[pct-l] Bikes on PCT

[eyakel at earthlink.net (Eric Yakel)]

Well here's a good thread.  I'm the Adam Henry, that's police talk for you know what, that has written two tickets on the PCT over the past several months.  Don't know how you all feel about it.  I warned the bikers in question and got a lot of lip for a response.  They told me that the PCT is not marked for bikes to be prohibited.  Actually it is.  Some of the hikers in the So. Cal sections have been diligent in putting up the no biking signs.  What happens is that the bikers get mad and scratch the symbols off the stickers until they are no longer readable.  Then they blithely say to me they can't read it.  
      At that point I tell them that is a misdemeanor to vandalize government property (the stickers).  Some were so sure I was wrong, that they dared me to write the ticket so they could fight it in court.  They lost.  One of the San Diego judges read the section to them.  It is from the Federal Code of Regulations and covers National Scenic Trails, of which the PCT is one.  According to the code, there is no section of the PCT that is legal for mountain bikes or any motorized vehicles.  The exception, as noted by someone else, is where the trail might follow a road.
    Yes, I work for Law enforcement and am a crazed trail advocate besides. I'm thru hiking in 2005.
     
P.S.  I promise I am more knowledgeable on this subject then I was when I erroneously stated that snow plant is a fungus.  You all bashed me good on that one.  Good to be humbled sometimes.
                              Eric