Mountain Bikes on National Scenic Trails

[HermesUL]

If something is built and designed as a multi-use trail, so be it; that's a great thing and people can share the trail that is designed and will work well for mountain bikers and hikers alike.

I'm a hiker, I've only mountain biked a few times, and I've never been to the PCT, but here's my two cents on the topic:

However, the PCT is a long distance hiking trail, and should be kept that way. It's not really even a question of following etiquette; I can't see a way that bikers can both follow etiquette and have fun, due to the slower speed needed for safety of both parties and the limited size of the trail. It's also a question of the frequency of bikers--there will always be areas that are very popular to bikers for whatever reason, and as a result they will be impossibly unsafe to hikers.

Additionally, mountain biking is much more unsafe, and due to the high speeds that bikes travel they will often be much more seriously injured and much further from civilization than an injured hiker would be; it then falls on those in the area to administer emergency care and to disrupt their own plans to take this person to safety. My impression is that the PCT is much more isolated and there simply is nothing like the kind of infrastructure that would need to be in place for rescuing injured bikers 50 or 100 miles from the nearest road--and to develop that would not only be impossibly expensive but would mar the hiker's wilderness experience.

It's just not safe to be mountain biking even 15 miles from a road, because the earliest you could receive care would be two days from the injury, and only after a huge amount of help from others.

I feel that the needs of hikers and bikers on a long distance trail are very different, and in some cases irreconcilably so. Some places invite working together and sharing the trail, but these trails need to be specifically designed with their multi-use nature in mind, rather than building a trail for hikers and allowing mountain bikes where they are disruptive and unsafe.

[Maui Rhino]

I've thought a lot about this lately as I just finished the CT experiencing first hand that multi-user trail. I'm not definitively for or against allowing mountain biking on hiking trails but do have some considerations, concerns, and reservations with it. I admittedly am mainly a long distance hiker but do mountain bike ocassionally on some multi use trails. However, I am also not a hard core Type A personality mountain bike whenever and where ever I can hair on fire mountain biker which can be quite common in some areas like I largely came in contact with on the CT. I do seek common ground for multi-use where it seems it would work though.

I agree with what much of Maui Rhino posted although I would like to specifically know which trail(s) on Maui he was referring to as multi use, meaning mountain biking is legally shared too. I would also remind everyone that Haleakala is a National Park which I don't think should be opened to mountain bikers universally because of the extremely sensitive fauna, fauna, and environments that often entail.

First, we must realize not all National Scenic Trails(NST's) are equally built, routed, funded, and maintained and the various dfferent trails don't all entail the same terrain, nor have the same climate, geology, wilderness concerns, usage, etc. associated with them. Sometimes, even on the same trail, these factors can change abruptly along the entire length of the trail. So, making a blanket proposal to allow mountain biking, stock, and/or equestrian use, as well as hiking, on all NST's or on entire NST's is dubious at best. For example, on the CT mountain biking isn't allowed in Wilderness Areas. Could be partly wrong about this, but it's my guess that decision was made because of the sensitive nature of those Wilderness Areas and the adverse impact that mountain biking might or would have on these areas. Personally, and this may be selfish of me, I was relieved not having to contend with the masses of mountain bikers in Wilderness Areas of the CT that I OFTEN experienced on different segments of the CT, like on the Monarch Crest, the segments between Breckenridge and Kenosha Pass, and on the last 10 miles or so going SOBO into Durango. In those segments, while thru-hiking in mid-late Sept into the second wk of Oct. it got to be overwhelming, at least to me, in that I was stepping off the trail to allow mountain bikers to pass on narrow single track literally every 10 mins. I could imagine even greater mountain bike usage as well as many more hikers if it had been summer or if I hiked those segments during fairer weather on weekends. No way! These experiences, in those well used mountain biking also allowed segments, DEFINITELY negatively impacted my CT thru-hike. Mind you, that was not because I shared the trail with a few courteous and considerate mountain bikers who understood and followed the right of way protcols which I should also follow by yielding to stock and equestrians as a hiker and which isn't normally an issue to me but because of the sheer masses of mountain bikers I came in contact with. I don't know the best solution to this issue but I could only see it getting increasingly problematic as an increasingly greater number of mixed users share the trail on these segments and possibly other segments.

