Desert Water Agency illegally hassling hikers at Snow Creek

[backpack7]

This past Saturday, my buddy and I were gonna do an ascent of snow creek and avoid trespassing through DWA land. Instead we ended up driving home after the spectacle the DWA had put on around their land.
My buddy and I legally parked our vehicle in public land. As we parked a pickup pulled up behind us. Two guys dressed in camo gear with camelpacks and climbing helmets pulled out of the truck. At first we thought they were fellow snow creek climbers, that is until one of them walked in front of our car, took a photo of our license plate and then a photo of our faces and walked back to the truck. Surprised, and a bit angry I walked over to their pick up and asked what they thought they were doing. A man who later identified himself as David Lukens (the manager of the DWA) threatened to turn us in and told us he knew who we were and knew what we were doing. A little puzzled I continued to ask what he was talking about. He said he knew we were with another climbing group going up snow creek, and he mentioned the name of the group leader saying they were out to get him, one way or another. We told David that we were attempting an ascent of snow creek (which we have done numerous times before) and would avoid trespassing DWA land, but were not with the group he had mentioned. Instead, in disbelief, his partner told us they owned the whole North face of San Jacinto and that we should stay out. They sped off.

Angry, we walked away before my buddy and I would have really done something illegal that had nothing to do with trespassing. We decided to drive up the road a bit to Falls Creek Road's gate. Here we encountered a scared climber with a bleeding hand standing by a parked car. We asked about his predicament. He said he was with a group of four other climbers that scattered throughout the desert floor after they were being chased by people in headlamps. The climber had no idea who was chasing them, he was scared out of his mind, and in panic hurt himself getting away from them. He said that he thought he had seen the people detain the two women in his group, and so he ran back to his car hopefully to see if the fourth climber made it out okay. He also mentioned one more group of climbers ahead of them who also scattered.

I was dumbfounded at the sting operation that was going on. Although I did not see one police cruiser or any type of real law enforcement out there. My buddy and I decided to walk the Falls Creek road to the trail junction of the PCT to see if we could get a closer look at what was going on. On the way up, numerous DWA vehicles kept sweeping up and down the road, leaving us alone. We had no good vantage point at the "PCT rock". So we walked back to our car and left.

I can understand (to very little degree) that the DWA has right to keep climbers out of the area, but this whole fiasco they pulled on Saturday was a little too much, and in some degree illegal.

[climberslacker]

Wow,

AS long as you werent violating any laws you should report them. You were on public land, and never entered their private property. Report them to someone?

-CS

[climberslacker]

Im also copy and pasting this onto summitpost. Just want people to be aware.

-CS

[DaddyLongLegs]

Instead, in disbelief, his partner told us they owned the whole North face of San Jacinto and that we should stay out.

Most of the north side of Mt. San Jacinto is in federal and state wilderness, and is not privately owned. A DWA representative told me that the DWA only owns one square mile on the north side of Mt. San Jacinto. That square mile is clearly marked on this map. The DWA land is grid #33.

[hamik]

Hi,

If members of this forum were harassed, I apologize since I did post a SP partner request for SC which probably tipped them off to go look for climbers. Here is what I posted on SP:

It looks like I might owe an apology to those harassed. I did post a partner request on SP, which in hindsight was silly because this is a sensitive issue with the people who own the land, since in the past people have trespassed on it.

However, my party was going to stick strictly to the legal approach outside of the DWA land. I was not soliciting partners for trespassing. Some people responded to the original thread with disparaging comments about my judgement in posting such a thing on SP, but I stand by my decision to do that, since I was simply asking if people wanted to join me on an awesome, legal hike.

Now what we have to work on is this mistaken response from DWA. I am going to try to get in touch with them and the SJ rangers to point out what I think is the legal approach. Hopefully, once they are informed and the route descriptions on various internet pages are updated, they will not accidentally harass climbers doing nothing wrong. My main motivation for doing this is that I was stuck working all weekend and I want to do SC soon...

