Ive been hiking/biking in this area for 20+ years. Its come a long way in that time. We now have a ton of trail management and signage and everything where 10 years ago it was just a free for all, which is great as things get busier. This area is in the desert and in an old mining district. Tons and tons of 4x4 roads, motorcycle trails, etc. Everywhere. And its not in a conservation area.

5 years ago or so, the local trail association rebuilt the most popular trial here and cut a better MTB route that parallels the old mixed use trail.

In the last two years, some busybody has made it their personal mission to block the old trail with whatever: Rocks, sticks, etc. It seems to be a very frequent hiker that finds a rock, carries it up, and places it every day. So the obstacle gets bigger and bigger over the course of weeks. I know its not the trail org or the forest service because they always post signs and install intentional obstacles, like huge logs, boulders, fences, etc. I figured this person would get bored eventually, but here we are. Every couple weeks someone else destroys the obstacles and clears the trail. But is slowly gets rebuilt.

Whats most annoying is the hiking access here. Lots and lots of people hike up here, including myself, and the old trail is still the established hiking route. I MTB up the newer MTB trail because its better, but hike up the old mixed use trail weekly and want to take the shorter old hiking section. As do a lot of others.

This pattern is now escalating. Rocks are getting bigger. And the ironic part is its causing more damage to the desert because everyone just goes around the obstacles and slowly widens the trail. So now there is a 8ft wide entrance and exit to the trail when it used to be a simple singletrack intersection. The trail Karen started doing it in the midpoint of the old trail, so now that section is widening out as well.

Id like to get these people to stop sabotaging the trail and mind their own business before this turns into a bigger erosion issue, but with how dumb people are these days, I dont know what to do. It seems like a petty compliant to make to the trail org or the forest service. But I also dont think its my place to make my own signs and put them up.