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Ranger danger Mt. Tam

68K views 404 replies 80 participants last post by  MyDadSucks 
#1 ·
Me and a buddy got popped ridin off the fire road this AM.
Northern area.
Ticket said, bike on trail!!
LOL!!
You've been warned.
Now go poach somethin.
GoGo

 
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#19 ·
Would you mind bumping this thread after you deal with judge? I am due, man. But sometimes a ribbon of dirty flow is irresistible. Please let us know how this ends up in a few weeks. I like to know what I am getting into, with my piss poor attitude towards NO BIKES signs. Here in Oakland, it is difficult not to poach when there are 4000 armed robberies, and 140 chest blasts every year. Seems like there is enough trail for everyone, but I guess I am wrong. Good luck.
 
#22 ·
Somewhere in the south bay last night a couple guys I heard about from a friend had a Police helicopter hovering above them and spotlighting them for a few minutes. Back at their cars a sheriff was waiting, apparently there was no issue with the sheriff but he confirmed it was a Police helicopter.

Clearly the wasted resources problem isn't constrained only to Marin County. Glad I wasn't out there getting harassed but the man.
 
#39 ·
The MMWD anti bike enforcement squad has also been spending quite a bit of time lurking around Five Corners. This includes Yolanda exit and the Madrone trail entry exit. Recent tickets issued on Madrone. I've noticed the anti bike squad spends time on the Rocky Ridge fire road. Lurking near the exit of Stocking. The bottom of Kent trail should be avoided at all costs. Enforcement is the land managers favorite tune.

I'm off of poaching but I still love this song:

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#40 ·
Davey is right about those spots. Also, where Mickey O'brian connects to Cataract is high danger. I'd avoid Cataract and Mickey O for sure. The Northsides / Collier Spring junction is risky. Typically the ranger parks at the bottom of Lower Northside and hikes up to that junction. In the past year I know riders, including myself, who have been cited there. I've personally had two Mickey O encounters in less than a year.

If you have some unpleasant encounters to share, or questions about ranger activity, feel free to PM me. I've been keeping and tracking this data for a year now. And the data shows a serious spike in enforcement. I'd love to include your mishaps in my database.
 
#41 ·
Crazy with all the crime in California you would think a person riding a trail on a bike would be the least of their worries.
And $274 that's like a running a red light ticket minimum WTF ?
 
#43 ·
What about night riding? Same fine for riding on a fire road after dark? Any increased enforcement? I got off with a warning from a sheriff right after the time change on Eldridge. It was just getting dark and said the lights were for the road ride home and forgot how it was getting dark early. Asked him but he didn't know what the fine would be. "More than you want to pay in this economy" was his answer.
 
#51 ·
MMWD is the last remaining safe haven for the old guard (in marin) and their selfish and outdated trail use theories. They will be replaced eventually and the land use policies will change. However, I don't know if that will be 5 years or 20 years from now.

Best advice to riders is to be vigilant, especially when entering/exiting a trailhead. However, the parkland Gestapo are pretty crafty about some of their tactics. As was pointed out above, they stake out trails in locations where escape is nearly impossible. I recently heard of a story of law enforcement from three agencies (mmwd, state parks, marin sheriff) literally hiding in the bushes on Rock Springs. You'd think with this type of dedication they would have large scale grows on Marin's public lands under control. Apparently trail riding is a much bigger risk to society :/

MMWD and Marin County Parks have at least one marin county sheriff patrolling their lands during the day. I was also told by a reliable source that with the passage of Measure A Marin Open space hired 8 new park rangers.

Here's a short list of known ranger danger hot spots:
Pumpkin Ridge and madrone trails (sheriff has been known to patrol sky oaks around dusk)
Yolanda
Collier springs
The bridge on stocking trail
Serpentine point
Laurel dell area
Cascade canyon
Rock Springs (beware of the caretaker at West Point inn)
TCC and troop 80
Rifle camp
 
#52 ·
MMWD is the last remaining safe haven for the old guard (in marin) and their selfish and outdated trail use theories. They will be replaced eventually and the land use policies will change. However, I don't know if that will be 5 years or 20 years from now.

Best advice to riders is to be vigilant, especially when entering/exiting a trailhead. However, the parkland Gestapo are pretty crafty about some of their tactics. As was pointed out above, they stake out trails in locations where escape is nearly impossible. I recently heard of a story of law enforcement from three agencies (mmwd, state parks, marin sheriff) literally hiding in the bushes on Rock Springs. You'd think with this type of dedication they would have large scale grows on Marin's public lands under control. Apparently trail riding is a much bigger risk to society :/

MMWD and Marin County Parks have at least one marin county sheriff patrolling their lands during the day. I was also told by a reliable source that the passage of Measure A Marin Open space hired 8 new park rangers.
The last 5 years or so has been a great time to ride in Marin. Open Space ran out of money and had to let a bunch of rangers go. We all had a nice respite from LEO heavy handed enforcement. As a side note: during this time period I had zero negative interactions with hikers. Compared to 1990s encounters with hiking stick anti bike zealots. In fact some interactions were quite pleasant. People seemed OK with bikes, I started hearing "man I wish I was on my bike." The high blood pressure older hiker with the hiking sticks is being slowly replaced by cool(ish) millionaires many of whom ride bikes.

Now enforcement levels are back to normal and the hiding in the bushes and planned ticketing events will go on all year. Heavy handed coordination between agencies is pretty effective. It sucks and I'm trying to stay out of it for now. It seems like it is an old guard death rattle. They know what is happening, that mountain biking is the fastest growing trail user segment and there are few problems. They may even realize they were wrong to discriminate against one of the largest trail user groups for over 30 years. The youth love mountain bikes. Keeping bikes out of open spaces is keeping the youth from open spaces.

Regardless I feel land mangers are anxious to control "illegal biking" before they give us anything. The clamp down is on. I'm sure night riding will be on the list as well. I just hope no one gets hurt or worse. As the Boss points out there are some pretty big problems in public spaces including Marin County. Why beat up on mountain biking one last time before the practice is abandoned?

I'd like to see public agencies treat mountain bikers equally and provide adequate resources to all trail users instead of just hikers and equestrians . MMWD which I believe is a utility and isn't responsible for recreation is a bit different. However, they provide an absolute gem to hikers and even some to equestrians (pooping in the drinking water) but nothing to bikes other than fire road access with a 15mph speed limit. They may be legally OK with discriminating against off road cycling but it sets a negative example and fails ultimately as cost effective land management.

It is time to work on recreation solutions and abandon failed management policies.

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#53 ·
I was in Marin for Thanksgiving weekend and after coming up Diaz Ridge from the beach, I was waiting up top for my girl to catch up and saw what looked like a sheriff (coulda been a ranger) on foot walking from the highway towards me and he turned down Miwok towards Muir Woods.
 
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