Winter Trails Day at the Discovery CenterJanuary 8th, 2012

Rachael working it during the Winter Trails Day at the Big Bear Discovery Center. January 7, 2012.

Why Big Bear Is Cool #6: Holiday Traffic JamsDecember 31st, 2011

The holidays always bring various levels of pain and pleasure. Seeing your daughter ride her new bike for the first time: pleasure. Watching your brother in-law wince as he tries to drink a little spiked eggnog: pleasure. Driving into a tourist town at any moment between December 20th and January 2nd: pain. A whole heck of a lot of it. However, some times the pain is necessary… Read the rest of this entry »

USFS Sign SpecificationsDecember 8th, 2011

Everything you ever wanted to know about signing trails in the National Forest:

• United States Forest Service’s very comprehensive Sign and Poster Guidelines for the Forest Service
• A listing of all the above Guideline sections in PDF format
• Signage section from the USFS Trail Construction and Maintenance Notebook
• USFS Signposts for Snow Trails
• Forest Service Installation Guide
• IMBA Trail Difficulty Ratings and Signs
• Carsonite brand signage
• US Forest Service National Trail Drawings and Specifications with specific sign and post installation

Also check out the American Trails Resources and Library and Three Elements of Sustainable Trails.

Numbers, Numbers, Who’s Got the Numbers?November 20th, 2011

I would guess all of you that use the trails in and around Big Bear have wondered what kind of use they actually get.   The Trail Foundation has asked that same question.  And as you all should know we don’t just ask those questions but we try and find and answer.   With the help of Audrey Scranton, one of our Foundation Board member and a retired USFS professional, we were able to acquire the use of a trail counting device.  We decided to install it on the Pedal Path and just see what kind of numbers it generated.  We were amazed.   From 6/24/11 to 7/25/11 – one month – 23,629 passer-bys were counted.   Very interesting data and very useful.  But we began to realize this was very helpful being able to determine what kind of use would be even more helpful.  So The Trails Foundation voted to purchase a motion sensor camera that actually takes pictures of all that passes by its lense.  After some initial experimentation we decided to install both the simple counter and the camera on 2N10 from 9/1/11 to 9/23/11.  Again a big Wow. We counted 1883 “user triggers”  in that period. (A “user trigger” could be a single car or a group of 5 hikers. See the video below.) So what we now have is a rough count and a picture that will enable us to figure out who is using the trails. We have not had a chance to analyze the pictures yet because there are 1883 of them.  Want a job?  If someone had the time and would be willing to help with this analysis it would be very helpful.  All you have to do is step through each frame of the video and log how many of each type of forest user. Eighteen-hundred times. Contact us at info@bigbearvalleytrailsfoundation.org if you are interested.

At this point I am sure some of you are saying,  “that’s kind of neat but so what”.   The USFS and many granting agencies thrive on data.   And when we can show hard numbers of the volume of trail use in Big Bear Valley we think this will be excellent data that USFS can use to support staffing and money requests and when we apply for grants it give us great data to support grants requests.

I also would guess some of you wonder what we do with your money.   The purchase of the motion camera came totally from the Big Bear Trails Foundation budget.   We work hard to use your money in a responsible and helpful way to make big bear valley a non-motorized-friendly community.  Support us when you can.  If you want to see if you are a current member go to our web site and look under Supporters.

Through The Rain, Through The Mud… We Kept On RidingNovember 14th, 2011

So I had this amazing idea (or so I thought) that myself, Peter, Colin and Driz should form a team and go race at the 12 hours of Temecula mountain bike race at Vail Lake Resort in Southern California.  Everyone agreed and was as crazy as I so we made plans to race, and to wear our trails foundation jerseys in the process!  Well Colin dropped out because he was in a wedding, a valid excuse, so in stepped Dawn, Driz’s awesome wife, and we had our team.

For those that dont know what kind of race a 12 hour bike race is like, you can do it solo, in a duo team or a four person team.  Team members take laps, one at a time, and pass the baton onto the next person.  We were a four person team – 2 men, 2 women!

 Fast forward to  a week before the race… we were all registered… then we see the weather forecast… rain, and alot of it…. Well we were still in.  I showed up at the race venue the night before, set up camp and rain started at 4:00am the day of the race.  It rained until 15 minutes before the race started, and as you would guess it, I was volunteered by my teammates to take the first lap.  I took off in a pack of people up thick muddy trails.  Everyone was able to take their first lap on course with no rain.  I take off on my second lap and a mile into the 10.2 mile lap it starts to rain.  60 degree weather and dropping, its raining… well I start riding harder, and the mud starts flying.  Soon my glasses are so covered in mud I put them in my back pocket, and keep on riding.  On a few down hill sections the mud is thick and slimy so going down the trail is like being on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.  

I came back in splattered in mud, smiling my muddy smile, and passed the baton to Driz who took off in the rain, and came back even more muddy and wet than I.  Peter was next up, and also rode in the rain, and came back drenched, cold and mud everywhere.  Well Miss Dawn didnt have to take a 2nd lap, because the race coordinator decided to call the race early due to unsafe conditions, and by unsafe I mean where Driz was having to walk his bike up a steep hill, and it was so muddy, he slipped and fell on his rear.  

We packed up, grabbed a bite to eat and headed home, but the day was great overall, we passed out a few brochures and some people were really interested in helping with trail maintenance.   We already have plans for the next one, and if you want to join us, let us know!