MTB Trailcare

Got to ride Happy this afternoon.  It was really good fun.  The tread of Happy, Roy's, Exit and Three Hills has been cleaned by 25-30mm of rain and trails were prime for schralping.  We were happy (ptp) with our creek crossing work on Happy.  It was more solid after the rain and some rubber compaction.  

We were less impressed with the increasing amount of horse dung on Roys and Happy, not to mention in the Rainforest section!  Some of it was deposited since the rain started 48 hours ago and there were fresh hoof marks in damp tread.  If we get more rain and the trails soften, horses will cause severe damage and we must encourage them to respect the MTB trail system.

While only Three Hills, Casuarina and Pete's are currently QPWS legalised, the rest of the trail system (other than unauthorised trail not on the map made by Organized Grime in 2012) has been designated as MTB trail requiring work to be brought up to standard.  It is not horse trail and not even mixed use trail if we want to be silly about it.  I know of no reason why runners, walkers, dogs and riders cannot continue to get on, beyonfd the use of basic respect for each other.

Horses, however are a different matter. The effect of hooves on trail is known to be many times more damaging than that of bicycles.  With all the significant wet weather events experienced on the Gold Coast, the capacity of the MTB community to manage our trails to QPWS standard is directly challenged by the physical impact of horses, not even including the environmental impact of their excrement and the foreign seed matter it carries into the park.

The equestrian community lobbied and had laws changed, designating the land on and immediately adjacent to fire roads as not National Park and open to horse riding, so they have their designated trail and we have ours.  Most equestrians are not aware they have limited legal access to the Nerang National Park.  Many are teenagers, so if you do meet a horse on any trail, please slow to a stop, do nothing to alarm the animal and ask the owner if there is anything they would like you to do or avoid doing so the horse remains calm.  

Then you can discuss the problem of horses on MTB designated trails.  Do it respectfully and refer riders to QPWS, the trailhead maps at the velodrome or top of Three Hills or to the MTBtrailcare contact page.  

While we respect the strength of equestrian advocacy, our MTB trails cannot survive equestrian use and should not be exposed to that risk.  We are responsible for our trails whether legalised or not yet.  We need a respectful community approach to encourage horse riders to see the risks they expose themselves to, their expensive mount and on riders.  I hope you can help if you meet a horse while riding.