San Dieguito River Park Rolls Out Volunteer Mountain Bike Patrol Program

The following is written by David Hekel, Senior Park Ranger, San Dieguito River Park

The San Dieguito River Park mountain bike patrol is a Ranger led mountain bike specific program that will assist Park Rangers in patrolling the park by being a visual presence. They will also help in medical and mechanical emergencies, educate trail users of proper trail etiquette and inform both ranger and the public about trail conditions and hazards.

The San Dieguito River Park currently has 64.8 miles of tail that is open to the public and we are working on completing the Coast to Crest trail that would give us another 25 within the parks open space. We have a staff of six full time rangers but not all are dedicated to patrolling the trails. The number of cyclist using the trails has grown ten fold in the past three years so we have decided to reach out to that community for help in patrolling this vast trail system.

We are looking for individuals who already use the trails on a regular basis and have at least five years of cycling experience. These individuals have a passion for cycling and want to help others enjoy that passion as well. All we're asking from patrols time-wise is to do their regular day to day ride with a little more purpose, take note of things on the trail, help out those users in need and report back to ranger staff.
We will be holding our first training this Sunday, June 23rd and at this point we are full. I hope that after the first initial training that we can do another one in a couple of months. That being said anybody that is interested please get a hold of me Senior Ranger David Hekel at david@sdrp.org.

This patrol was created by myself to bridge the gap between volunteers(riders), the bicycle community and land managers. So far the initial response has been fantastic. All of the support and funding has come from local San Diego mountain bike companies, bicycle advocate groups as well as individuals. It is my hope that more parks will get involved with this type of outreach and that programs like these can flourish. There are a lot of trails out there that need help.