Another concern I had was that I started noticing a pattern with my encounters with mountain bikers on the CT that I suspect are emulated else where. While the majority of CT cyclists were courteous and considerate as to me sharing the trail, often letting me know they were coming up behind me, were passing on the left, slowing down, etc they virtually universally, all but one in the, I guess 500-600 or so mountain bikers I met up with on my CT thru-hike, expected me to stop hiking and get off the trail to allow them, sometimes without even slowing down, to pass by still staying within the tread, even though they could have passed me by going outside the tread. In my mind, that was not them following protocol, yielding to me. What I would have appreciated, was experiencing more mountain bikers stopping, placing their feet on the ground, getting off their bikes, and walking their bikes around me safely which I only experienced once in the 500-600 mountain bikers I encountered while on the CT. And this stands to reason as to what can be typical, at least in my mountain biking experiences; some(many?) mountain bikers don't like putting our feet on the ground when ever possible, and certainly not always in regards for others. Some mountain bikers even find it a challenge going the whole distance without ever having to place a foot on the ground, stopping , or only slowing down enough to not crash into atree or going over a cliff! IMO, mountain bikers who behaved by yelling at me from behind, "COMING THROUGH, not slowing down or even minimally slowing down and ALWAYS expecting me to get off the trail outside of the tread for them to pass by staying within the tread was NOT them yieding to me! This is one area where I see potential negative encounters, on narrow single track where cyclists with the get out of my way mentality and hikers, who even though it's not following porotocol, stubbornly refuse to ocassionally get out of the tread for mountain bikers. As far as on double track and on roads like Waterton Canyon on the CT or perhaps on the AT on the canal road like right after leaving Harpers Ferry or on the PCT on some stretches in SoCal I can't see any significant reasons why the two users can't happily mutually enjoy the trail.

Interestingly, I found CT thru-cyclists to be generally better adjusted to the trail and generally more courteous and considerate than the weekend warrior Type A go a sfast as they can with their hair on fire type mountain bikers.

I can't speak directly to what the mountain biking community is doing as a whole nationally or even regionally, but it's my contention the mountain biking community associated with the CT is not leeching off the work of others as one poster suggested but has engaged in obvious, at least to me, CT trail construction and maintenance, that not only benefits cyclists but also hikers as well as equestrians. I can only welcome more of this mutual trail cooperation elsewhere. Plus, you CAN NOT ignore the exploding(exploded?) popularity of mountain biking paricularly in places like Colorado and the potential economic benefits that cycling enthusiasts offer to local economies, that are often hurting, and therefore command and demand a voice! Mountain biking and mountain bikers are not going away anytime soon! It's also my contention that mountain bikers don't typically add to significant trail destruction anymore than hikers although that depends on trail construction methods, routing, maintenace practices, grade, trail elected for muti use designation, extent of usage, etc just as it does for hikers and stock.

However, I think governing authorities need to make informed carefully considered decisions as to what trails and/or what sections of trails are appropriate for multi-use. I think they are overwhelmingly doing that!

Great comments, Dogwood. To answer your question as to which trails on Maui are multi-use, there are 8 official Na Ala Hele trails that are legally open to mountain bikes. (For those of you unfamiliar with Na Ala Hele, it is the division of the DLNR charged with managing and implementing the statewide trails and access program.) The majority (7) of the trails are located in Polipoli State Park/Kula Forest Reserve: Skyline, Mamane, Upper Waiohuli, Upper Waiakoa, Waiakoa Loop, Boundary, and Redwood. All of the trails are also open to hiking and hunting, and most of them are also open to equestrian use. The only other trail legally open to mountain bikes on Maui is the Kahakapao Loop Trail located in the Makawao Forest Reserve. This is the trail that I was refering to in my earlier post regarding the heavy use it receives and the plans to develop additional trails.

