[pct-l] bikers on trail

[Mary Davison]

I believe this current thread that has been running a few days was started
when someone read my last journal entry this year. (Medicare Pastor -
Trailjournals.com) The problem is not just an occasional biker. Hikers have
known for some time of the bikers destroying trail in the Tehachapi area.
And I was delighted to hear there has been some enforcement down there. But
what I found was the area from Sierra City to Donner Pass was full of
mountain bikes. I had 16 pass me in three days and it was not even a
weekend. This is not a little problem but a big one. 

 

The bikers pay no attention whatsoever to no biker signs (or to those who
inform them of the illegality of bikes), do not care that it is the PCT and
some are traveling this trail portion in organized, club sponsored groups
all wearing the same biker club jersey. They did not care if I took their
picture and seemed to think no penalty would ever find them. They simply
laughed at anything I had to say.

 

There is an issue of safety. There is an issue of trail damage. But even if
these issues are addressed, it is still against the law. Unless I am
mistaken, the PCT was created by congressional act. And, unless I am
mistaken, it is illegal for mountain bikes. And that seems to me to be a
federal issue, not just a state issue.

 

Because there are (in at least some areas) so many mountain bikes on the
trail, illegal or not, I fear that there is grave danger that it will become
legal for mountain bikes. And after thru hiker season, there are far more
mountain bikes on the trail than there are hikers (judging from my hike this
year). 

 

And, As A Bat, how does a single hiker give a ticket to 5-8 bikers? I
certainly would have liked to have had the power to have done so and not
just been an impotent old lady hiker.

 

Medicare Pastor