Not just the dems that are greenies, some repubs also. I didn't vote for one incumbent. Thorough cleansing of almost all political positions.

 cag33, on 05 April 2012 - 10:59 AM, said:

This is true, down here Buck McKeon has been siding with those biaotches feinbutt and boxbrainer on the wilderness crap.  These politicians need to be rooted out and exposed for what they are.  If you vote for them, you are sealing your own fate.  I wrote to McKeon and said I, nor anyone I could convince would ever back him again.  There needs to be term limits on all of these BOZO's


As far as trails being closed.....F'm....we have a saying down here "Fences are for livestock"

 brewster, on 05 April 2012 - 10:36 AM, said:

Where to start?  I guess first I'd say good luck with the one year estimate.  The ENF estimated that a simple EA for the PDMC 5 year permit would take no more than a year .... IT TOOK THREE YEARS!!!  And that was for 100% designated trails that had just been through a complete EIS evaluation.

Next I would say that the ENF is not on our side in this or any other case.  They are going to look out for themselves first, and they really don't give a damn about motorized recreation.  They will continue to make their decisions based on litigation avoidance, minimizing budgetary expenditures, and avoidance of political pressure.  Maybe a note to Congressman McClintock's office would be helpful, he's been really good about putting pressure on the FS on our behalf.

The revolving door at the ENF that creates the constant staffing turnover is against us too.  The Supervisor doesn't even have any CYA motivation, it wasn't her decision to begin with, it was her predecessor's, so she can just fold and blame the previous staff for making poor decisions.

 brewster, on 05 April 2012 - 10:36 AM, said:

The key to the above statement, "unless they cannot otherwise be reached."  Take a look at the list, then take a look at a map, this shuts down most everything in the high country in the ENF.

Major bummer.  Those trails are some of the best.  

One of the existing system trails, closed by this order.

Bucks Pasture trail.

http://youtu.be/eg8-Um2QlNA?hd=1

We are not talking about user created routes or cross country travel.

Since Squaw Ridge is closed, is Horse Canyon closed be default?
Plus - a drive up to Horse for an up and back only?
Horse Canyon is a great trail as part of a loop including Mud Lake and others out that way.

This completely sucks.

Plus - camping at Mud Lake was nice, high country, truck at camp and ride from camp.
There are going to be a mot of pissed off people that camp, shoot, hunt etc. in those areas.
The gereral public does not know this is going on.

 ElDorado650, on 05 April 2012 - 01:24 PM, said:

Horse Canyon and Long Valley Trails are on the list ("motorcycle trail north of Silver Lake" and "Mud lake trail motorcycle trail south of mud lake" on your list), I got confirmation on this from the Amador Ranger District, and I think "motorcycle trail out of Allen camp" is the switchback trail heading up out of Plasse's Resort.  Like I said, the list includes just about every worthwhile road and trail in the ENF high country.

I've sent an email to one of the guys on Congressman McClintock's staff, and will probably follow up with another to Congressmen McClintock, Lungren, and Herger.  They can't really do anything about the court order, but they could encourage the FS to work quickly to resolve this in a way that keeps these raods and trails available to motorized access.

Edited by OldeDude, 05 April 2012 - 01:42 PM.

 SILENTSHOK, on 05 April 2012 - 11:56 AM, said:

And dont' forget the second part....

"Signs are only for those going slower than 25mph...."  


Don't fret this stuff guys.  Just keep    Tens of thousands of miles of virgin trails just WAITING for a rider to grace them......

To the political rulemakers who seek to illegal steal freedoms  -      Bite my azz...

We are far too kind to our politicians and public servants who continually steal from the hand that feeds them.

 Dave Wood, on 05 April 2012 - 01:11 PM, said:

HOW could a tiny little trail like that bother anybody?  Not much moire than a game trail.  What reason do they put forth for desiring it closed?

 rxbandit, on 05 April 2012 - 03:34 PM, said:

It's time for a French revolution...OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!!

Affected roads and trails;

8N23B Prothro Headwater
8N35 Upper West Panther
9N01 blue lake to meadow lake
9N04 Mud Lake 4WD
9N08 Stockton Camp
9N15 Leek Spring Valley
9N54 Leoni
9N82 Pardoes 4WD
9N83 Dear Valley 4WD
9N95 Cosumnes Head
10N01 woods lake area?
10N03 Devils Gate Summer Home
10N06 Pebble Ridge
10N13 Schneider Camp 4WD (know as Strawberry 4WD)
10N14 Mule Canyon
10N21 Long Canyon 4WD
10N26 Scoits Creek
10N32 South Beanville Creek
10N98 Jim Quin Spring
10NY04 Middle Long Canyon
10NY05 Rocky Road
10NY06 Upper Long Canyon
11N09A Bryan Creek
11N22 Strawberry Creek
11N23F North Shanty Spur
11N26F Barrett Lake Jeep Trail
11NY32 47 milestone
12NY06 Crystal Shortcut
12NY15 West Robbs Peak
13N24 Dry Lakes
14N05 Mckinstry Lake
14N27 Bunker Meadow
14N39 Richardson Lake 4WD
14N58 Jerre
17E12 motorcycle trail strawberry to Lovers leap
17E16 motorcycle trail behind little round top
17E17 Buck meadows motorcycle trail17E19 motorcycle trail out of Allen camp
17E21 motorcycle trail north of Silver Lake
17E24 Mud lake trail<br>
17E28 motorcycle trail south of mud lake

Edited by Dave Wood, 05 April 2012 - 03:52 PM.

What are they going to do when people just start making new single track around the closures?? Ive been 4x4ing up this area, and its not like the existing trails are the only way to pass, you could literally pick any line and ride off the trail if you wanted(I didn't because I was doing the "right thing" and trying to respect the pretty much "honor code" system they use to keep people on the designated trails.  

