks just down from the Oakley Building on Portola.
If Oakley is so concerned , then they should open up their own pump track to the general public giving us somewhere to ride.
Incidently , we always bring out a bag of trash every time we go there ; the trash strewn generally all over the hillside blown over from the Oakley Parking lot.
If anyone finds another spot somewhere , shut up about it.
This should have been titled “Rangers get out from behind desks and discover that park is used by people”. I say put people first that’s why they call it a park. Sure it’s a wilderness park for nature to show it’s self but to whom? The people of course. Where there are no trails people will make them. The OC parks managers should stop closeing off our parks and let people enjoy them.
I don’t condone the actions of the illegal riders and their carving up a county part. I don’t totally blame them for the distruction they did. Where do I put the bult of the blame, on the enviro wackos, Serria Club, CBD, Wildeart Guardians and a number of other idiot groups. All they want to do is make Wildedrness areas. They use the ESA and the WA like a baseball bat on a fly to get more and more areas closed, becase all these little critter, bug, flys, and weeds need protecting. They sue the government to get there way, and due to our stupid government, the government pays their legal expenses, win loose or draw. The problem is thses groups aren’t about saving or protecting. They are all about control.
Try to get an enviromentalist to meet you half way on a proposal to provide NEW OHV, dirt bike or BMX rifing areas on the publicl land. It won’t happen. You’d easier fly a kite on the moon. There is always some bug, weed, critter, or bird that is too valuable to man and needs to be saved. No one has explained what that value is, but it must be there. So says the enviro wackos any way.
OC has real problems as to where people can recreate. I can remember OC from the 1950′s when it was a nice place. That’s all been replace by cities and county greed for more and more tax money. Money to buy parks that a lot of people today can’t enjoy their form of recreation in. That’s pretty sad. I always thought the government, local, state, and federal, were supposed to look out for ALL the citizens. Not just thoses who want to walk in their parks.
Take down those trails and the kids will get fat and go in their computers. I was flying a kite in a field adjacent to the Bolsa Chica wetlands a few years ago and a big fat park ranger drove out to me in his 4 wheel drive truck and told me that my foot steps were harming the sensitive environment. I looked at his truck tires and he had just driven over 300 yards
Mountain bike trail builders here are poaching, thieving crooks that have no concept of the laws of property holders, rights of them, and taxes they pay on them.
Do yourself a favor, if you see a mountain bikers car, share the love, give it some graffiti, er… artwork. See a mountain biker that owns the property they live on, build trails and jumps in their front yard. Maybe then, they’ll begin to understand property rights.
Word is rangers or volounteers or whatever went down there to tear out the ramps and found they all had been removed . Haha looks like the local BMXers or MTBers got there first …