Closure dates changed, not communicated

Due to the weather over the Sierra these past few days, El Dorado County has pushed back plans to use a helicopter to fly in material to be used to maintain the Rubicon Trail. The new closure dates are May 11th through May 15th. That includes the upcoming weekend of the 14th and 15th.

A photo from a previous helicopter delivery to the Rubicon Trail:

From the El Dorado County “Parks” page:

https://www.edcgov.us/Government/Parks

Rubicon update: Due to the upcoming weather on Sunday and Monday the maintenance project has been pushed to May 11th.  Unfortunately we will need to close the Rubicon Trail through the weekend. The trail will be closed May 11th -May 15th.  We are sorry for the inconvenience, and are working diligently to get this project done before Memorial Day Weekend. Thank you for your cooperation.

Here’s my problem with this change, it was not properly communicated down to the actual users that need to know this information.

El Dorado County has a Rubicon Trail page on their website. At the time of this writing, that page has absolutely no information on the change of the closure dates. In order for the users to find the closure information, users must go to the ‘Parks’ page of El Dorado County, as quoted above.

https://www.edcgov.us/Rubicon/

For the record, it is also not posted on the website of the one Rubicon Trail specific advocacy group, the Rubicon Trail Foundation.

https://www.rubicontrailfoundation.org

Users should not have to search to learn about the current conditions of the Rubicon Trail. Major changes, such as temporary closures, and even minor pieces of information, should be sent out by the agency closing the trail, not just posted. OHV advocacy groups should latch on to those press releases and forward them to local clubs and post the information on OHV forums, let alone post them on their own website.

Every year, tens of thousands of dollars are donated to OHV advocacy groups. If those groups and agencies fail to inform you of critical information about your local trail, specifically the world-famous Rubicon Trail, are you getting your money’s worth?

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Rubicon Ronin