Hiker dies on Museum Trail, Palm Springs 5/11/13

[Hikin_Jim]

Personally, I blame the DWA.

Seriously, though, I've very saddened to hear of his passing. My condolences to his family and friends.

HJ

[lilbitmo]

I've been reading the post about this "short cut" problem for years on this board and some others. I've been on that trail many times and it's not clear what the true trial is, it's not maintained and recognized by any agency that I'm aware of, it's just a trail that was set up by use and continued use and over the years different people have taken different versions of that up different routes.

While I agree taking a steep descent is more likely to get one hurt than taking a flat one or one with less steepness will help someone navigate a safer return to the trail head. I don't agree that people are all about cutting shortcuts just to be "one-upping" the next guy to post TR about their amazing time. It's like being on the freeway, you see an open lane and there's someone moving slowly in front of you, you change lanes to maintain your speed, that other lane is there because it was set up and everyone uses it. Don's misunderstand me at some point people did make shortcuts, but that's implying that the original trail was set up by an organization that wanted everyone to follow the same path, lacking that it was a game trail and it's my experience that game trials move and take the whatever course the animal felt like taking.

Lacking actual evidence that you have a sanctioned trail that is maintained and easily describable means that we are implying that everyone other than us does not know the true direction/course of the trail and that they are causing harm to both the trail and those attempting to use it - I find that unrealistically blaming people for the wrong issue. The real issue is to set up the actual trail once and for all with the help of the governing body that controls that section of land.

While most trails in California are set up for what trail builders call "Boy Scout Grade" (less than 6%) this trail is not, because by chance it was a "game trail" that continues to evolve based on all the different users. This trail is very challenging, it has sections that are quite steep, there are alternatives to those sections by starting at the other trail head.

For all we know the sections that are steep could have been the original trail, we don't know that unless we were there when the trail originated, so that means that you could be the one "short cutting" on the less steep sections because someone with less skills decided to take a less steep route sometime in the past, thus setting up a new direction or choice on the trail.

What's more important is that another man lost his life for reasons that will become clear when as Sam said the coroner finish's the autopsy. My condolences go out to the family of Mark Alexander, it's tragic when someone dies doing what they love.

Pointing fingers at "short cuts" implies the wrong message here. Being prepared for the conditions, knowing when to call for help, knowing that the people you are with (if you are not alone, nothing can be done about being alone) will help you and not let you go back down alone is far more important than focusing on the conditions of a trail that has never truly had a "real trail" marked or considered by authorities as the true "trail".

Skyline has had some serious fatalities over the years, some years multiple deaths, it's a fact that the major portion of them are from hikers going up in the heat and turning around thus complicating the problem and succumbing to the heat.

If you think making the trail "The Trail" will stop that from happening it will not. You will get a more "aesthetic" trail, yes there will be less damage but that's going to take an very organized effort to put all the pieces in place.

I think it's more productive to put more water emergency boxes on that trail, maybe an emergency phone line or something of that nature and even a water pipe up to the picnic tables so that those in trouble on the way down could have water like the DWA provides in Snow Creek for the PCT'ers that are coming down from Fuller Ridge. They could also build a small shade shelter at the picnic tables.

I for one would love to see the trail maintained and a proper one designated but focusing on that as a way of diverting ones own responsibility to offset a tragedy to me is wrong.

I don't use Skyline often because I'm one of those people that overheat when the temperature is above 70 degrees, for that reason I choose other trails and even on days when it's under 70 I feel the effects if I attempt to go up to quickly, on your trail or the one that I'm following at the time as at this point I'm still not sure which one "is the trail". Taking the less steep one still can overheat someone if they are not properly hydrated, have not had proper sleep, it's a clear day versus a cloudy day, it all depends on the physiology of that person on that day.

We need to focus on deterring people from going up in the heat when their bodies just cannot handle it and if they still choose to go, to give them a chance to save themselves from the mistake that they've made, not point fingers at anyone that might have changed the course of a "non-maintained trail" over the years, this is just my humble opinion and I'm hoping that if you are a constant user of that trail that it's at the point that you want to change things once and for all and find a way to make a trail that is maintained and stop putting out that that is why people are dying on that trail, that's not the case. More importantly find ways to save people from themselves as even the healthiest of people had died on that trail from the heat.

God Bless and stay safe out there.

[cynthia23]

Sorry Zip--I like ya buddy but I disagree with you here. The shortcuts on the DM were NOT there nine years ago (when I started doing this trail.) I live here and do the trail weekly. Other than the 'major' shortcut, which at that time was just starting, there were at that time no shortcuts or braiding. As trail usage got much heavier, the shortcuts started popping up--especially in the last two years. The 'major' shortcut was definitely created by shortcutting Skyliners and certainly is used by them now, along with all the shorter shortcuts. The tourists just contribute by wandering around on them and getting lost. They don't create the new cuts because they aren't working on their PRs.

There is a lot of denial about this issue (the harmful nature of shortcutting) on this board. I hate to say it, but it usually comes from--quelle surprise!--people who like shortcutting because it 'improves' their PR.

I've said it before, will say it again: there is no rational (i.e. performance or sports-related) reason to take a shortcut, ever. Other than giving one the ability to boast at the tram bar to others about one's time, it makes no sense. That's what irks me the most--destruction for no good reason.

