VALERIE SCHULTZ: Mr. Wyman, please give our mountain back
| Thursday, Nov 17 2011 05:26 PM
Last Updated Thursday, Nov 17 2011 05:29 PM
Tehachapi Peak rises as a source of pride for us Tehachapi residents. At 7,986 feet, it is the highest point in the Tehachapi Mountains. The peak is a favorite destination of hikers, runners, visitors and others who thrive on altitude. For locals, reaching the peak marks a beginner's major accomplishment, a child's rite of passage, a serious athlete's training goal, and a casual hiker's affirmation of faith in a fantastically creative God.
I am in that last group: I've only been to the top a handful of times. That trail is everything I love and hate about steep climbing. On the way up to the peak, my fingers tingle and my breath shortens to the point of embarrassment. My face reddens and my legs make uphill progress by the inch. My head gets light, and every part of me is angry at my brain for making the earlier decision to hike this trail. As I struggle my way up that last bit, I swear that I will never do this again. Then I reach the top, catch my breath, write my name in the notebook in the can, mosey around in a circle to appreciate the view, drink some water, eat an apple, re-tie my sweaty bandana, and feel pretty darn good about life in general. For a moment, euphoria outweighs suffering.
My husband, on the other hand, hikes to the peak frequently for fun, as well as to train for longer backpacking trips into remote places. He hikes with his backpacking buddy, and along the way they solve many world problems together. Lots of local folks have hiked that trail hundreds of times, and as a group they are aghast at what greeted them recently: a "No Trespassing" sign where it used to say ".44 mile to the Top," and a bunch of branches and cables intentionally blocking access to the trail. The owner of that last strip of trail, former Assemblyman Phil Wyman, is asserting private ownership of a decidedly public path.
To be sure, everyone who has been to the top has seen the quaint green sign on the tree that says "Park Boundry / Private Property Ahead" (I have preserved the misspelling, since my daughter once got extra credit in an English class for a photo of the sign as an example of public proofreading errors). We all know it's technically private property, that it's been in the Wyman family since the late 1800s. Wyman may not know, however, that, according to California Civil Code, if a trail is used by the public for more than five years without the landowner trying to keep people out, it reverts to an automatic easement. An easement, in fact, is what the Kern County Parks director recently proposed to Wyman, but was rejected.
In an article in the Tehachapi News, Wyman pointed to the issue of his liability as a reason for blocking the trail. Amazingly for the overly litigious state of California, however, a private owner is actually well protected by law from any liability stemming from the recreational use of his or her property. An easement would grant even more protection. Wyman's suggestion that he might charge a fee to access the short strip of pre-peak trail that he owns would cause him to lose all liability protection, necessitating a large insurance policy to protect his interests. (I am grateful to Trent Theriault of Tehachapi Mountain Trails Association for this helpful research.)
Per Wyman's list of worries about violence, logging accidents and marijuana cultivation on the trail, most hikers are just passing through, and unarmed. There is speculation that the trail was closed off to retaliate for the community's agitating against a proposed wind farm on pristine mountain land, but surely Wyman wouldn't be so petty.
The park caretaker of Tehachapi Mountain Peak, Stuart Etherton, writes in the Tehachapi News that in nearly 24 years, he's "rarely even found a water bottle or any trash on the trail." He also reports that "this past summer, some local Eagle Scouts donated their time building trail information signs showing the way to the peak, making it less likely that hikers would get lost. Recently two of these signs were torn out, one at the peak and one ... on county property." Would Wyman really want to be associated with messing up the hard work of Eagle Scouts?
The question of the red metal ammo box that once graced the top also respectfully seeks an answer. Over the years, hikers both local and from all over the world have left their signatures, drawings, comments, poems, and musings in the notebooks contained in the box (see photo). The notebooks are an honored tradition and also a significant part of local lore. Local hikers would like to see the ammo box back in its rightful place on the peak.
"My hope," writes Christy Rosander, an avid hiker and all-around outdoorswoman who blogs at ladyonarock.wordpress.com, "is that Mr. Wyman will realize the vast impact this mountain trail has to the community and grant access once again to Tehachapi's summit."
The hikers, joggers, snowshoe-ers, fitness freaks, tree huggers, earth savers and others who have reached the peak share her hope. There's even a Facebook page called Free Tehachapi Peak. The movement could go viral.
Here's hoping that Wyman will reconsider an easement, or better yet, donate that strip of trail to the county, and connect his family's legacy forever to the common good of Tehachapi.
These are the opinions of Valerie Schultz, not necessarily those of The Californian. Email her at vschultz22@gmail.com.
