Letters to the Editor: Trails on Mt. Baldy are closed for a reason. Don’t hike on them

To the editor: I love the kind of defiance shown by the people hiking the trails closed on Mt. Baldy after the Bridge fire. As the saying goes, you can’t fix stupid. (“The feds closed Mt. Baldy to hiking until December 2025. Rebellion is brewing,” Dec. 18)

I help build trails. I help close trails that need time for nature to repair them. I reroute trails to make them more accessible. I am trained in trail psychology.

There are many reasons trails get closed, erosion being the most destructive. If these brave hikers continue to walk a closed trail, they are just dooming their own walk.

To those hikers, I say: Let nature take back the trails. It will make your walk more enjoyable. If you can’t keep yourself off these closed hiking trails, volunteer and learn how to work on them. I am sure you can find a trail crew that needs help.

Then you can walk the trails and understand what damage you have been doing. And you can repair them.

Tim Ashford, Lomita

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To the editor: I was disappointed that this article on a valid subject for discussion leaves one with the impression that no one is allowed to hike in the Mt. Baldy area.

The Mt. Baldy “notch” and the dirt road that leads to it are not in the “heart” of the closure area; they are on the eastern edge, just outside it.

The article quotes a resident of Mt. Baldy Village complaining she cannot go for a hike without clarifying that the entire east side of the Baldy canyon is open, including the Three Ts trail, Icehouse Canyon and Stoddard Canyon.

We can discuss whether the trail closures to the Mt. Baldy peak and the variance for the ski slopes are justified without leaving readers with the impression that the whole area is closed when it is not.

Brent Jacobson, Chino Hills