Trail "Upgrades"

[footfeathers]

A recent email exchanged sparked by Kurt B's email has re-ignited a small fire in my mind about trail maintenance. Last summer I was at Mt. Falcon and there were big crews of volunteers digging up ALL the rocks, even very large ones that took three men to move. Most of the rocks were only protruding about 2 inches above the trail. I went back out there for a run the next day and the trail was smooth as a sidewalk with all the huge rocks pushed to the sides of the trail. I mountain bike too and thought, "man, that's got to be more dangerous." At Mt. Falcon there are very long straight downhills where, on the "new and improved" trails one could easily hit 40mph. What happens when someone's coming the other way? What happens when you get to one of the hairpin turns at that speed?

If I want easy, stroller trails, I'll stick to the Boulder Creek path. It's the classic preservation vs. conservation mixed in with accessibility issues that no one seems to want to draw a line at where it will stop. Who in the heck is setting these plans of smoothing out every wrinkle of the trails? It certainly doesn't seem to be anyone who uses them.