[Geysers] Mountain Bikes on Nat'l Park trails

[Jeff Cross]

Mountain bikes do not belong in Yellowstone's backcountry.  With the exception of old roads that have been designated as trails, I see many opportunities for thoughtless actions to result in the destruction of resources, as well as the overcrowding of backcountry geyser basins with bike enthusiasts who aren't there to appreciate the geysers, peace and quiet, nature, or anything else that Park visitors might value.

I still vividly remember being out at Lone Star and seeing an adolescent male using the cone of Sputtering Mound geyser for a bike jump...

This is a really bad idea.  I hope it never happens.

Jeff Cross
jeff.cross at wallawalla.edu
________________________________________
From: geysers-bounces at lists.wallawalla.edu [geysers-bounces at lists.wallawalla.edu] On Behalf Of Udo Freund [gosastore at roadrunner.com]
Sent: Saturday, December 20, 2008 10:36 AM
To: Geyser Observation Reports
Subject: [Geysers] Mountain Bikes on Nat'l Park trails

The Billings Gaz-bag  ... err, Gazette ...  has an article in today's
edition about rules changing for mountain bikes on trails.  URL:
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/12/20/news/wyoming/20-bikes.txt
Comments anyone?

I offer a few of my own.  1) Bikes in bear country are a bad mix and
resultant liability will be an issue.  Hikers and trail bikers are
almost as bad a mix.  Perhaps signed written waivers should be
required.  2) Keeping bikes on trails is similar to keeping vehicles on
designated roads.  There will always be a few idiots who will go
anywhere they want.  Of course they wouldn't care about any damage they
cause nor would they want to accept responsibility (liability again) for
that.  3) Bikes do carve ruts in trails so who will be financially and
physically responsible for trail upkeep?  As I understand things, there
are limited resources for hiking trails, which probably require less
maintenance.

Udo


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