White trail closure

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I gave a hand with this effort on Saturday. Apparently it was originally an unmarked illegal trail that was marked accidentally by some good intentioned Boy Scouts who were helping the park in an approved effort to update trail markings.

The up side to shutting this trail was that the good faith is helping the relationship with the park. After shutting the trail we also worked on opening up a small piece of trail that the park agreed to....granted not nearly as fun as the closed one. There are also discussions on some other work in the future. That's progress even if small.

I believe you are correct - it was illegal in the first place.

Thanks for the efforts to help. Much appreciated!
 

mntal

Active Member
Why so angry?
What does matter is that you respect the people who run the park otherwise you will be kicked out of the park. It's that simple.

Can someone get kicked out of a public park? Maybe I can hike that closed train - can I walk through the woods on things that are not trails?
 

ryderX

Well-Known Member
That's odd - so it's illegal to walk through the woods? Didn't realize that. Interesting.
Probably the best thing to do would be to drive yourself over to the park headquarters at KVSP, speak directly with the park officials and express your outrage, exasperation and disgust at their infringement of your rights and then demand access to what ever damn trail you want, whenever you want it. Its time to take a stand.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
That's odd - so it's illegal to walk through the woods? Didn't realize that. Interesting.

I think (but don't know) some places you are supposed to stay on the trails, and others it doesn't matter. Any Green Acres park is pretty much walk whatever you want. So, I think there's no strict answer to the question. Honestly nobody is going to shoot you if you walk off trail. And to the original point of this, I'm pretty sure a bike trail is not going to destroy whatever plant is in danger here. The reality is that this is politics, and the world moves forward on politics often times.

In the end I go back to my other point. It's a half mile of nice trail. No big deal. Just ride somewhere else.
 

hardtale70

She's Gone From Suck to Blow
Shop Keep
I found this trail when it was just flagged, went into the office and was given the "no one is in so leave your name and #", while later heard the bastards out there and went back to the office. Same shit, "name and #". On my next pass thru the park it was fully raked out to 10 yards from the openings. I knew they were gonna open it up soon and was fairly sure I had a shot of embarassing and humiliating some fairly big players, so hey, back to the office. actually got in and had a sit down. "Yeah, I have an idea of where your talking about and I think we have it under control" I'm thinking.."Sure ranger rick, with a 30 second head start you have a better chance of finding DB Cooper in your park than me" . I'm doing these visits mid ride in full gear so there's no question who's trying to help. I'm basically willing to ride right out there and introduce myself and lead them right to the dirty hacks and he's like" no thanks we got it". Within 2 seasons it's put IN a race course and formally introduced and legitimized to hundreds in person and by proxy. So that's the life story of this stupid trail and I'm glad it's gone. In the future if anyone really wants help with the rougue problem, give me a shout cause I'm sick of bangin my head against the wall. Can we now lock this thread and start a new one on the subject of how long MCPC is gonna be cool with TW pissing over the Mahlon boundry from the WMA while waving a big ol' middle finger in the air??
 

Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
That's odd - so it's illegal to walk through the woods? Didn't realize that. Interesting.

you can walk wherever you want as long as the area is not closed. Disturbing anything other than reasonable footsteps is not acceptable
ie - if the area is not passable, and the walker machetes their way through, illegal. swing from tree to tree on grape vine w/o cutting it, legal.
there is a seasonal closure in RV while the eagle(s) nests. passing beyond a line into the area is illegal.

building a trail or campsite is illegal. sitting on a rock, drawing pictures, legal.

the biggest problem is identifying where you are if there is a problem. smart phones and gps tracking are making this obsolete.
 

KenS

JORBA: Director
JORBA.ORG
877-WARNDEP gets you to the enforcement folks in NJ state parks. 911 or the local police on non-state public lands. Walking into the park office is nearly as pointless as posting on the internet when it comes to reporting illegal activity. That being said, if you see anyone cutting illegal trails, especially mountain bikers, please call the number and if so inclined let the people digging know that they are ruining it for everyone. That would require actual social interaction, so it isn't for everyone. :D
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
The DB Cooper reference is a winner but who or what is TW ?

He meant TB. TW is Allaire. Same author and same T. But different trails in different parks. His point is valid as far as I understand and yes I know this reply is as vague as the whereabouts of the aforementioned DB Cooper but it's better that way.
 

hardtale70

She's Gone From Suck to Blow
Shop Keep
877-WARNDEP gets you to the enforcement folks in NJ state parks. 911 or the local police on non-state public lands. Walking into the park office is nearly as pointless as posting on the internet when it comes to reporting illegal activity. That being said, if you see anyone cutting illegal trails, especially mountain bikers, please call the number and if so inclined let the people digging know that they are ruining it for everyone. That would require actual social interaction, so it isn't for everyone. :D
So sitting with a park super in their office is pointless? Actually yeah it is. You've reignited my passion for this. Seeing names from your rosters and TM lists caught for this would really make my day:D
 

KenS

JORBA: Director
JORBA.ORG
So sitting with a park super in their office is pointless? Actually yeah it is. You've reignited my passion for this. Seeing names from your rosters and TM lists caught for this would really make my day:D

Have fun with that "passion".
 

avc8130

Active Member
Went riding at KVSP today. This amazingly destructive piece of trail is clearly "closed" so we avoided it.

We did however see a pair of people off trail by black behind the Ranger station pulling plants and putting them in a bag. My first thought? They must be ridding the park of the cancer-curing endangered plant matter.

As usual the park was a fun ride. It's too bad the most recent TM focused on CLOSING a trail rather than clearing the massive blow downs that make yellow still impassable.
 

mntal

Active Member
I am just messing with all of you - people get so passionate about this kind of stuff I like to stoke the fire a little bit. Doubt the plant cures cancer (probably gives a rash) but there are 100s of miles of trails within 30 minutes, most of which is far more fun. The park guys have do something sometimes, this is their something. I personally care more about my ex-wife than this trail closure.

Happy Summer!
 

njkayaker

Active Member
Saw a painters turtle laying eggs in the middle of a trail last night. QUICK KVSP rangers. close the trail. protect the turtle eggs.
 

Arwen's Mom

Mother of Dragons, Breaker of Chains
to those of you who think your agenda of riding a trail is more important than someone else's agenda of protecting a plant or a turtle or whatever, you are just as bad as those drivers who think their agenda is more important than yielding to a cyclist on the road, but I doubt you can understand that comparison.
 
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