Two Chiefs Trail- Dirt Bikes and Mountain Bikes

[-Q-]

Hi All,

Hiked up the Two Chiefs Trail (Table Mountain complex) yesterday and was very surprised by the only two groups that I encountered...

- First group was 2 mountain bikers

- Second group was 5 dirt bikes

I was pretty surprised seeing the mountain bikes, but since the trail is an old road bed, is outside Wilderness, and has an access route other than the PCT, I figured they might be allowed.

The dirt bikes really caught me off guard though. I assume they came up the old road bed from Aldrich past Carpenters and avoided the PCT, but it still seemed very strange that they were riding there.

Anyone know if dirt bikes are legally allowed on the Two Chiefs Trail??

Thanks!!

[Don Nelsen]

Over the years I've seen dirt bikes and often ATVs up there. It's the ATV crowd that improves the crossing of Greenleaf Creek every year and they're the ones who made the workaround for where the big rockslide of Dec. 2007 covered the road downhill and to the east of Greenleaf Cr. Once I saw a Ford F250 on top of Aldrich Butte so those roads get some full size vehicle traffic too. Since it's an old road, national forest, not gated and not signed otherwise I suppose such use is legal.

I believe it's those same folks that take their chain saws up there to clear the fallen trees. After that big ice storm a few years back they did a great job of removing literally tons of trees and branches over that trail.

[-Q-]

Thanks so much Don for the update and the info.
Great to hear that there was no trail poaching occurring yesterday.
The guys on the dirt bikes definitely appeared to be local to the area.

Very happy you mention the trail maintenance, as one of the guys had a chainsaw strapped on the back of his bike.
All the guys were friendly and made sure to tell me how many riders were still approaching.

FYI... your ridge shortcut route on the Two Chiefs Trail actually has a faint bootpath kicked in this year. I don't remember any sign of track last year when I hiked it a lot. The route is getting more attention it seems.

[Chip Down]

Yep, that ridge shortcut is pretty distinct. Maybe a little hard to spot at the bottom. Last winter I noticed it was practically a trail.

I'm actually surprised I've never seen any motorized vehicles, or even bicycles, on that old road. It's in pretty good shape.

But what's this about a Greenleaf crossing? I've never seen it crossable on foot! I suppose it withers to a trickle in the summer.