OHV Gates, working on it

For the last three straight years, many of the OHV gates within the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) did not open on time. This is not a new phenomenon. Sadly, it is a regular occurrence. This has always been the gate in question: The Middle Fork Trail 15N38.

It was so bad in 2025, that I decided to push hard to see that it did not happen again. (I had worked with the Basin previous years without success.) I contacted the LTBMU and had a meeting scheduled to talk about OHV gates in October of 2025. That’s seven months before the OHV gates were to be opened! Well, that was the time the federal government shut down due to lack of funding for about 40 days. No meeting.

Come January, the government is back open. The previous ‘acting’ Forest Supervisor retired. So, I started over with the new ‘acting’ Supervisor. We did meet. I thought we were on the right track. A few meetings, many emails.

But 15N38 was not open on June 1st. I emailed the Basin and I got this in response…

Tough to read but it says they had a crew scheduled to inspect the trail “today”. (6-2-2026). The day AFTER the trail was to open. My response was professional but very heated. A trail should not be scheduled for an inspection, the day after it’s to open.

Another new ‘acting’ Supervisor. More emails. More meetings.

My argument is that people out playing on the Rubicon read the Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM), read that the Middle Fork Trail opens June 1st. So, they plan to exit the Rubicon Trail using Barker Meadow OHV Trail (16E76), then Red Cabin Trail (16E79) and head down the Middle Fork Trail (15N38) to Tahoe. But they find 15N38 closed because the Basin has failed to do their job.

The FS is down employees, due to transfers out of the Basin and retirements. They claim to be down on funding and cannot replace people fast enough. So, I’m stepping up and removing some of their excuses regarding why OHV gates do not open on time.

The first step is developing a list of OHV gates. The MVUM lists all the trails, but some don’t have gates and some have two gates. I decided to hit the road/trail and figure it out.

It has been more than one trip to the lake to find and document all the OHV gates and their access and condition. I hadn’t been to Twin Peaks for years but I documented it. For the record, according to the signs, this is still a “day use” area and not one I need to worry about opening seasonally.

Some trails were campgrounds, not OHV areas. Some were FS cabin track roads, not OHV trails. Some were WAY overgrown and had not opened in years, but still on the MVUM. Those will take more research. But there is now a user created OHV list for the Basin.

We are scheduled to meet again later this month. I will share this list, and we’ll compare it to the FS list. I have created a check list / spread sheet to use when the FS is checking / opening gates. I’m in the middle of drafting a procedure for opening OHV gates within the Basin so everyone is on the same page and gate open due to a procedure not when someone has the time to drive out there.

There is still plenty of time to get this worked out. The Basin is open to working with the users. Finger crossed, we’ll get this figured out by next season.

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Rubicon Ronin