logs in the woods

carbonfiend

seems to be becoming an increasing problem in epping forest as well, we usually come across them in the general walkable sections of single track but the other day me & mate came acorss some pretty big ones in a really technical section that is never used by walkers and is well off the beaten track, we can only put this down to pure spite by somebody. What is really annoying is epping forest to free to be used by anybody there are no restrictions to ride. Saying all that though I did see the culprits of some log laying one day - young girls on ponys who want to use them as jumps

drewcole81

I thought you meant people had been having a 'number 2' on the trails!!!

I have come a cropper because of walkers draggin logs acorss trails before, I've even caught a small group moving logs.. when I asked them what they were up to, they said they were moving them off the trails... but I'm not so sure.

kaytronika

I found a whole tree, branches, roots and all across a singletrack in Delamere... I had to duck under it.

I blame the squirrels... Clearly they placed a whole tree across the trail to stop me so they could steal my chocolate.

lastwords

You like cadburys fruit and nut then

drewcole81

kaytronika wrote:

I found a whole tree, branches, roots and all across a singletrack in Delamere... I had to duck under it.

I blame the squirrels... Clearly they placed a whole tree across the trail to stop me so they could steal my chocolate.

Those pesky little blighters!

one attacked me once with a slug and stole my pistachio nuts.....

JonnyN

Ooops, Just posted a topic of this very nature!

ExeterSimon

kaytronika wrote:

I found a whole tree, branches, roots and all across a singletrack in Delamere... I had to duck under it.

I blame the squirrels... Clearly they placed a whole tree across the trail to stop me so they could steal my chocolate.

Squirrels are pricks.

drewcole81

ExeterSimon wrote:

kaytronika wrote:

I found a whole tree, branches, roots and all across a singletrack in Delamere... I had to duck under it.

I blame the squirrels... Clearly they placed a whole tree across the trail to stop me so they could steal my chocolate.

Squirrels are pricks.

Not a fan of Squrrels then?

n.battison

Mr bump wrote:

lastwords wrote:

I live in the midlands and my local woods (thieves wood) provides some nice singletrack however logs keep appearing across the trail.

Does any one else experience this and whats your theory on who does it

I think its either walkers trying to stop bikers or its people on motorbikes trying to make it more interesting.

Not Harlestone firs by any chance???
Ive noticed this happening alot there latley. :?

I ride at harlestone firs and was thinking that we dont really seem to have this problem, well we do get logs across the trails but i reckon they are all natural. Well on the trails i ride anyway.

The trails do need a bit of repairing though, we are planning on going down with a spade sometime soon and trying to sort them out abit/make some new ones.

kaytronika

ExeterSimon wrote:

Squirrels are pricks.

Heh, mental image of you riding along and seeing a squirrel... Hopping off the bike and punching it square in the face.

PXR5

Jees, you guys have it lucky - here we get the odd problem with 'chasseurs' who sometimes believe that the odd mountain bike or two will scare away all the nice wildlife they want to shoot !
We've had tracks blocked with big rocks - just after a sharp corner - what a coincidence, wire stretched across a track, and i kid you not on one path through the woodland/scrubland last night i found about 20 large panes of glass dumped, covering an area about the size of a room, completely impassible now for walkers of just about anyone else..though of course any animals in that area could still be shot at....

lastwords

PXR5 wrote:

Jees, you guys have it lucky - here we get the odd problem with 'chasseurs' who sometimes believe that the odd mountain bike or two will scare away all the nice wildlife they want to shoot !
We've had tracks blocked with big rocks - just after a sharp corner - what a coincidence, wire stretched across a track, and i kid you not on one path through the woodland/scrubland last night i found about 20 large panes of glass dumped, covering an area about the size of a room, completely impassible now for walkers of just about anyone else..though of course any animals in that area could still be shot at....

that sounds bad and very dangerous, in a woods near me there is an archers club and they have threatened to shoot me once so i dont go there at weekends anymore lol

schmako

Whenever I seem them, they get chucked out the damn way! Usually down the nearest steep hill or river.

chrisbassist

what the walkers? or the squirrels? or the archers?

seems people can be very petty.

wesk

Just started appearing around Bath as well, spent a while clearing logs out of the way earlier today, on the fastest bit of a long downhill. If I found the stupid buggers who put them there they would get a blunt, frank exchange of views from me (and possibly a smack in the chops....)

Thread8

Couple of weeks ago some twonk had come along and left probably around a tonne of demolition rubble right at the bottom of a local downhill run that we have, fortunatly the council round here are pretty good at clearing up after fly tippers and it's all gone now

captainfly

On a similar note
[rant]
What is wrong with some people? Today I was on a trail that is part of an old railwayline that is a park and bicyles are allowed to use it. Some idiots (forum rules prevent me using exact description) had pushed over a tree so that some rather large and pointed branches that had been stripped of laves and smaller branches at about five to five and half foot high so eye level for a jogger or chest high for a cyclist, just as the tree canopy makes it dark and just before the trail drops down slightly. Because the tree canopy is generally quite low so they blended into the general shiloette. Made them out with enough time to slam on and just take a glancing blow, still hurt a fair bit and has left a bruise on my chest, it still smarts. It just shook me up a little as had I carried on it would have punctured my chest and done lots of damage.

