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As of 5 pm on Friday May 3, Malibu Creek State Park was closed due to high fire danger, and it was unclear as to whether it would be open on Saturday. In addition, air quality was poor due to smoke moving south into the area from the fires burning in the Santa Monica Mountains to the north. Therefor we have cancelled the 5/4/13 Introduction to Mountain Biking Skills Class. Hope to see you next month, June 1!
From Santa Clarita Valley Trail Users:
Dear Friends,
As some of you know, the Forest Service, in response to a court order, has proposed three alternatives for the future management of roughly 40,000 acres of land to the northeast of Castaic Lake. This area is referred to as Salt Creek and Fish Canyon. In two of the three alternatives, large amounts of land would be designated as a “Recommended Wilderness” which would then prohibit any “mechanized” use including bicycles.
The three alternatives are summarized as follows:
Alternative 1: No change. The existing designation of Back County, Non-Motorized would remain. Alternative 1, of course, is our preferred alternative.
Alternative 2: The entire Salt Creek/Fish Canyon area would be designated as a Recommended Wilderness. However, a number of existing trails including the Gillette Mine Trail, the Fish Canyon Trail, and the Burnt Peak Trail would be “cherry stemmed” from the Recommended Wilderness and would remain accessible to bicycles. If this Alternative 2 is selected, we would request some additional cherry stems and other changes.
Alternative 3: This alternative would designate the entire Salt Creek/Fish Canyon area as a Recommended Wilderness WITHOUT any cherry stems for existing trails. In addition, the new Recommended Wilderness would extend to the east side of Lake Hughes Road to include the Tule and Red Mountain areas just to the north of Tapia Canyon. We oppose Alternative 3 entirely.
Here’s a link to maps of the three alternatives:
We are asking all of you to write an email or letter to the Forest Service with the following comments.
1. Identify yourself as a LOCAL resident of the Santa Clarita area who is concerned about a shortage of mountain bike trails in our area.
2. Express a strong preference for Alternative 1 and request a study to be done for additional trails in this and other areas in the Santa Clarita vicinity.
3. Request that if Alternative 2 is pursued, that it be amended as follows:
a. A cherry stem should be provided for Cienega Canyon, a decommissioned fire road used by the Crank n Stein group and other cyclists.
b. A cherry stem should be provided for Forest Route 7N13.1 from Forest Route 7N32 on the south all the way up to Sawmill Motor Way on the north.
c. The area be designated as a “Special Conservation Area” rather than a Recommended Wilderness.
d. The cherry stems should be wider than the proposed 25’ to provide for trail maintenance and accurate mapping.
e. A provision should be made to move or adjust cherry stems in case of a need to re-route a trail on account of erosion or other similar issues.
4. Request that the Forest Service ensure that the Golden Eagle Trail is entirely excluded from any Recommended Wilderness.
5. Specifically ask the USFS if trail user counts were conducted on the existing and historical trails to determine the type and volume of traffic the trails currently support. These sort of substantive comments can be used as the basis for an effective appeal.
6. Finally mention that we cyclists value and want to protect wild lands. We enjoy the solitude that can be found away from people and civilization within such back-country areas and don’t want to lose access to such lands in our own backyard.
Please email your comments to socal_nf_lmp_amendment@fs.fed.us or mail them to:
Cleveland National Forest
10845 Rancho Bernardo Road, Suite 200
San Diego, CA 92127-2107
ATTN: LMP Amendment
Your full name and address is required in order for your comments to be considered.
The Forest Service is accepting comments only until May 13, 2013.
SCV Trail Users
Safe and Equal Access for All Trail Users
The May edition of CORBA’s monthly newsletter, the eTerraTimes, was published today, May 2. If you don’t get it by email, you can view it online.
As always, the eTerraTimes has all the latest news for mountain bikers in the Santa Monica Mountains and surrounding areas.
By Mark Langton
As the coordinator and instructor for the monthly CORBA Introduction to Mountain Biking Skills Class at Malibu Creek State Park, I look forward to the first Saturday each month to help yet another group of eager mountain bikers become safer and more proficient. I also provide private lessons (mountainbikeskills.com) and have gotten quite a few new clients over the last couple of months, which is pretty typical for this time of year, what with the weather getting nice and a crop of races just around the corner.
