40 / Sport and Trail Magazine
Endurance Riders Come Together to Benefit Trails
By Lisa Schneider
It is a cultural phenomenon that trash begets trash, meaning if people see litter somewhere, they behave as if it’s appropriate to add more litter. The desert has long been a dumping ground for junk like wrecked cars, bedsprings, washers, sofas and refrigerators. It is beyond me why people do this because there are a lot of dumps that don’t charge any fees and the litterbugs are already transporting the trash!
Two Southern California endurance rides use desert trails that for years have had a lot of trash and graffiti. The icing on the cake is the trash is then used for target practice so there are thousands of shotgun shell casings left on the ground.
Our local hero is Gretchen Montgomery, who manages the Fire Mountain Endurance Ride each January and helps with the Twenty Mule Team ride in late February. Both of these Pacific Southwest Region rides use a common canyon trail that has general trash and extensive graffiti on the desert rock formations that include vulgar words and offensive symbols—things you certainly would not want a child to see.
As an endurance rider herself, Gretchen has logged over 10,000 miles and conditions in the southern California desert where she lives, and she was sick of seeing this junk. We talked about
rides use and Gretchen sprang into action. On January 21, Gretchen coordinated with BLM personnel, volunteers from the local equestrian club called Valley Riders, High Sierra Cyclists, local high school students and staff.
the need to clean up the trails the endurance rides use and Gretchen sprang into action. On January 21, Gretchen coordinated with BLM personnel, volunteers from the local equestrian club called Valley Riders, High Sierra Cyclists, local high school students and staff.
The BLM had previously planned on eliminating the painted graffiti using a sand blaster but that equipment is no longer considered environmentally safe because it destroys too much of the rock. A new process with a chemical gel paint remover was used instead. This was the first time BLM had used the gel method, and the product did not work as well as expected due to the cold weather. The chemical gel was sprayed on the paint, then brushed heavily, then sprayed off with a pressure washer. It is going to take many attempts to get the entire canyon free of the offensive graffiti and the BLM will concentrate on removal when the weather gets warmer.
It is going to take many attempts to get the entire canyon free of the offensive graffiti