Re: [ft-l] A wander through Cassia

I sent you an email yesterday with an update on the Cassia section, but
apparently you hadn't read it before you wrote this.  The hunt club which
owns the property along the Tracy Canal (between pt 4 and 5 on the FTA map)
posted No Trespassing signs over the summer.  When Bill checked it out
(after you mentioned it to me and I mentioned it to him), turns out that
they are having trouble with poaching on their land, so they have closed it
to all but hunt club members.  The blazes and signs you are referring to are
Bill Taylor's and Pete Yaciw's hurried attempt to get hikers through the
section without violating any property rights.  Blazes will be updated as
the chapter gets going again after the summer hiatus.

Down in the Royal Trails area many of the landowners are having trouble with
ATV's and trail motorcycles using the FT.  Several of them have asked us to
remove the trail from their property to keep these vehicles from using the
trail as a thoroughfare during all hours of the day and night.  Others have
piled up brush along the trail to discourage the vehicles, but still allow
hikers to get through.  I'm not positive this acounts for all the brush
piles you saw, but it's one explanation.

The airstrip was put in, I believe, when Royal Trails was built with the
idea that people could fly their private planes in and out of the
development.  The developers also used it to fly in prospective investors
and buyers.  When Royal Trails went in receivership other people found out
about the abandoned airstrip and there was a good bit of drug smuggling
going on out there for a while.  One of our chapter members who lives out
there could tell you some good stories.

In fact, much of the area south SR 44 and north of the river came into state
hands when authorities confiscated it after some big drug busts in the area.
Y'know, we really need a nice strip of land between 44 and the Boy Scout
reservation.  Any one know any drug smugglers who might like to buy the
property and then get busted?  :-)  :-}  :-0

Cricket

>
> The relo onto Maggie Jones Road was VERY confusing. Walking southbound,
> you're confronted with a scratched-out double blaze with writing that says
> "STAY ON ROAD." But you don't see another blaze until well after you walk
by
> the Dreamweaver Ranch. Particularly annoying is the fact that
northbounders
> have no such warning that they should stay on the road, so we feel we
missed
> a nice stretch of trail along Tracy Creek to walk into the hot sun. So,
can
> someone tell us (since there are NO blazes in this stretch) if this is an
> official FT relocation, or if an angry landowner scratched out the double
> blaze?
>
> Following the trail southbound through Royal Trails can be a serious
> challenge, due to the blazing *AND* the fact that someone (again, angry
> landowners?) seems to like to pile brush to obscure the trail at crucial
> junctures. We lost the trail a couple of times and had to double back. And
> does anyone know WHY there is a massive grassy airstrip hiding in the
woods
> at Royal Trails? Since no roads (just gated sand paths) lead to it, it
made
> me plenty nervous to hear a plane pass overhead.
>
> Cheers, Sandy (Navigator)



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