Volunteers Begin Patrols to Ensure Happy Trails

Volunteers began patrolling the Sulphur Mountain Road Recreation Trail on Saturday, reminding walkers, bicyclists and horse riders to respect the environment, other users and the rights of property owners.

Equestrians, hikers and mountain bikers in yellow T-shirts will roam the popular 11-mile dirt trail between Casitas Springs and the Upper Ojai on weekends and holidays.

The 20 volunteers have no enforcement capability, but county officials--who helped charter the effort--hope their presence encourages trail users to act responsibly.

“We can warn them and try to educate them,” said Dean Larsen, 41, of Ventura, the patrol unit vice chairman. Larsen helped cut a ribbon Saturday marking the beginning of the patrols during a small ceremony attended by a handful of volunteers and a county official.

Public access to the trail, which is about 20 minutes from Ventura but a world away with its spectacular views of Lake Casitas, the Channel Islands and the Ojai Valley, has long been a contentious issue.

The county purchased the road in 1930 and closed it to all motorized traffic, residents’ vehicles aside, in 1978.

Aficionados regard the trail as a recreational treasure. Some residents whose property abuts the road have less kindly words, contending people stray off the trail and trespass on their land, ruining crops, damaging fences and worrying cattle.

The patrol was born after county officials promised to clamp down on trespassers and litterbugs last fall while approving a management plan that would provide continued recreational access.

“When I heard there was a problem with the trail, I volunteered to get involved just so I could ride,” said patrol unit Chairman Mike Gram, 43, a Casitas Springs resident who has long trained his horses on the road.

Kim Bonsall, 44, who owns a 6,500-acre cattle ranch that straddles the trail for about 3 miles, is among the opponents. Although she is also a patrol volunteer, Bonsall contends that a lack of bathroom facilities, parking and water will inevitably lead to conflict.

“I pay property taxes for all this abuse,” she said. “They’re going right by my business and destroying it.”

It didn’t take long Saturday for the volunteers to discover the need to strike a careful balance between competing interests.

Mountain biker Scott Hirko, 27, of Ventura and two fellow bicyclists were among the first trail users warned about their conduct Saturday morning. His group had sped down a hill only to meet the patrol unit on horseback ascending the grade and receive a warning for speeding.

“I think they’re thinking that we’re out abusing the trail,” Hirko said. “I’ll be riding somewhere else because there’s too many people on the trail.”