The first sign in this series of pictures has been showing up in a lot of the local parks, and was created and placed by the county’s open space / parks and rec department. And while there are certainly legitimate complaints and concerns about riders riding too fast on multi-use, bi-direction trails, it’s always stuck in my craw that there is not and never has been any other messaging to address other bad behavior in the parks, or to even educate other trail users about the overall use patterns on the local trails.

About 10 years ago the county restricted mountain bike use in one particular park on odd days, and so now most mountain bikers only go to that park on the even days — those are the days the fun trail is open to descend. No other user groups have travel restrictions at this park. So IMNSHO the county essentially just threw gasoline on an already hot topic (the use restrictions) and made it worse with these signs that blamestorm behavior which they essentially created with a shitty management policy.

So apparently someone decided to address the issue, that other issues weren’t being addressed. They went guerrilla style on it, and made up a few signs to mimic the county’s sign, and hopefully educate other trail users in the process. Seriously, whoever did this has my thanks. I’d like to buy them a beer. Who knows how long these signs will stay up, but with any luck the county will get the point.