Marines Confiscate Mountain Bikes
For you riders that #RideAlongside us in San Diego County, CA, the long-standing trails, traversing the portions of Sycamore Canyon that are north of Santee Lakes and south of Goodan Ranch is Marine Corps property and always has been. What is different this week is that they are enforcing any trespassing upon their property with tickets and bicycle confiscation.
Read more here in an article by SDMBA:
http://sdmba.com/site/urgent-marines-are-confiscating-bikes/
Posted on January 18, 2016, in Maps, News, San Diego Riding. Bookmark the permalink. 6 Comments.
RideAlongside 
Do you have an official map with the MCAS boudary, that shows trails/roads? The bikes confiscated yesterday, were at the end of Martha’s, near Goodan Ranch. I had always went there under the impression that if one stays east of the Ranch, and east of the wash/stream bed, you should be outside of the boundary, but that is apparently not the case…
In any event – thanks for sharing this map…
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I have my own map I made, but the photo in the post above is straight from SDMBA and the yellow line is the MCAS Miramar bounday, the blue is spring/oak canyon singletracks, the red is the Sycamore Canyon trails. Basically, if you ride any trail from the south to Goodan Ranch gate, you are riding on their propety.
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I was more interested in what happens to the north. Is Martha’s completely off limits? How about the road from the parking lot to Goodan Ranch, or Cardiac Hill, or the ridgeline from the 67 staging area parking lot?
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No, all of that, including Goodan and Martha’s and “Sycamore Canyon Preserve”, north of the gate at the south end of Goodan is legal and always has been. There is no overlap with the Marine Corps property thete. See the map and other info on the County’s website here: It is a complex area as far as land ownership boundaries go relative to the trails. The area known as Sycamore Canyon/Goodan Ranch is open to cycling, but part of Sycamore Canyon south of the Preserve gate has trails that may have you veering onto private and/or government property. Some signage has been clear and remained up in the past, some has been taken down, which makes things harder to figure out. When I first rode there, much of the signage was down and I had no idea I was trespassing on government and private property. I believe the government property is more clearly signed these days as James Griffiths mentioned above. If in doubt of where to ride there, visit the county website for Goodan Ranch and download their map to bring with you: http://www.sandiegocounty.gov/parks/openspace/Sycamore_Goodan.html
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That’s what i thought as well, but apparently, bikes (at least 3) were confiscated yesterday, near the end of Martha’s and near Goodan Ranch, in an area I thought was legal… I’ll have to get the specifics on yesterday from Mike Crowell (who is now down one bike)…
Thanks again!
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Oh no, not Mike! Well, if south of the Preserve gate, it is an area they are really cracking down on apparently. Bummer for Mike.
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