The comments about most mountain bikers not yielding the trail bed to hikers is also very accurate, in my experience, although I disagree that most cyclists expect the hikers to yeild. What I see most frequently is that hikers automatically step aside as soon as they become aware of an approaching cyclist, often long before I am in a position to exit the trail bed and go around them. My usual response in that case is to smile and thank them, and frequently to ask if they are enjoying their hike, as I ride by in a controlled manner (assuming the trail is wide enough to safely do so). To expect a cyclist to dismount and walk past the hiker in this very common scenario is not realistic. If the trail is tight and there is little room to safely pass, I will stop, pull my bike to the side, and wait for them to pass me, again smiling and talking to them.

However, every situation is different, both in terms of the trail conditions and the people people involved. This makes it very hard to make blanket statements. To a hiker, used to travelling at 2~3mph, a bicyclist passing him at 10mph might seem to be going dangerously fast. That same cyclist may very well feel that slowing down to 10mph was very reasonable and safe. Different people having different perceptions of the same event.

Again, it highlights the need to educate all users in order to reduce conflicts. "Share the trail" is not only about yeilding the trail bed. It also implies that you should try to see things through the other person's point of view. You don't have to agree with them, but at least attempt to see where they are coming from.

[xokie]

I can see the AT as well as other trails succumbing to the bicycle lobby in the US. Seems that bikers have a lot of professional/political riders as well as support for same. Mountain bikes will turn, although much slower, a hiking trail into an eroded Baja mud-bog. I see battle lines drawn.

Wheeled things make long deep ruts down which water will flow. Erosion. Low areas become mud holes.

[garlic08]

It has been my pleasure to be involved with the nascent Arizona National Scenic Trail. The AZT has been built for and by bicyclists from it's beginning. Bicyclists routinely show up for work events, some of which are even sponsored by bicycling-related vendors like Fat Tire beer (now those are great events). I was recently a crew boss in charge of a group of cyclists who were earning points from IMBA (Int'l MTB Assoc), so they are sponsoring trail work, too. It's really a pleasure to watch an old-time Arizona rancher-equestrian work elbow-to-elbow with a young biker. At the last Rendezvous, a yearly social event at Mormon Lake (neither of which is true), the keynote speaker was Kurt Refsneider, a champion mountain bicyclist and holder of the AZT record (7 days!). Multi-use is working here, and all seem to be gaining from it.

[staehpj1]

As a trail runner, backpacker, and mountain biker I don't see it as such a bad thing. Maybe we are just lucky here, but on my local area trails the mountain bikers seem to be polite and responsible trail users with only very rare exceptions. They also do trail maintenance and do a good job of it.

I don't feel too strongly one way or the other on this issue. I do think some trails should be for hikers only, but I also don't mind sharing the trail either.

[SpottedCow]

Wheeled things make long deep ruts down which water will flow. Erosion. Low areas become mud holes.

Trails are closed to mountain bikers when it's muddy. If you're leaving ruts on the trail, you shouldn't be biking on it. Mountain bikers follow this rule.

[leaftye]

Here's one of the reasons to keep mountain bikers off the PCT. Too many of them expect a biking trail to be built differently than a hiking trail, and some of them will inevitably destroy anti-erosion features in their effort to make the trail easier to ride.

They are either doing the sanitation, or doing nothing about it. Every day for the last month rocks have been removed. Destructively removed via sledgehammer.

Where we build check dams and water bars to slow down water and shift it off the trail, a mountain biking trail sanitizer might see them as something that trips them up or kills their momentum, and end up destroying dozens of man hours of volunteer work at each feature with a few swings of their hammer or simply by pulling rocks out by hand and rolling them down the mountain.

Worse yet, they might do the worst thing. Build up the outside berm. That's bad anywhere, but on a hiking and horse riding trail like the PCT, we build long turning platforms because it is a hiking and horse riding trail. The long platforms are needing by stock carrying riders and panniers to make the turn. The last thing we need is all our good work undone and replaced with big berms that will make the trail unusable by stock and greatly increase erosion. It'd be even worse if they incise the trail to create a bigger berm. That would only add to the closely related problem of trail incision caused directly by mountain bikes.

I can only hope that no mountain biking crew is so reckless and to take it upon themselves to reroute the trail or cut switchbacks to get around the too easy 3% grade and make themselves a more technical and highly erosion-prone route.

