There is now a sign at the very top of Three Barrels (at the top of the short, steep, rocky section of fireroad) identical to the sign that has been down in the valley for some time.

Maybe I'm looking really hard for some sort of silver lining in this but I'm encouraged about where they chose to place the sign. I believe that the "NS3" sign is the true boundary and the sign I saw is considerably north of that -- north of Toad's; north of Grassy Knoll; and just north of the drop-in to Three Barrels. I'm sad that it's south of Iron Tread but I get the feeling that maybe they're playing nice and offering a compromise.

Please don't deface or damage the sign -- it's not going to open any closed trails and it'll only serve to piss-off the people who have the power to kick us completely out of there.

_________________
A bicycle is a splendid thing.
~Ernest Hemingway

Saw that sign today. I believe they got the sign in the wrong spot it should be 60 feet farther north so I'm going with that.

For those of us not totally up on the current mission trails drama... what's the sign say?

I'm guessing some version of KTFO of STFU.

_________________
Thus, if we are to understand the world, we should live somewhere between judgement and amazement — Alfredo Lopez Austin

I believe it's one of these:

^^^ Thanks Chuck -- I was looking around but couldn't find a picture. It's one of the two-post variety, like the one in the center of your photo.

_________________
A bicycle is a splendid thing.
~Ernest Hemingway

Does this mean that 3 barrels is still rideable as part of the loop?

The sign is pretty far north of the real boundary, but given the location of the sign it looks like they're going to allow people to ride 3 Barrels and trails to the south. I'll try to get out into Oak some time soon. If there are signs down there south of Toad's, or between Toad's and Grassy Knoll, then my hopeful speculation is all wrong.

_________________
A bicycle is a splendid thing.
~Ernest Hemingway

If most of the trails are open, then maybe we all should write a thank you letter to whoever in the Marines cut through the bullshit and got this done. You never know what a thank you letter can do.

Good thought, but I wouldn't write a letter until they make some kind of official statement first. Otherwise it could just be alerting some higher up stuffed shirt that his subordinate didn't mark the official boundaries. But meanwhile maybe thank the guys on the ground if you run into some that seem friendly.

_________________
Thus, if we are to understand the world, we should live somewhere between judgement and amazement — Alfredo Lopez Austin

Has there been any people getting stopped up there in spring/oak lately? Haven't heard anything in some time, and I haven't ridden there in ages. Saw some headlights on one of the ridgelines near spring/oak the other day from 52.

I rode Oak from Toad's to under 52 on Monday. Didn't see any signs.

I ride MT pretty regularly. Looks like the sign was posted over the weekend. I also haven't seen any patrols in resent months. Given the placement of the sign it appears crossing over from toads - 3 barrels or vice versa is ok. Anything north of posted sign going towards firing range is off limits which leaves 3 barrels, Mr. Toad, Krassy Knoll & Teote as legal trails.

Signs.... saw them Wednesday morning..... wonderful!

Wanted to check this out for myself, so I managed to play hooky from work and get in a noontime ride today. Rode out Spring then up 3 Barrels, and saw the aforementioned sign at the top:




Here's a wider shot showing the top of Iron Tread trail (aka Bracelet) to the left and the turnoff to 3B to the right. The sign is literally only about 50-60 feet before the start of the Iron Tread trail:




Another view showing the top few switchbacks on Iron Tread beyond the sign:





I rode down Grassy Knoll all the way to Oak Canyon, with no signs in sight. Then I rode north up Oak Cyn for about .6 miles when I came to this sign (notice in the second pic there's another sign visible a little further up the canyon):






This sign doesn't appear to be very new, although it's probably only been there for less than a year.

From there I turned around and backtracked down Oak and turned left to climb up Iron Tread. I didn't come across any more signs anywhere in Oak or Iron Tread, just the backside of the first one when I got back up top. Headed south from there and finished up with the always-fun descent down Teote.

So, even though the sign seems to block the top entrance to Iron Tread, if you ride it up from the bottom you can honestly say you didn't cross any signs.

Oh, by the way the trail conditions were fantastic, there were a few scattered raindrops hitting me throughout and not a speck of dust to be found.