Tim Fishback was riding the new Little Scraggy Trail in the Buffalo Creek network last weekend when his buddy, Nick Kostecki, got two flat tires in a relatively smooth section. When Fishback returned to help his pal, he too flatted.
They poked around the trail and found a nail sticking out of the dirt. They tried to pry it up but it was mounted in a concrete brick. More riders on the trail that day reported flats. Across a mile span, Fishback and his friend found three 2-pound bricks that had been formed around 3-inch nails and buried in the middle of the singletrack.
"I've never seen anything like it. Someone manufactured these things. It took some effort to dig those holes and put those in there and they were spaced out a good bit. Somebody was trying to do some real harm and they were targeting bikers," said Fishback, who regularly rides the Buffalo Creek area, where mountain bikers have spent two decades working with the U.S. Forest Service to develop and build one of the state's richest webs of flowing singletrack.
Well......this is pretty upsetting......
A warning to ALL local trail users.
It seems someone is booby traping our local trails. For now, there have been a couple instances on the Little Scraggy Trail. It appears the target may be mountain bikers, but ANYONE on the trail is at risk, including animals (pack animals, horses, dogs, and wildlife).
What I have learned is, man made concrete blocks, with nails or some sort of puncturing items are being burried along a trail with the points up, near the surface. I have heard a few bikers have been victims to this near the south trailhead, in a little ways, behind the Kelsy Creek Campground area. I would be extremely cautious along the first 1/2 mile or so of ANY trail head, or anywhere that walk in access to a section is fairly easy. Especially if the trail surface appears to have natural forest debris on it....sticks, pine needles or cones in a cluster, different looking dirt surface in a patch.... Probably a good idea to carry TWO extra tubes.
Keep a heads up on ALL trails and report any suspicious findings. Be vigilant when riding or hiking by yourself. You never know if the subject(s) doing this will go as far as actual physical contact with the user group they are targeting, as in a recent case I read about in California. (two persons targeting mountain bikers).
Be Safe out there, keep situationally aware, be prepared.
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ScienceChic wrote:
... like Rosier held between riders of Deer Creek Canyon and residents last year (or 2 years ago?) to allow grievances to be aired and solutions proposed and implemented. Those were very productive meetings that helped a lot, especially with the porta-potties they put along the route for the riders so they had an alternative to peeing on the side of the road, one of the main complaints.
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