Riders Resist the Wheel

‘Bicyclists and equestrians just don’t mix. They are not compatible.’

--Loren Lutz

Eaton Canyon Assn.

Strawberry Sunday, said Loren Lutz, is not what you would call an excitable horse.

The 21-year-old appaloosa that Lutz rides every day on the trails of Eaton Canyon often gets so tired that Lutz walks alongside to give his loyal mount a rest.

But since bicyclists began using the trails about a year ago, Lutz said, Strawberry Sunday has lost her usual calm. Several times she has bucked him off after being frightened by bike riders, and in one instance, a bicyclist and the horse actually collided, sending Lutz, horse and cyclist all tumbling to the ground.

Officials of the Eaton Canyon Assn., who say that accidents between bicyclists and horses injured at least 12 equestrians in the canyon last year, said they will “wage war” to ban bikes from the narrow and winding dirt trails. Horses, they say, are easily startled by bicyclists, even at points where the trails are straight and wide.

200 Members

“Bicyclists and equestrians just don’t mix,” said Lutz, vice president of the 200-member association. “They are not compatible activities.”

But bicyclists--many of whom ride the sturdy, multigeared mountain bikes that have become popular in recent years--say that a few reckless riders are giving their sport a bad name.

“I don’t think we’re getting a fair chance,” said Brian Skinner, a promoter of mountain bike races and a member of the National Off-Road Bicycle Assn. “We have just as much right to be up there as anyone else.”

Although there may have been a few unfortunate incidents on the trails, Skinner said, most bike riders observe the bicycle association’s code of ethics, which instructs cyclists to yield to all equestrians.

“When a horse is in eyesight, I yell ‘excuse me’ and then slow down or walk my bike,” he said. “Sometimes I just stop on the side of the trail and wait for them to pass.”

Bicyclists and equestrians agreed that problems tend to occur most often on the old Mt. Wilson Toll Road, a scenic route on which travelers were once charged $1 for passage. The privately owned toll road was donated to the county in 1935 and tolls are no longer collected. The nine-mile trail stretches from Pasadena through Eaton Canyon into Angeles National Forest. But the dispute is complicated, the two sides said, by the number of governmental agencies claiming jurisdiction over the trail’s unusual path.

All Have Jurisdiction

The city of Pasadena, the Los Angeles County Fire Department and the U.S. Forest Service all have jurisdiction over portions of the old road, and none say they want to prohibit either group from using it.

Nonetheless, the county Department of Parks and Recreation has banned bicycles from a separate trail, located in the 184-acre Eaton Canyon Natural Area, which intersects with the toll road. As a result, officials said, it is possible to ride into the canyon on a trail on which one agency has permitted bicycles and then ride onto another on which a different agency has prohibited them.

The city of Pasadena, for example, owns the gate at 2260 Pine Crest Drive, which serves as the western entrance to the toll road. But the city Department of Water and Power, which manages the land, has been reluctant to get involved in the dispute.

“It’s just not our role,” said Willard Bangham, acting general manager of the department. “We would be more than happy to give (the gate) away. We’re not in the business of providing recreational opportunities for people.”

The county Fire Department is charged with maintaining the toll road, but it, too, has been hesitant to take a position.

“The toll road is not a horse trail, although we welcome horse people and all others to use it,” said Bob Johnson, head deputy forester with the county Fire Department. “But I’m not going to act until I see all the facts.”

Caution Signs Posted

And the U.S. Forest Service, which has posted signs that caution bicyclists not to go faster than 15 m.p.h. on the toll road, also has objected to barring any one group from the canyon.

“Our policy is basically multi-use, the greatest good for the greatest number,” said George Geer, ranger for the Sunset Unit. “I can see where (the equestrians)are coming from, but I think they’re being unreasonable in asking for a massive area for their use and no others.”

He said that rangers counted 57 bicycles and four horses using the toll road last month.

Meanwhile, the county Department of Parks and Recreation, which has banned bicycles from the Natural Area trail, recently posted a large sign with that message at the canyon’s southern entrance.

“We’re dealing with a safety situation where somebody’s going to get seriously injured,” said Pat Sullivan, Natural Area administrator. “We should have the wisdom to stop that before it occurs.”

Sandy Pellegrin of Altadena is one rider who has had a close call. She said she and a friend were bucked off their horses this month when three bicyclists coming around a blind corner on the toll road startled the animals.

“I was scared to death,” she said. “I was two feet from going over the cliff. I’m not going up there again.”

Claims Horse Was Hurt

George Taylorson, president of the Eaton Canyon Assn., said his horse was injured in a collision with a bicyclist on the canyon trails.

“(The bicyclists) think it’s funny to watch the horses go into conniptions,” he said. “They laugh and tell us to get our horses out of there.”

But Skinner, who said he no longer rides his mountain bike on the toll road because of the heavy traffic, insisted that the two groups can still reach a compromise.

“The trails should be shared,” he said. “If there’s a problem, both sides have to swallow their pride and work on it.”

One ranger suggested that the trails could be used on alternate days by the bicyclists and the equestrians. Canyon association officials argue, however, that because only a few trails in the county are accessible to equestrians, they should be awarded privileges in Eaton Canyon.

In addition, Taylorson said, many of the canyon association members are residents of Kinneloa Mesa, a community of about 90 homes to the east of the canyon, which is zoned by the county as an “equestrian district.” Residents there own the streets and many people ride horses from their homes to the nearby equestrian trails, he said.

“There can be no compromise,” said Taylorson, a resident of the equestrian community. “We have no place to go. It does us no good to be an equestrian district if we can’t ride our horses.”

But Skinner said that members of the mountain bike association have the same problem as the equestrians.

“We don’t have very many places to ride either,” he said. “I might as well say that horses should be banned from the trails.”