What continues to amaze me is how many people think they don’t need coaching. As I say all the time, even the best athletes in the world have coaches. I see people in the CORBA classes who have been riding for quite some time who have developed bad habits that are quite debilitating. And they almost always can be easily corrected with a few minor adjustments. But the adjustments aren’t always intuitive or obvious, and that’s where a coach comes in. If there were a better way to improve one’s technique instead of using interpersonal coaching, I think they would have come up with it by now!
So hopefully I’ll see you one of these months at the FREE CORBA skills class. No reservations needed. Come back as many times as you like, it’s always free!
Join CORBA and the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council as we fix up CORBA’s adopted trail, Space Mountain (Los Robles Trail West) in Thousand Oaks. We’ll be doing treadwork, clearing silt out of the drainages. This is a favorite mountain biking trail, especially in the winter when other trails are muddy. Our work on Saturday will help keep the water off the trail and open to riding next winter!. After the trailwork is finished, CORBA will have prizes for some (or all) lucky volunteers, and treat you to lunch afterwards.
No experience is necessary to help out with trailwork. Tools and instructions on how to use them safely and effectively will be provided. Children must be over 7-years old to attend, and children under 14 must be constantly and directly supervised by their parent or guardian who brought them. And you don’t need to be a mountain biker to help out – Everybody is welcome! For more information on trailwork in general, visit our trail crew web page.
Be sure to wear protective clothing (sturdy shoes, long pants and sleeves, hat, golves) and bring snacks, sunscreen and water. CORBA will provide the tools and training.
We request that you pre-register online so that we’ll know how many tools to provide. Remember, by registering here, CORBA will treat you to lunch afterwards, and enter you in the drawing for mountain biking prizes! We have some great 2.25″ CST tires, for both 26ers and 29ers.
CORBA’s thank-you lunch will be after trailwork ends at 2:00 pm, so bring some snacks to tide you over.
Meeting location and details are on the online registration page.
Originally this trailwork had been planned for Guadalasca Trail in Pt Mugu State Park, but we relocated because the Springs Fire has closed that park.
GGR NEWS!
Bells Bells Bells Bells! In accordance with CORBA & IMBA, GGR will start to incorporate using BELLS on their bikes. Bells and communication on the trails with the hikers and equestrians is key to keeping all users of the trails aware that bikers are coming.
GGR is now soliciting sponsors for their main event Oct 20th at Malibu Creek State Park. This is also a CORBA membership drive and fund raiser. Please email wendy@girlzgoneriding.com for details on becoming a sponsor. It’s EASY!
Please check out the GGR Calender!
http://www.girlzgoneriding.com/calendar/
Rides and special events are posted on the FB page here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/350083721682365/
Our last ride at Malibu Creek State Park was a success, with two new riders joining us!
May’s ride will take place at Sycamore Canyon. Please meet us in the day parking lot at Point Mugu at 9 a.m.
During the annual Santa Monica Mountains Trail Days in Pt Mugu State Park, CORBA volunteers with the help of a few others repaired drains and cleared brush along the entire 1.8 miles of the Wood Canyon Vista Trail, a segment of the Backbone Trail.
Clearing brush on the Wood Canyon Vista Trail. Links to the photo galleries are at the bottom of this article.
The SMM Trail Days is a weekend-long event organized by the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council that has taken place at the end of April for 32 years running. As well as helping with trailwork on Saturday and Sunday morning, volunteers are able to camp over Friday and Saturday night at the Danielson Multiuse Area, enjoy a barbecue dinner on Saturday, and win great prizes on both Saturday and Sunday in appreciation for their work.
