Many or most of the drainage dips that volunteers constructed during trailwork on the Wood Canyon Vista (Backbone) Trail in Point Mugu State Park last month have been vandalized, de-constructed, and otherwise left ineffective. Downhill ramps were dragged into the uphill dip, greatly reducing their ability to prevent rainwater carving ruts down the middle of the trail. Hopefully we will get little rain this season so that the drainage dips are not overwhelmed. Extensive rain rutting will likely require the State Parks to run a Sweco bulldozer up the trail, as they did this spring, which will result in a loose, unstable trail surface that angered so many people at the time.
As we explained in a blog article on water damage to the trails, these kinds of dips prevent water from running down the trail without obstructing bikers, hikers and equestrians.
The photograph shows one of the drainage dips after being vandalized, with lines overlaid to represent contours. The features of the dip are exaggerated when first constructed built, especially the downhill ramp. This is to accommodate compaction, wear and deposition of silt, with the hope that the feature will last for several years before having to be rebuilt. Expectations of these constructs are about 80% of the ideal structure within two to three weeks as the downhill ramp gets packed down.
Based on comments we heard shortly after the trail work, some people thought these features were built to slow bicycles on the trails. One or more individual(s) seem to have taken it upon themselves to undo our work. The unfortunate result is not only that the trail will probably experience needless erosion this winter, but mountain bikers in general will also suffer in the view of State Parks staff and park visitors because the assumption may be that mountain bikers were responsible for the damage, whether they were or not.
We also heard that some people believe that State Parks staff partially obliterated the structures the day after they were built. We have received confirmation that State Parks had no involvement with the de-construction. Volunteers, which included experienced members of CORBA’s Trail Crew and the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council, used prescribed trail maintenance guidelines and methods to install the drains and therefore there would be no need for State Parks to go in and “fix” any work that was done. (We’d love it if the State Parks had the staff for this as it would mean that they have the staff to properly maintain and repair the trails themselves. Volunteer trailworkers would much rather spend the weekends enjoying the trails with everyone else and leave the trailwork to paid employees.)
In summary, it appears that some thoughtless and selfish individual(s) have damaged the trail to the detriment of all trail users. As always, CORBA’s main goal is to maintain and create additional mountain biking opportunities in the Santa Monica Mountain National Recreation Area and surrounding areas. CORBA does trail work as a good faith partner in the trail user community. It would be most disappointing if ignorant, renegade mountain bikers were undermining the positive efforts of CORBA and responsible mountain bikers. Also keep in mind that unauthorized work on trails carries significant penalties including but not limited to fines and court appearances.
Leave a Reply to Fred Ansaldi Cancel reply