If you met the DWA folks or the rangers, please get in touch with me (SP name at caltech.edu--I never remember to check PMs) so we can coordinate the communications with the DWA folks and the rangers.

End quote.

Let's consolidate this discussion on one thread, the SP one since it has more visibility. Please email me if you met the rangers or DWA people.

Thanks, Hamik

[halhiker]

Hi,

If members of this forum were harassed, I apologize since I did post a SP partner request for SC which probably tipped them off to go look for climbers. Here is what I posted on SP:

It looks like I might owe an apology to those harassed. I did post a partner request on SP, which in hindsight was silly because this is a sensitive issue with the people who own the land, since in the past people have trespassed on it.

However, my party was going to stick strictly to the legal approach outside of the DWA land. I was not soliciting partners for trespassing. Some people responded to the original thread with disparaging comments about my judgement in posting such a thing on SP, but I stand by my decision to do that, since I was simply asking if people wanted to join me on an awesome, legal hike.

Now what we have to work on is this mistaken response from DWA. I am going to try to get in touch with them and the SJ rangers to point out what I think is the legal approach. Hopefully, once they are informed and the route descriptions on various internet pages are updated, they will not accidentally harass climbers doing nothing wrong. My main motivation for doing this is that I was stuck working all weekend and I want to do SC soon...

If you met the DWA folks or the rangers, please get in touch with me (SP name at caltech.edu--I never remember to check PMs) so we can coordinate the communications with the DWA folks and the rangers.

End quote.

Let's consolidate this discussion on one thread, the SP one since it has more visibility. Please email me if you met the rangers or DWA people.

Thanks, Hamik

This issue has been going on for years and the DWA and State Park are entrenched in their opposition to climbers. They are not climber's friends.

If you want to work with these agencies on a solution I suggest you enlisted an organization like the American Alpine Club or The Access Fund that have experience with these types of issues and their own lawyers. Bureaucratic agencies do not listen to reason or to the concerns of individual citizens. They do listen to lawsuits, however, and that's the only thing way anyone would really be able to get their attention. Anything short of that would be like talking to a rock.

Until then I'd suggest climbers do what I've done in the past. Do not announce your climb nor publicly post a trip report. Avoid weekends and main trails and, if you see any authority figure, run.

[bluerail]

Coming down from Forest Falls on sunday, i did indeed meet the caretaker and had a nice long talk with him..

[Cy Kaicener]

What was said ?
Someone has to take care of the caretaker (legally)
What Hal suggests makes a lot of sense.

[skunkboy]

Backpack 7,

Sorry for you and your buddies troubles. It seems like there are always people who just love to tell other people what to do. They thrive on it, and you just happened to bump into them. The whole north face is the DWA's? What fucking arrogance. It's not really to hard to see how this whole thing went down. They have controlled that parcel, which is the shortest route up the mountain, for a long long time. Some toady in the DWA got wind that this and other blogs were advertising their climbs. (Hot singles anyone?) The DWA freaked and went into crisis mode. Someone high up in management asked if any of their boys wanted to play capture the flag with a bunch of hippie mountaineers. "By God! If we don't stop them now, what's his faces's driveway will become the new Whitney Portal!" One thing leads to another, and here we are today.
So what to do? Well, the way I see it, the new way up the mountain will be GigaMikes and Ricks traverse across Falls Creek. (Unless you like running through the desert with your Tikka bouncing off your forehead, while some Rambo wanna-be is chasing you.) Screw the DWA. If they pressure their friends to lean on the Forrest Service to clamp down on the mountain, then everyone on this blog, like Halhiker suggests, should join the AAC or Access Fund and sue the Forrest Service. This mountain should be just as accessable as Grand Teton or the Mountaineers Route on Whitney.

Sincerely

Skunk

[backpack7]

Well put skunkboy. My sentiments are the same.