# Hawaii trying to dismantle local trails



## chaostactics (Mar 20, 2009)

> > See link at bottom for details <<


Anyone have any input/previous experience in advocating for fully sanctioned trail systems and features?

Hawaii (Oahu) has been in large fairly anti-mountian biking in my short experience here and there's now a push by the state to take down some (and perhaps all one day) mountain bike dedicated areas.









Sign the Petition


Save Urban Legend MTB Trail




www.change.org


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## chaostactics (Mar 20, 2009)

Someone came out in the last few days and literally cut out the supports out of one of the bigger jumps in the last couple of days.


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## chaostactics (Mar 20, 2009)




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## bizango (Mar 20, 2016)

Are these authorized trails on public land?


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## 127.0.0.1 (Nov 19, 2013)

bizango said:


> Are these authorized trails on public land?


*nope*

the State of Hawaii is planning to remove a very popular trail in the Pupukea Paumalu Forest Reserve, known as "Urban Legend". <snip>

*While we recognize that this trail, and it's manmade features, were not authorized by the State* .....blahblahblah....


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## chaostactics (Mar 20, 2009)

There are technically, as far as I know, 0 formally authorized trails on Oahu public lands. And only one privately owned little non technical skills park. I'm still not 100% in the know because everything is super vague re: mountain biking.


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## Taroroot (Nov 6, 2013)

Sucks, big amount of work went into these very well made features, ive seen houses built worse. I liked riding them, i signed the petition, but these were unsanctioned.
Oahu being anti-mountainbike? Not really, its just not all that pro-mountainbike like big mtb areas. You can ride hiking trails unless specified no bikes. There are only a few trails that are specifically no bikes. Mostly due to heavy foot traffic there and persistent erosion issues. I grew up riding the one in town before it was closed. Very technical, narrow, lots of wet roots, mud.
i believe a big issue in this case is liability esp since these are obvious large man made features.
There isnt really a good official mtb organization here right now and mtb doesnt contribute a big amount to economy here, so it doesnt have a strong voice. This area and one other are the main places that have more mtb use than anything else.
A shame because Urban Legend is in a spot that does not take up space from anything else. Its rare that hikers/runners go through there, it runs parallel to main trail that they would use.


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## Tall BMX'r (Jan 11, 2021)

No Aloha for MTB'rs. My mother-in-law lives on Pearl Ridge. I could picture some great single tracks down the canyon between there and Aiea Heights down to behind the golf course. It'd be fairly dry. Watch out for the Wild Boars!


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## Taroroot (Nov 6, 2013)

Ok, update on this situation. A formal complaint had been lodged with high up gov officials about this trail and the features built on it. Because of that it couldnt be ignored and it had to be addressed. However it was NOT The State/gov that cut down the ramps. People who do volunteer work on the trails meet with the gov officials on site and surveyed. Were told theyd have to take it down, but were amendable to working with them. Theyd have to start from the ground up and submit plans and get approvals. The officials were fine with leaving it to the volunteers to take it down. However someone took it upon themselves to hasten the process instead of letting the volunteers take it apart in an orderly fashion.

the upshot is State are not anti mtb, not about to close the trails. And another positive is this helped to clear up access and parking issues which hopefully will now be addressed. If anything, this last issue may be what sparked a lot of this.


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## Antimatter (Jan 3, 2018)

My son lives on Oahu and he keeps me informed about all the drama there. 

Generally, Oahu is not necessarily anti-MTB, it's just that that their local government doesn't do much at all to contribute towards MTB'ing and it's almost entirely built and maintained by the riders, so props to the dedication of those volunteers.

There's no shuttles and you have to earn your keep going up to all the good spots. That granny gear that you might think is useless might prove very useful on Oahu depending on where you ride. There's a spot in Kailua town on the east side of Oahu called Ohana is the only IMBA trail system. It's not a fun place to ride when it gets wet and Oahu regularly goes from dry to wet and back throughout the year. There's a lot of unsanctioned trails there and the local riders prefer that you don't share their locations publicly and don't ever think about littering anywhere in Hawaii, they really don't like that and will get in your face if you get caught.

Kauai is all one big community of riders that are very dedicated and keep most of the good trails a secret. One of the best rides I had was when a local rider showed me a trail system where all the washed up buoys that came ashore lined the trails, it was really something to see.

Maui is perhaps one of the best places in Hawaii. The Makewao (*sp) forest reserve has a very long trail system that features Pineapple Express, perhaps one of the longest DH runs in that state. That trail system does not allow eMTBs so more climbing getting up there. There's also a DH run off their famous volcano starting above the clouds and ending at the streets below, it's an amazing scenic ride if you can coordinate a shuttle driver to take you up there. My buddy owns a shop there called Krank Cycles, he's a very nice guy and very helpful to show you where to go. Maui is the only island where their local government actually supports, builds and maintains their sanctioned trail systems.

The island of Hawaii (the locals call it The Big Island) is mostly scenic. The southern area sports a lot of lava rock trails and black sand beaches, but there's no shade so take a generous amount of water, food and use sunscreen if you're going exploring there and never leave your hotel without a couple of spare tubes because those rocks are very sharp!

2 tips when visiting Hawaii...

1. Be humble, the locals are sick and tired of visitors showing up and defacing their island home.

2. Don't leave any valuables in your rental car. Lots of thieves on every island waiting to ransack your rental.


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