Too Bad That Off-Roaders Go Wild

Thank you for publishing the article “When It’s Wet, They Go Wild� (Jan. 13) on the desires of some to challenge the elements of nature in a motor vehicle. The article was well written and referenced the off-road expertise of Tom Cepek, but did not go far enough in alerting the reader to the perils of driving off-road during inclement weather and abiding by motor-vehicle laws and federal regulations.

Trabuco Canyon is a wonderful resource with much to offer the public, provided drivers act responsibly. Canyons such as Trabuco, Cucamonga and Azusa are prone to flash flooding during heavy periods of rain and should be avoided by all travelers. All vehicular travel, with exception of recreational areas such as Azusa Canyon, is limited to marked trails. Trabuco Canyon does not offer hill climbing, and those attempting such feats may be ticketed. Additionally, since Trabuco Canyon contains encampments (cabins) the enforceable speed limit is 15 m.p.h. And finally, the operation of a motor vehicle while under the influence of any substance is just as wrong--whether you are on- or off-road.

The resident you quoted in the article has every right to be irritated with people traveling the canyon road during such poor conditions. Look beyond those giant Toyota-eating mudholes and see the ruin where others have rutted the hillside trying to prove their truck could really “climb a mountain.� Stop and pick up the wine bottles, beer cans and trash strewn about by those seeking the cheap thrill of an adrenaline rush. Act responsibly.

MARTIN CONNAIR

Lake Forest

* I own a four-wheel-drive truck and sometimes drive it into Trabuco Canyon, but for the purpose of visiting a particular scenic spot or to speak to one of the 30 or 40 people who live there.

Your article described the crowds of four-wheelers who go back there as fun- loving freedom seekers, and the residents as some kind of grumps with guns. There is absolutely another side to that story.

Wet or dry, the majority of the four-wheelers who go there are dangerous, obnoxious and destructive. I have been walking down the narrow washboard road and had to literally jump to the side when one or more jacked-up pickups roared by at 50 to 60 m.p.h., bouncing across the tops of the bumps at the very edge of control. Personal encounters and discarded containers show many of them to be drunk or on their way there.

The maneuvering contests the young man in the article referred to don’t confine themselves to the road. You can see the eroded scars in the hillsides where “contestants� competed to see who could go farthest up the slope before stalling. In dry times, many of the louts drive their vehicles up the creek bed itself, fouling trout pools and destroying delicate vegetation.

Many of the fun-lovers bring not pepper spray, but guns, with which they shoot up signs, abandoned cars and anything man-made that they can find. When they’re loose in the countryside, they do little but destroy.

BOB HUNT

Modjeska Canyon