So there's problems on both sides. The risk is some mountain bikers will destroy the trail to make it easier to ride, while others will destroy it to make it more technically challenging.

[Grampie]

Last year I hiked the Creeper trail into Damascus. The Creeper Trail is a multi use trail and is mainely used by bike riders. The Creeper Trail is built on a once rail bed and is nicely graded and quite wide. When walking the trail with a full back pack on you have to continuely turn to see approaching bike riders comming and afford them plenty of room to pass. They always assumed that they had the right of way. I could just imagine these riders on the AT. Hikers would be the ones havimng to yield to the bike riders.
The AT was built for hikers by hikers. The AT trail system is now maintained and governed by hikers and should be kept that way.
The biker folks should loby for, fund and build their own trails to ride on and keep the AT a "No wheeled vehicle" trail.

[Dogwood]

While I appreciate and totally agree with most of your post Garlic08, the AZT, which is a National Scenic Trail, was NOT built for bicyclists it was built to include bicyclists and it was not specifically built by bicyclists it was built by several groups, some of which you mention, of which one group was the mountain biking community. To my knowledge, the mountain biking community that showed up to do trail construction on the AZT and continues to show up to do trail work is significant and an integral part of that trail being the trail that it is! And, although the AZT is a multi use NST and that's working there for the parameters and present amount of usage for that trail, mountain biking IS NOT allowed in Wilderness and specially managed areas on the AZT, similiar to the CT. Again, lots of things to consider when allowing multi use on trails or specifiaclly NST's!

[garlic08]

...the AZT, which is a National Scenic Trail, was NOT built for bicyclists it was built to include bicyclists and it was not specifically built by bicyclists...

You're absolutely right and thanks for the correction. That's what I meant to say. I also agree with the rest of your comments.

[RockDoc]

Hikers and bikes should be kept separated. There's nothing more shocking and upsetting than suddenly having mountain bikers (usually several) flying towards you at 20 mph. They are almost silent. It is a very dangerous situation.

[Tinker]

I know White Blaze is usually about AT topics, but this could soon affect the AT as well and I believe this issue involves the entire hiking community. I also know that many AT hikers have or will hike the PCT at some point. The mountain biking community is petitioning the US Forest Service to open non-Wilderness portions of the PCT to Mountain Bikes. It would be a shame if the trail was over run with bikes by the time you get there. Just as the AT does not allow bikes, we wish to keep the PCT as quiet, peaceful, and as close to a natural wilderness experience as possible. Here are some discussions on the internet you may be interested in joining.
http://forums.mtbr.com/passion/big-n...ct-816289.html
http://www.facebook.com/SharingThePct?ref=stream
http://www.facebook.com/SavethePCT?fref=ts

Yet another reason to avoid ultralight hiking sticks -

Why?

The heavy duty ones won't break when you stick them in the spokes.

...........and I'm not posting this in the humor forum (but I probably should - someone's going to get angry - sorry).

[Tipi Walter]

I can see the AT as well as other trails succumbing to the bicycle lobby in the US. Seems that bikers have a lot of professional/political riders as well as support for same. Mountain bikes will turn, although much slower, a hiking trail into an eroded Baja mud-bog. I see battle lines drawn.

In reference to "friction". Trail maintenance clubs will be the ones to fight tooth and nail to keep bikes off trails. If you research the number of trails these guys have gained access to over the years, especially in Colorado, you'll see what their organized lobbying can do. I've been on foot traffic only trails only to run up on ramps built in the middle of the trail to aid the bikers into attempting to fly. Idiots.

This is the attitude I like to see and reflects my own. I can't stand bicycles on the trails I hike and backpack. Here's the reason why---I go out in the woods south of the Smokies---the Nantahalas and the Cherokee NF and the mountains of TN and NC---and get to hear nonstop jet traffic overhead, Army helicopters running god knows what missions, screaming motorcycles on the "scenic byways" below the mountain ridges, all the while inhaling the TN valley stink-smog which has made the GSMNP the most air polluted park in the country. And then some motards want to take over forest trails with their bicycles?

