Stickman was the name that a friend in Colorado gave to those-that-try-to-obscure-trail-entrances-&-exits-with-slash. It’s funny to see that these methods are pretty much universal in mountain biking for keeping secret trails hidden. Ironically, my eyes tend to see the trail through these attempts because I used to do it myself.
I really don’t know if the Yogi Bear trail in Truckee can really be considered “secret” anymore but the locals are doing their best to obscure anyone new from finding it (like me). (Helpful hint locals: it also helps to remove the maps and GPX tracks available online if one uses Google.) So yeah, I found it really easily because someone posted it on their Map my Ride page. I don’t think I would’ve found it otherwise as I didn’t have any locals in tow.
The ride I did was about 16 miles that started with a nice mellow dirt road climb and ended with a raging singletrack downhill all the way back to the car. It was a pretty well thought-out trail that I’m learning is very “Norcal” in it’s style…strategically placed trail alignment to take advantage of the rounded granite rocks to ride and jump, custom berms on most of the turns, some nice features all in all and a lookout towards the top complete with a stickered ‘bivy box’ that has a few snacks in it if you’re bonking and want to sign the roster. This trail had a full-on locals feel – something that I’m not but kinda wish I was. I felt like I could’ve been in my old homeland of Ned but I dare say this trail topped most anything there. Hours upon hours of work has gone into this sweet trail, I was very impressed.
“Stickman” on Yogi Bear is not to keep out fellow MTBers. The Tahoe moto crowd is really sh*tty and does not respect MTB trails. If they are JRA and see a track, they tear the snot out of it.
That’s why it’s local custom to pick up your bike and carry it across road intersections, rather than riding across.
Whatever: thanks, I get it. That tactic is used frequently almost everywhere where trails cross private land or are just illegally built, including where I lived for many years. Motos were definitely one of the main reasons, but also non locals so the trails didn’t get discovered by the masses and then too used and abused. It’s not too surprising how many moto guys are also MTBers so it’s all kinda in vain especially with Strava and such.