What I hear is riders who say they like jumping trees, what I see is 90% of the time there is no way anyone could stay on the trail and Ride over the down tree. The evidence I see is a cluster of tracks going every which way to get around the downed tree(s). Off the bank, up the bank, cutting switchbacks...Often I see tracks rolling off a bank to cut one or more switchback turns and the group finally encounters downfall, snowdrift, trail washed out, stream crossing that is way beyond dangerous. The group is forced to turn back and switchbacks they rolled off, now become a hillclimb. When the trail is bucked, those go arounds have to be fixed. If not, those tracks become the new trail in some cases, or erode into deep ruts.
While some trees do fall on level ground and it is possible to just ride around the tree and leave no tracks, what I witness is wheel spinning carnage, as riders "burn" in multiple lines around the tree, berms, ruts, wheel spinning, digging and trenching, creating a mess. If riders would simply go around and leave no trace, no problem. Responsible riders do and there is nothing to fix. Even better is coming up on down trees and seeing fresh sawdust and the trail cleared by the rider or group of riders who got there earlier.
It takes a lot of work to build and maintain trails. Our land managers make excuses, like they don't have the time, money or manpower to build new OHV trails. They jump on a Trail Tractor and convert the single track trail into another wide, unsafe, below grade, unsustainable Quad/PUV route. A large number of unskilled riders think its great to see a freshly graded route. They can't ride ones overpowered 450 mxer on a trail, but once its graded into a Quad route, look at me go...wham, head on, now whinning and advocating for one-way routes. The squids show up on the pristine trails and more trail lost...
My experiance is the riders who help build/maintain trails get it. They have lost many trails to Quads and the willful mismanagement of OHV areas by many land managers. Can anyone name a major OHV area in California where the single track can be described "Pristine"? I would suggest it is hard to find a Pristine, legal, single track within one of the major OHV areas. Most have bulldozed Quad crap routes, not trails. Stonyford, Upper Lake, Foresthill, Gorman are examples.
The trail rider who rides Pristine trails is seldom willing to share information about ones favorite trails on the internet. Some riders want to return and ride ones favorite trail in the future, others just want to conquer it. Despite the fact that the trail is not suited to ones bike or ability. Others think its ones personal race track to moto, A-line the trail, (cut the trail every chance they get).
I think Dirt Bike riders are great people. If you love this sport enough to buy a bike, gear and a vehicle to transport your bike, to ride trails. I would think you would want to help take care of the trails/areas you enjoy riding? Here come the excuses...
