Aluminum Locusts

Posted on June 10, 2004 in Hikes and Trails

Every sixty seconds or ten paces, I had to step aside for yet another trail biker on the Serrano Cow Trail in Whiting. These insects seem to have no clue about the regulations or that the purpose of their speedometers is to keep within the posted speed limit.

In Orange County parks, horses have the right of way over hikers and hikers have the right of way over trail bikes. Trail bikers rushing down the Serrano Cow Trail don’t stop when the trail is too narrow to hold both them and a hiker. I saw them cut the trail or attempt to run me down. By the time I got to the end of the quarter mile segment, I chewed out every biker who showed no manners.

What has happened to the Serrano Cow Trail due to the bikers is ecological destruction: a nice stretch of shaded riparian woodland is rubbed to bare dirt. With their wheels, trail bikers have chewed the grass off the earth.