Anyway I manage to clear enough of it so as not to be anywhere near as bad. I hadn't been paying attention or not had good brakes/tyres it could have been really serious, or even just running and not paying attention it was eye level ffs, there are loads of people who jog on that trail, ride bicycles of all kinds as it is generally smooth but today it was a bit greasy, so a hybrid with skinny tyres and road brakes wouldn't have slowed down as much. [/rant]

Seriously what goes through someones mind to put what is in essence a lance at head/chest height?

paul.skibum

Someone pushed it down? Sure it hadnt just fallen in recent winds?

We get it from time to time, there is one track I use frequently that had definitely had a log positioned to case a delay - wedged at either end between other trees and a little off the ground - annoying but I dislodged it and pulled it a fair way intot he woods.

stumpyjon

On a slightly different note we often find logs we've delibrately placed to stop people cutting corners on the trails moved by mountain bikers. This is on official trials on FC land, there's always someone who thinks they know better :roll:

captainfly

paul.skibum wrote:

Someone pushed it down? Sure it hadnt just fallen in recent winds?

We get it from time to time, there is one track I use frequently that had definitely had a log positioned to case a delay - wedged at either end between other trees and a little off the ground - annoying but I dislodged it and pulled it a fair way intot he woods.

Not where is was, the litte,r trambled under growth, broken branches where it had been pulled on, stipped branches. Where it was is sheltered and does get kids drinking and graffiti as it links a couple of areas of coucil houses, you could tell it was deliberate.

bearfraser

must be some "DUMP"

Anonymous

Have to say that not all of these are deliberate. It's surprising just how many trees come down in the slightest breeze, and especially after some heavy rain which weighs the branches down. Rangers and the like may have been out chopping them up. Don't know how quick they are at doing this on trails, but certainly I found the council was busy doing the same on roads round my way this week. They do at least clear the logs from the road though!

However there are some jerks. Was reading about one locally where someone had put wire across the trail.

These people are morons. For one thing they could end up killing someone. Another is they don't have an exclusive right to the places they walk. Okay some trails we don't have a specific right to ride (footpaths for example), however that doesn't actually make it illegal, just there's no actual right. But they do this on managed trails as well that are sanctioned by the land owner, and on bridleways where we have every right to ride.

Then you get the jerks who deliberately stand on the trail and refuse to move. I'm always very polite when approaching walkers, and will let them go past or wait for them to let me past. I try to make my presence noticed rather than blasting past as some do. If they are walking with little kids I'll get off the bike. Even on tow paths it's like this, despite the ones near me being sanctioned for bikes (one even now is a cycle route with divisions in places for walkers and cyclists, and yet they still block the width of the path and get upset with cyclists).

Really don't get their problem. It's a healthy outdoor pursuit and we all enjoy the countryside (or at least I do. It's not all about just blasting around the place making a mess).

jpstar

We get the occasional fallen tree or log in the path, but most of the time I think it is just the tree collapsing or dying and falling. Most of the people I see about are quite nice, just a smile, "excuse me" and "thankyou" and they're pleasant. I've only ever met one person who was a **** it was at a crossroads, I was doing fair speed downhill and she saw me, and then carried on walking towards where I was about to ride giving me little room to manouvre around her. Then shouted at me... Until I pointed out "This is a ******* public bridleway!" she shut up afterwards.

Tinca

It's not just bikers that get abused, we used to when out greenlaning, the idiots don't realise that they are actually walking down a road, it's just not been tarmacked !!

stumpyjon

Tinca wrote:

It's not just bikers that get abused, we used to when out greenlaning, we didn't realise that we are actually driving down a rural track, it's just not been gated !!

.blitz

A few weeks ago there was a log across the trail I use to access the Chase. It was fairly big - 200, maybe 300 mm diameter - and had clearly been put there in an attempt to stop feckin MTBrs - me included - riding straight out onto an unsurfaced private road and drifting through the pile of pebbles that had built up

I'm over there most days and after one day the log was scored with chainring marks.

After three days there was a noticeable chunk missing out of the log.

A few days later it was almost in half

After that people were just riding over it again and again until it had broken into pieces. No-one had stopped to move it aside, it was an obstacle and what it represented had to be crushed and pulverised

All that remains now are a few splinters on the trail.

Result.

Anonymous

The wind has been a prick here recently. It seems it's had a barny with the squirrels. Then the birds decided to support the squirrels, so the wind spat it's dummy and blew a load of trees down, annoying both the squirrels and the birds.