Noble Canyon re-route

mongooseboy · **Posted:** Fri Jan 03, 2014 7:55 pm

IMHO I think the word "unsustainable" has been used to legitimize a lot of trail dumbing down lately. I think a lot of people are now suspicious when ever a entity be it the County, the Forest Service, SDMBA or whom ever calls a long established trail "unsustainable". There are a lot of examples of the word "unsustainable" being used to wreck perfectly good trails and the reroutes even less sustainable than what had preceded it. Martha's in Sycamore Canyon is a perfect example a trail that pre-dates most of the current land managers and yet said managers saw fit to amend the trail and now it is a complete mess. The new(ish) Beller Canyon connector is another example of a very poorly constructed trail that has no chance of standing the test of time.
I can see both sides of the Nobel debate. I'll take the wait and see attitude, that road crossing sketches me out every time I ride Nobel, I for one won't miss gritting my teeth and hoping no ones on the road. I also agree that Nobel has been there a long long time and the excuse that it is an unsustainable trail just doesn't hold water. The re-route looks good on paper; lets hope the work goes as it is being billed.

24v · **Posted:** Fri Jan 03, 2014 8:01 pm

DHbomber wrote:

Steve & Mark are officially banned from ATT one soil gets moved there again or sticks put back on established trail we are going to have a problem.

You were actually an interesting and seemingly intelligent poster....until that last line. You just jumped the shark imho.

racerbill · **Posted:** Fri Jan 03, 2014 8:07 pm

I ride the Mount Laguna area quite often. I have met ranger will and Mark out there many times. The reroutes that Ranger will put in are fun and have improved my mountain biking experience out there. Mark does a lot of work maintaining Noble Canyon and working with the forest service to improve the trails for all of us. If you don't like what is going on with the trail system and the forest service get involved otherwise quit bitching about people who are involved.

Dirtrider · **Posted:** Fri Jan 03, 2014 8:10 pm

If this section of trail is where I'm thinking, it has a huge rain rut running right down the middle of it.
During a father/son ride about two months ago, one of the dads ate crap right there after the front wheel dropped in that rut. The trail is very hard packed with lite sand on top which for most is not a real fun outcome waiting to happen. I really don't want any of the trails to have the rocks, etc removed to make them more rideable but tire grabbing ruts in the middle of the trail makes sense to change, IMHO...whatever that is..

What would be really nice is to have another route for the DH crowd to enjoy as they get warmed up for Noble

racerbill · **Posted:** Fri Jan 03, 2014 8:13 pm

That would be the definition of unsustainable. That rut will only get deeper as water runs down it, a sustainable trail will run along the contours of the hillside emptying water intermittently.

Dirtrider · **Posted:** Fri Jan 03, 2014 8:21 pm

racerbill wrote:

That would be the definition of unsustainable. That rut will only get deeper as water runs down it, a sustainable trail will run along the contours of the hillside emptying water intermittently.

Yep

Ray Dolor · **Posted:** Fri Jan 03, 2014 11:19 pm

racerbill wrote:

That would be the definition of unsustainable. That rut will only get deeper as water runs down it, a sustainable trail will run along the contours of the hillside emptying water intermittently.

I was hoping that is what they are talking about. To create another straight-off fall line trail would be stupid.
Not to mention the aforementioned issue of brake bumps.

Like it or not, Noble is and always has been a multi-use trail, and it existed before the mtb came into being.

random walk · **Posted:** Sat Jan 04, 2014 9:48 am

Ray Dolor wrote:

Personally, I think the re-route idea above looks like it has good potential, as that straight drop leading into the first of the two upper road crossings is so brake-bumped out that it's a bit of an embarrassment to those of us who maintain the position that bicycles can have the least amount of impact on trail surfaces erosion-wise, as found in more than one study of trail wear comparing hikers, equestrians, and bicycles.

All the haters do is point to sections of trail like that one on Noble, and they have a ready-made example to the contrary.

Sad to say, that is a really good point.

OldDogDan · **Posted:** Mon Jan 06, 2014 10:11 pm

In the interest of shedding light on the topic, here is a link to another forum's thread which contains pictures of the old and new routes. A warning though, it also includes an anecdote about a naked 400lb trucker.

http://forums.mtbr.com/california-socal/noble-canyon-re-route-893642.html#post10920431

Noble Canyon re-route

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