Do agree with you libitmo that because of the creation of these shortcuts it's now very confusing and people who don't intend to shortcut may unintentionally do so. However Skyline isn't a game trail--HJ believes that it's an old WPA trail and was constructed. Later on, the Desert Museum part of Skyline was constructed l by workers hired by the Desert Riders association. I know because I actually interviewed the guy who built it. His last name was Veith, I forget his first name. Definitely when I began hiking it (9 years ago) the DM was a clear and defined trail without any shortcuts. I'd like to see it return to that status. It would be safer both for people and the plants and animals who are harmed by this habitat destruction.

[Ed]

By and large, I agree with Cynthia. And the shortcut problem is not limited to parts of the Skyline Trail. The trail from the Ski Hut to the summit of Baldy, for example, was once not the ugly tangle of eroded paths it has become. It is so bad I prefer the extra elevation gain on the Bear Flats trail simply to avoid looking at it.

[Screerider]

I certainly didn't mean to stir up controversy or to point a finger at anybody. I also don't mean to imply that the shortcuts were the main problem. They are just one of the problems that we can help do something about. I noticed that the white dots were redone recently and it looked like they even started to go off in what I consider the wrong direction before getting back on trail.
As far as falling 40 or 50 feet...Newspapers never get it quite right. Makes for a more spectacular story.
All I can really say is that by the grace of God...there go I, then try to figure out what went wrong so it doesn't keep repeating itself.

[AlanK]

Sorry Zip--I like ya buddy but I disagree with you here. The shortcuts on the DM were NOT there nine years ago (when I started doing this trail.) I live here and do the trail weekly. Other than the 'major' shortcut, which at that time was just starting, there were at that time no shortcuts or braiding. As trail usage got much heavier, the shortcuts started popping up--especially in the last two years. The 'major' shortcut was definitely created by shortcutting Skyliners and certainly is used by them now, along with all the shorter shortcuts. The tourists just contribute by wandering around on them and getting lost. They don't create the new cuts because they aren't working on their PRs.

There is a lot of denial about this issue (the harmful nature of shortcutting) on this board. I hate to say it, but it usually comes from--quelle surprise!--people who like shortcutting because it 'improves' their PR.

I've said it before, will say it again: there is no rational (i.e. performance or sports-related) reason to take a shortcut, ever. Other than giving one the ability to boast at the tram bar to others about one's time, it makes no sense. That's what irks me the most--destruction for no good reason.

Well said, Cynthia. I started doing Skyline in 2001 and the shortcuts were negligible for about 5 years after that. Then they took off. (I always start from Ramon Rd.)

I recall seeing Skyline denizens off trail back in the early 2000s and thought nothing of it because they were alone and rare. But Cynthia is right -- there is no reason to shortcut on terrain like this. It is purely destructive. (Although I make no connection between shortcuts and this poor guy's death.)

[bluerail]

The frequency of traffic to the tables and back down has become very high in the years that I've been doing the trail, people hiking all the way are not going to be wandering around braiding trails. Do you see any of this "braiding" above the tables? There is so much that can be argued here, bottom line is you need to be cautious and consider your condition, I know when I'm worn out and dealing with risky terrain I stop constantly and and figure the best way through it. Period.

My thought and condolences to the family.

[cynthia23]

Certainly agree that the number of people hiking solely to the picnic tables (i.e. the Desert Museum trail) has grown immensely, and that too no doubt contributes to the wear on the trail. But Steve, don't understand why you'd say there's no braiding above the picnic tables--of course there is, it's all over the place. I haven't been past the tombstone in several years so can't speak to conditions beyond that point, but certainly everywhere between the picnic tables and 5k is heavily degraded with branching sidetrails and shortcuts. Aside from the large shortcuts some people here blasted up to the Shady Slope and the canyon up to the Big Ridge, etc, the original trail itself now has all kinds of braiding and 'shorter' shortcuts.

Shortcuts are analagous to broken windows and graffiti in urban areas--if a single one is left unfixed, people start thinking no one is in charge, and pretty soon there are broken windows and graffiti (or shortcuts) all over the place.

I'd say the bottom line is, Skyline is now a heavily trafficked fragile wilderness, and what was harmless ten years ago (a few guys finding their own fast route) is now quite harmful and has to stop. We now have hundreds of guys/gals crashing their way up anyway they feel like going. Plants that take literally hundreds of years to grow are destroyed and will never regrow, leaving barren dead zones and increasing dust. When it rains there will be slides and erosion to bare rock. Keeping to the established trail on a fragile, heavily trafficked route is just common sense and wilderness ethics 1a: "Leave No Trace."

[bluerail]

Between the tables and flatrock I believe there are four major "shortcuts" they do indeed cut off nearly 3/4 of a mile. They are very distinct and direct routes heavily used and in some cases replacing the main trail. Other than a few stupid switch cuts ( where you never loose site of the actual trail) there is none of the crappy mess you see below the tables. That area is a wreck, absolutely agreed. Above the tables the four shortcuts are lengthy and not easily confused or in sight of the old trail. I honestly wiuldnt consider that "braiding". In several spots the old trail is being given a chance to recover and regrow vegetation on it because 80% of the traffic seems to be taking the new routes. I think in most cases people's mindsets now are looking for more of a challeng , not PRs like you continue to refer to. So many more people just want to go up in as steep a manner as possible, that is why they go to skyline.
I completely agree that below the tables is a complete fucking mess though.

[Carl F]

That article is from 2012

His name was Mark Alexander

http://www.kesq.com/news/San-Pedro-Hike ... index.html