Haven't Americans had enough of their love of rolling and their wheel addictions? Isn't the zillion miles of roads we have in the US enough to keep the pedal addicted satisfied? Nope, they want it all. Here's a factoid, boys---Wilderness areas in the Southeast like Cohutta and Dolly Sods and Lewis Fork and Little Wilson and Slickrock and Citico and Big Frog are off limits to your frenzy. THANK GOD FOR THIS.

In the meantime guys you can still access these lands but on foot. It's called Walking.

[Lone Wolf]

the Iron Mtn. trail allows bikes, motorcycles, horses and walkers

[sbennett]

As someone who enjoys hiking as much as mountain biking I honestly wish there were "hiking only" trails and "mountain bike only" trails. To a certain degree, difficulty of terrain eliminates a lot of bikers but it's certainly terrifying having someone run up on you with no warning. On the other hand, my local MTB trails in Charlotte (ones that mountain bikers built themselves) are sometimes overrun with hikers and you can't actually get any decent speed up. I like having no bikes in the Smokies. I also like having little to no hikers in Tsali.

[xokie]

Trails are closed to mountain bikers when it's muddy. If you're leaving ruts on the trail, you shouldn't be biking on it. Mountain bikers follow this rule.

Kind of like all hikers always follow Leave No Trace rules?

[Tinker]

As someone who enjoys hiking as much as mountain biking I honestly wish there were "hiking only" trails and "mountain bike only" trails. To a certain degree, difficulty of terrain eliminates a lot of bikers but it's certainly terrifying having someone run up on you with no warning. On the other hand, my local MTB trails in Charlotte (ones that mountain bikers built themselves) are sometimes overrun with hikers and you can't actually get any decent speed up. I like having no bikes in the Smokies. I also like having little to no hikers in Tsali.

I hear ya!

In the late 1980s and early 1990s we had no official mountain bike trails when I started riding offroad. I rode for the challenge and the adrenaline rush. I hiked (at the same time) for peace and mental/emotional refreshing.

I don't think you can have it both ways in the same place at the same time.

ATB only trails are few and far between. We need more (mountain bikers need to build and maintain more ).

Often, the words to a song will pop into my head when thinking about a subject - in this it's "You gotta keep 'em separated". With that, I'll leave a big .

[oldbear]

(Trails are closed to mountain bikers when it's muddy. If you're leaving ruts on the trail, you shouldn't be biking on it. Mountain bikers follow this rule.)
You can have trail that appears dried out from a hiking POV But when a mountain bike rides across it at a slow 8 mph it reveals itself to be still very wet underneath
Speaking of mph there is a huge speed differential between hiking and cycling speeds
A cyclist can barely remain upright and maintain headway at the speeds that most hikers walk at.
If a cyclists is moving along at a leisurely 10 mph and he comes around a blind downhill bend in trail which contains a bunch of hikers moving at 2 mph he's gonna have a snap snap decision to make :
Hit the hit hikers or hit the trees ; neither one of which are good

[xokie]

Agree with Dogwood. On almost every trail I have walked that allowed bikes and foot travel, 99% of the riders would expect me(the hiker) to get out of their way so they could keep going.
It's supposed to be the other way around!

In the spirit of multiple use tools a good set of trekking poles could come in handy for that 99%.

[bamboo bob]

As a trail runner, backpacker, and mountain biker I don't see it as such a bad thing. Maybe we are just lucky here, but on my local area trails the mountain bikers seem to be polite and responsible trail users with only very rare exceptions. They also do trail maintenance and do a good job of it.I don't feel too strongly one way or the other on this issue. I do think some trails should be for hikers only, but I also don't mind sharing the trail either.

I too think there's plenty of room for everybody. On the PCT the horses do as much damage as bikers. There's horse allowed in the GSNP and they have eroded the trail. Why not get bike clubs involved in the trail like the horseman are and get them doing trail work, etc./ I hiked the TRT where there are lot's of bikes and I found them pleasant to talk to and courteous. They yelled "first of three" etc when they rode by. This is a fight that doesn't have to be . We must get along with people who like to play outside. People who hike, bike, paddle, ride without machinery. We need everyone's support to keep the outdoors a nice place to be.