A homeowner along the Urban Assault trail in the Catalina Foothills has had enough of mountain bikers, hikers and walkers cutting through his land.
Andrew Pinnell has lived on the corner of Alvernon Way and Camino Llanoso for about five years. Last week he posted about a dozen no trespassing signs on his property and expects people to obey the rule of law.
Pinnell said he’s seen an increase in the number of people riding the trails and seen more of them riding through late at night shining their lights into his bedroom as they look around.
“I counted 200 people come through one weekend,” he said.
Pinnell has been stopping people continuing to try to use the trail that cuts through his property and reports have said some of the interactions have become heated.
According to Pinnell there isn’t a lot to say other than than it is his property and he doesn’t want people cutting through it.
As discussed in an earlier post about access issues on the Foothills trail, their is a hodgepodge of ownerships and easements along the short trail.
The trail has seen an increase in use as mountain biking has become more popular, which has led to increased access issues around the region.
Mountain bike advocates are asking trail users to ride down Alvernon Way after exiting the dirt on La Espalda Road.
Mike, can you put a legend or explanation on that map? Which part of the trail is on private land, and where should we be riding?
@ignorant drivers If you click on the two colors it’s got a bit more info. Both homeowners have closed the trail through their property. The red section is the homeowner who is very adamant and is stopping people who are trying to ride through his property.
@ignorant drivers I also added a green line for the bypass that is being suggested. It’s basically just the road all the way to River.
This guy is intentionally being antagonistic and threatening bike riders, I encountered him even as I made my way south following the suggested (green line) route past his house as shown above. He chased after me and told me I was not even allowed to ride on the public road/right of way. Screamed a lot, got in my face, and acted like a real jerk. For all those using this trail, expect to encounter a seemingly un-hinged lunatic.
I rode the FSA yesterday and when I approached the jerks property, I just rode Alvernon and made a left on Bajada and picked up the last section of wash and exited back on Alvernon. I didn’t see any signage so it’s really not much of problem and you get to do a short road climb to Bajada. I’ve met a few homeowners who live in that area that don’t mind us riding there.
I talked with this homeowner at length and happen to agree with him. Sometimes we, as MTBers, can be our own worst enemies. Would you want 100’s of people, you didn’t know, riding through your backyard at all hours? My guess is, you wouldn’t. The trail going north, toward Sunrise is open and when used along with the paved road, makes for a nice ride.
This guy threatened me yesterday morning, so thanks Mike, for his name
because I just filed a report with Pima County Sheriff’s department.
Anyone else wanting to file a report: name is Andrew Pinnell, his
address is 4450 N. Alvernon
I guess everyone commenting are all renters. If I wanted to pull a Ferris Bueller through your kitchen now and then is that all right? Ride a different trail if you can’t read a map.
The home-owner has placed monofilament line about neck/head high along the edge of his property. I did not know this was an issue so I kind of tried to find a way off this property only to see the monofilament.
I don’t know about the legality of it all but he could seriously injure someone with line strung up across a trial.
I did the ride recently starting from the south…when I hit the new (to me) signs I turned around. Rode on Alvernon to Llanoso and turned there to see what was up…many signs and wire strung all about.
Then a guy come running into the street and asks to talk. I stopped and he launched into a bit of a rant about foothills, animals, zoning..I said hey if it is posted I wouldn’t ride on it but pointed out I was in a public road at the time. He then told me if someone was to ride on his land they would have to tangle with him. I asked him if he was threatening me which was how it felt and he repeated himself, then he placed his hand on a large fixed blade knife he had on his belt (which I had not noticed before). I told him not to threaten me and got the hell out of there….I wasn’t scared till afterward but now feel the guy is potentially dangerous.
He did say that the trail further north was on county property and he didn’t care about it. He also said he was going to close the trail south all the way to Alvernon.
Sad thing.
MikeMcKisson Thanks! I finally had a chance to check back in on this.
It’s private property and the way a few of the biking community have responded to a person tired of the bike traffic thru his private property is a show of entitlement and cowardice and should put fear in any property owner that has theses cyclist on their property-
(we are talking about riding a bike and when told you can’t ride there now- they throw a tantrum, actually have time to waste and post his Infomation- blog about him -worse yet disrespectfully continue to ride thru-PRIVATE PROPERTY and expect the guy to welcome them back in his yard-really-with no confrontation? What world do they live in?!? WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?!?)
take note of how- when this guy was exercising his rights and how these cyclist disregarded his request ride thru his private property anyhow- of course he gets pissed-looked what happened to him….imagine had one them been hurt on his property-that’s scary and dangerous, wow way to represent your cycling community!
I rode the wash this morning and stopped to talk to a regular dog-walking woman. She said Andrew’s family did “an intervention and he was at Kino Hospital for a few days.” History of mental illness according to his family members. Now he’s back at home, and “acting strangely” according to his next-door neighborh, so dog-walking woman warned me “be careful!”
Are you people fricking kidding me? I just started reading some of these comments and i swear i actually thought i was reading some sort of “satirical comedy” bit… Let me give you people some obviously well-needed common sense advice- IT’S PRIVATE PROPERTY DIPSHITS! How about stay the hell off his property?!i it seems you people are more concerned about how to get through his property rather than to just not cut through it. And you wonder why you people have such a bad public opinion about yourselves. Smh!
Really old man What’s really sad is that this man seems to have been pushed to the point of no return by people that fail to understand that by breaking the law and trespassing on private property THEY are breaking the law.
@dbohemian I’m not sure how much trouble the homeowner would be in if his strung lines hurt someone unaware of them but would hazard a guess that he might have a good legal stand if he posted private property signs and warned others that they were not welcome on his private land. To me, my argument would be that if people were trespassing on marked private land and were then hurt while trespassing that they would lose the right to file a complaint of any sort.
marycycle29er If you stay off his property then you won’t have to concern yourself. It’s an easy fix.
@Don Why is he a jerk for not wanting strangers on his property at all hours of the day or night? He purchased the property, he pays the taxes on it. If I were him and were still having issues with riders ignoring his signs I would fence the whole darn lot in!
r7ski THANK YOU! It amazes me that so many people are missing the point on this! We teach our children that you don’t touch what doesn’t belong to you….it’s not any different!
It’s really not hard to understand here people….if you don’t own the land the trail is on….STAY OFF IT! The many paid for it and pays taxes on it. If he says he doesn’t want you riding on it then suck it up and ride a trail that others don’t care that you use.
Having said that, if a rider is on a public street, this man should not be approaching people with his restrictions unless it is in a non confrontational manner and for the strict purpose of informing riders of the non use of his private property.