Sunday, May 23, 2010

What is right?

Trail use seems to be a hot topic these days within our community. Maybe because we are part of it, but it seems as if mountain bikers are blamed for "ruining trails" more than others. That being said, Chris was a bit cranky and wanted to make a point that it is not always mountain bikers that are messing up trails.


This is Chris

If you have been above Timpanogos Park lately, you will have noticed the markings that started emerging a week or two ago. There were rumblings and speculations as to who was doing it and what the meaning was. Were they marking trails as legitimate and maybe not so? There did not seem to be any consistency. Well, they were marking a trail run that took place yesterday. And here is some of the aftermath. 
This section of trail does get pretty slick. In these pictures it is all chewed up and dry.


I am not so much opposed to the fact that they are holding races up there--although it seems that when we attempted to hold a race sponsored by Mad Dog, we could not get permission to do so. And I do understand that the promoter of yesterday's race does not have any control of the weather. I believe that mountain biking has less  of an impactf on the trails than running and don't even get me started on horseback riding.

A couple of signs from the promoter that Chris had me capture. I believe it is T3


And another photo Chris wanted. He does not believe that Tiny, Jesse and Rusty's mess will be cleaned up by the time we visit this parking lot again.

2 comments:

KanyonKris said...

I saw the mess over on BST too, the worst is between Dry Canyon and Battle Creek. I've only ever seen horses do more damage. I feel bad when I see (or worse, make) tire ruts in mud, but I've never seen bikes make a mess like what I saw the runners do Saturday morning.

If nothing else this will come out the next time a runner gets snotty with me about trail damage.

I'm not anti runners, I'm happy to share the trail with all. The main point for me is we are all responsible for the trails.

Blackdog said...

I get bummed because we do a lot of work in Corner Canyon and the Horse people never help. They complain loudly but they did not put in the trails and do not help maintain the trails. To be fair I do not ever remember talking to any trail runners either. Seems like mountain bikers and boy scouts do most of the work.