How would they even enforce this? No parking on or near any national forrest if you have ramps in the back of your pickup??? Because they sure as hell wont be too efficient trying to catch random outlaw bikers riding through tens of thousands of acres of remote high county.

Eldorado national Forrest is gonna need a lot more rangers and there's no budget for that....

 Yellowbanana, on 05 April 2012 - 03:58 PM, said:

the drones are coming

 Slackkinhard, on 05 April 2012 - 04:05 PM, said:

LOL rocketing outlaws through the trees, I love it.   Blow up the Forrest - okay.... but dammnit you won't ride in it!!

The USFS did not close these routes, they designated these existing system routes.

A court has ordered the routes closed, while the El Dorado NF does the site specific analysis on each route.

The short answer is that the El Dorado NF considered the existing legal routes to be "outside of scope", not requiring site specific analysis.  So they did not do it.

Now they have been ordered to do the site specific analysis and may still designate the routes?  But in the interim the routes are closed.

Keep in mind that many more routes may be closed as a result of this court order.  The closed routes provide the access to other roads and trails.

Silly me-I was dreaming about a nice long summer in the Sierra's of riding, fishing etc. since last summer was so short. We played by the rules Curt and this is where it got us.
If memory serves isn't Judge Karlton the deciding Judge back in 2004 when this all started coming down?
And is this conservation group part of Karen's Klub?
Have we been pushed far enough?
At what point is the "tipping point?"
Now what?

Ed

I've preached for years it would do no good to play by the rules and that I rode anyways.  For that I was ostracized by many on here.  So I quit posting about my rides.  Funny how now guys are joining the vigilante bandwagon.  But, if you are planning to ride areas that are designated not open, there's a few things you should do to avoid detection.
1. Do not transport your bike in an open carry.  Use an enclosed trailer, or somehow cover or disguise the bike.  I usually leave my bike empty of fuel and lay it on it's side, then cover with a brown canvas tarp then throw fire wood on top of that.  
2. Do not leave anything in site around, on or in your truck when out riding that suggests a motorized vehicle.  All gas cans, ramps, gear bags, stands, etc. need to be kept out of site.
3. If you are able, set up in an unimproved campground and set up camp.  A pop-up umbrella tent, a table, stove, etc. makes it look like you are a camper, not a OHV rider.  Nothing to suggest OHV riding left out though.
4. Camo the bike.  Bright and shiny colors are visible from long distances.
5. Silence the bike.  It's pretty easy to keep a motorcycle's exhaust note to a low level.  Snorkels are great, double walled pipes, packing materials, etc.  can really keep the sound down.  Throttle control especially.  Tune the bike to develop it's power in the lower rpm range.
6. Trials tires are best to keep tracks to a bare minimum.
7. Access trails in such a way that that it is impossible to tell that there is a trail head even there.  I usually build mine on the back side of a camp spot behind the camp fire.  The eye focuses on the fire ring and the forest behind it, but rarely the ground beyond the raked out ring around the fire pit.  Walk the bike in a ways before starting it up and riding.
8. Brush out any tracks that are in the immediate area where you are staging.
9. Know who you are riding with and if you can count on them to observe the stealth techniques.  Also know if they are the type who have a big mouth and provide too much details to outsiders that could pinpoint riding area trails.  For example, if I'm riding a certain trail that goes between Union Valley Reservoir and Wrights Lake, I'll only say I've been riding the high sierras.
10. Change up your routes and especially the access to these trails so that they don't become entrenched and obvious.  If it looks to be anything approaching a deer trail, it's been over used.  Access a few yards up or down trail from that point, walking the bike in and brushing any tracks out with a pine branch.

I've been riding the local Sierra's and foothills for over 40 years and I'm not going to quit now.  I will avoid confrontation and I will avoid exposing my activities to anyone who I deem to be a foe.

If the pot growers can get away with having a multi million dollar industry growing in the forests, surely I can successfully ride in them for a few hours each week undetected.  It's not that hard.

Edited by Ski Pro 3, 05 April 2012 - 05:21 PM.

 Slackkinhard, on 05 April 2012 - 04:05 PM, said:

No they're not.  We passed legislation to keep them all up in the northwest where there's REAL forests.  No worries down here.  

 silverlakerider, on 05 April 2012 - 04:33 PM, said:

See, that was your problem.  Playing by rules that are rigged to cheat you always end in us getting the short end of the proverbial stick.

 silverlakerider, on 05 April 2012 - 04:33 PM, said:

I don't know about you, but I was pushed beyond the tipping point 5 years ago.  And it gets worse with every year.  I really could care less what the rules, regulations, or fines are.  I'm a responsible rider.  No one knows I was even there by the time my quiet muffler sound has dissipated.  If that is being a criminal, then what can I say?  Outlaw baby!

 silverlakerider, on 05 April 2012 - 04:33 PM, said:

Ride the THOUSANDS of miles of pristine singletrack that CA has to offer.      With more "growing" every year from what I've seen.  The greenies "plan" to box us in and make us extinct has backfired on them, and hundreds (if not thousands) of riders are saying "F the rules" and cutting new trail (responsibly) and riding existing trails that have been ridden since the 60's.  Draconian measures often end up that way.  Push some stranger just a little too hard, and don't be surprised if he gets pissed and pulls out a gun and shoots you.  Welcome to the new world order Mr. & Mrs. SC, CBD, USFS, & BLM.  You created it, and now you're going to have to deal with off-highway anarchy in the forest for the next couple of decades.   The US populace is used to access - Hunters, Fishermen, Hikers, Mtn Bikers, ATV's, 4X4's, and 2 wheeled motorcycles.  They ain't goin' away.