On Saturday morning, 17 CORBA Volunteers and a few others were shuttled from the registration area to the bottom of the Wood Canyon Vista Trail. We split into four groups, headed by CORBA trail crew leaders Steve Messer and Steve Clark, and Trails Council crew leaders John Kross and Greg Sweel, and started up the trail. Two of the groups focused on cleaning sediment out from existing drainage dips and cutting new drainages where needed, while the other two groups wielded loppers or a hedge trimmer to cut back overgrowing brush. In addition, we had the support of two employees of California State Parks who used a gas hedge trimmer to cut back a major overgrown section halfway up the trail. This section included lots of poison oak, so we are extremely grateful for their help!
Overall we fixed up about 1.3 miles of trail from the bottom.
While we were working on this section of the Backbone Trail, other groups were working on Coyote Trail, and in the Boney Mountain Wilderness Area, Blue Canyon Trail, Old Boney Trail and Chamberlain Trail.
Preparing dinner on Saturday night.
On Sunday, a smaller group of 6 CORBA volunteers plus 3-4 others were shuttled to the top of the Wood Canyon Vista Trail so we could work down to where we had left off the day before. We split into a group with loppers led by CORBA trail crew leader Steve Clark to cut back brush, and a group with treadwork tools to clean out drainages, led by Trails Council crew leader Howard Cohen. We completed the upper section of the trail in about an hour and a half, then hiked to the bottom to catch a ride back to the registration area. On the way down we were able to take in the magnificent view of Sycamore Canyon and Boney Mountain, something we don’t have as much time to appreciate when we’re riding our bikes.
Other groups were working on the Upper Sycamore Trail and “Toe Stubber” Trail (part of Old Boney Trail) in the Wilderness Area on Sunday.
I’m very pleased with the work CORBA volunteers accomplished over the weekend! I never expected we’d get the whole trail completed. I’m also grateful for the help of a few other volunteers, and especially the State Park staff who took care of the poison oak. Without them, we wouldn’t have completed the trail.
A special thanks goes out to the Trails Council for the outstanding job they do in organizing this event, with the extras like free camping, bagel breakfasts, Saturday night BBQ dinner, and great prizes for everyone. And the rangers and other employees of the State and National Parks had a huge part in making this event such a success. All this effort ensured that the volunteers came away not only with a sense of accomplishment for helping to keep the trails in good shape, but also with great memories of the whole weekend!
Here are links to photo galleries of the weekend:
Officials from Los Angeles county and Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SMMNRA) are advising visitors that ticks from Paramount Ranch in Agoura Hills recently tested positive for Lyme disease. Three separate pools of western black-legged ticks (Ixodes pacificus) found along the Coyote Trail were found to be positive.
“This is a good reminder for visitors to stick to the trail and avoid the vegetated areas where ticks like to hang out,” said Evan Jones, SMMNRA chief ranger. “Though Lyme disease can be very serious, simply following a few basic steps can greatly minimize exposure.”
Jones also advises the public to check clothing and exposed skin before heading home, making sure to brush off any small creatures. Wearing light-colored clothing with long sleeves and long pants is also recommended.
Lyme disease is an infectious disease that can start as a mild flu-like illness and develop into severe chronic health problems over time. If identified in the early stages, it can be successfully treated with antibiotics, but the potential for long-term complications increases if the disease progresses untreated.
Paramount Ranch was one of three Santa Monica Mountains park sites that came back positive for Lyme disease in tests conducted by Los Angeles County West Vector and Vector-Borne Disease Control District. The other two locations were Tapia Park and Malibu Creek State Park, both located within a short distance of one another.
Robert Saviskas, executive director of the L.A. county agency responsible for conducting the tests, said this was the first year his agency tested for Lyme disease at Paramount Ranch, among approximately 12 sites tested within the Santa Monica Mountains. The first tick known to carry Lyme disease was found in the mountains in 1998.
“We’re finding that about 1 or 2 percent of western black-legged ticks in the area carry the Lyme disease bacteria, so it’s important for us to identify where the problem is occurring,” said Saviskas. “This particular tick is most active from late November through May.”
More information is available at www.lawestvector.org or by calling 310-915-7370.
It was another perfect day to be riding in Malibu Creek State Park to participate in the free monthly basic skills clinic. This month we had 26 riders and I’m sure eveyone had a great time with the clear and warm weather! You can see the photos in the April Skills Clinic Photo Gallery.
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