Caspers Park Ban on Minors Is Tragic and Unjustifiable

It is tragic when any young child under the protection of its parents gets accidentally injured. It was indeed tragic that Laura Small was injured by a mountain lion at Caspers Wilderness Park in 1986.

Thousands of children under the age of 18 have been barred from 90% of the park since shortly after the Small incident. Now they are totally banned (“O.C. Bans Minors at Its Biggest Park,” Feb. 6).

In 1985, I had established the habit of taking my two children, aged 5 and 7, to Caspers at least twice a month. We would arrive at the park in the early morning hours and quietly hike the back trails. I never let my children stray more than 10 feet away from me, and I carried a three-pronged staff six feet long as a means of warding off any wild attacking animals, which, of course, never appeared.

I taught my children to hike quietly and use their ears and eyes. We saw lots of deer, squirrels, birds and, on three occasions, bobcats. I taught them to look for and differentiate between the different animal tracks.

On a subsequent visit to the park, I was told that my children could not accompany me on those trails again until they were 18 years old. I said I would be happy to sign a waiver holding the county harmless (something I always assumed anyway). The officials said this was not possible in light of the lawsuit filed against the county.

It is sad, indeed, that children cannot hike through the only wilderness park in Orange County. Whom do the children go to to see about that loss?

MIKE REED, Capistrano Beach