Adrian

Yeah, this ... ugh. The legality/ethical issue notwithstanding, I experienced a similar degree of confusion trying to figure out if I could ride the greenbelt a few weeks ago. Funemployment! I visited the city website and read the page on the parks closures and to see if I could figure it out. I couldn't. The language there was really unclear, non-specific, and seemed contradictory in spots. Doesn't seem like it has improved any. I went and rode Reimers' instead.

also school buildings

A similar topic came up in a conversation recently and I'm interested in surveying the responses to see if they're different than what's been posted here, on Mojo, and elsewhere in the past. I'll take a flyer though: It depends, right? I assume you're thinking of somewhere in the SATN - there certainly are many trails there that match your description. The SATN doesn't - and correct me if I'm wrong - have the sort of stewardship governance that trails like Slaughter Creek, etc. have. So everything is kinda tenuous and ad-hoc. Some good (Thanks for the mini ramps, whomever), some bad (sanitizing, widening, and other blandification - please stop.). Certainly there are different opinions on what is fun, safe, etc. You're kinda left with consulting with some like-minded folks publicly or privately for a sanity check. Kinda just like you're doing here. Personally, I think the strongest argument for such change that you've listed is erosion repair/mitigation of fall line trails. Those guys are just going to get worse and we should, as a community, be advocates for sustainable trail construction. Again personally, I don't care about the Strava stuff. Anyways, whomever's KOM wouldn't be made irrelevant - it'd be made permanent. 🙂 I'm much more interested in trails being fun, challenging, and most importantly, still there tomorrow.

It is not just you.

In the last several years I've come across a number of rat snakes, garter snakes, some water (? or maybe just rat snakes in a small muddy pool - there were a handful of them swimming in there - creepy) snakes, and one, fat, really P.O.ed rattlesnake. Almost all of these in the SATN. The rattlesnake I'd come up on quickly around a bend. This was at Bauerle Ranch Park just up the hill from the pond maybe 2 years ago. The grass was sorta high on each side of the trail and I didn't see it until I made the turn and it was right in front of me. I thought it was a downed branch laying across the trail. Until I was almost on it and I saw it move. I bunny hopped it (really poorly) and stopped to turn around and make sure my wife didn't follow me right over it. She didn't, thankfully. We kept our distance since we really couldn't see where he'd went in the grass but were surprised at how loud the rattle was. Surprisingly, I've not seen a coral snake on the trails although my wife has several times.

Ah... I think we've ridden past the eastern 'exit' of this and I'd wondered where the western end was. Thanks, going to give this a try next time we're out that way.