Trail brings troubles

Trail users beware! If you decide to forgo the portable potties and pee in the bushes instead, your privates are public and someone might take a picture.

Shirley Cotten has a lot of photos of trail users on the El Dorado Trail at Missouri Flat — not of people urinating in the bushes in front of her house fifty feet away

from the public bathroom, but of trail enthusiasts with dogs off leash, people blocking Old Depot Road with their cars parked on both sides, moms with screaming children visiting for 30 minutes in front of her house, tipped over portable potties and bags of dog poop tossed into her yard.

No, she doesn’t have pictures of the guy who walked off the trail and into her yard asking for a drink of water or the men and children who routinely pee into the bushes in front of her house, making hot summer days a true olfactory treat. But she could.

The newest extension of the El Dorado Trail from Missouri Flat to Ray Lawyer Drive opened last October to the delight of pedestrians, bicyclists and equestrians. It’s the only paved trail in the Diamond Springs area and it is heavily used — 1,500 to 1,800 people use the trail on weekends, fewer on weekdays.

But, for the residents of the homes and businesses adjacent to the trail, it hasn’t been quite so much fun. The woefully tiny trailhead parking lot overflows and trail users park in front of businesses, on both sides of Old Depot Road and, even in the wide part of Cotten’s yard.

Old Depot is the only ingress and egress for the houses on Penn Road and Old Depot Road and the narrowness of the road with cars parked on both sides is a safety issue for the residents as emergency vehicles cannot get down the road.

Lynn Harrington, who has lived on Old Depot since 2002, cannot drive her truck and horse trailer down the road.

“We weren’t informed that the trail was going to be put in,” said Shirley Cotten who has lived on Old Depot for 23 years. “When we asked the county why not, they said it had fallen through the cracks while the departments were being reorganized."

In the process of putting in the trail, the road base  the residents had  paid to have graveled four weeks earlier, was torn up  and a water pipe was broken said Cotten.

Simulated fencing exists at one end of the trailhead parking lot, but there is a gap in front of Lynn Harrington's property next to the Cottens and then the fencing picks up again briefly near the trail kiosk and stops. There is no barrier between Cotten's yard or the other houses and the trail.

“"About 50 percent of the dogs on the trail are off leash," said Harrington, 45. Off-leash dogs belonging to trail users have attacked Cotten's dog, Bella, who was in her own yard, harassed Harrington's horses and chased her cats.

"My grandchildren play in our yard and I'm afraid that they could be attacked too," said Cotten."When I've said something to the owners, they've told me this is a public trail and they can do what they want."

Off-leash dogs poop in the yards, and, when the trail garbage cans are full, trail users toss filled blue doggy bags into the bushes and star thistle at the base of Harrington’s property. There are no signs on this segment of the trail to remind trail users to keep dogs on leash.

"I don’t have a dog,” said  Harrington, “but I have more dog crap in my yard than if I did.”

Children waiting for parents who are visiting on the trail throw rocks at her horses and try to climb the electrified fence on Harrington’s property. Nearby businesses like Sierra Door and Supply have had difficulty with trail users who park in their business parking lot and block their driveway when the trailhead lot is full.

"I feel sorry that there isn't enough parking, but it's dangerous when they obstruct traffic in and out of our business and block the driveway so emergency vehicles or trucks can't get in," said Barbara Berthelet of Sierra Door. "We asked the county for no parking signs and they agreed to put them up and extend the fence, but they haven't done it."

"We don't mind the trail," said Harrington. "We just wish the county would have taken action to protect the users and the neighbors along the trail."

"A fence wouldn't stop dogs and children from coming through, but it would let people know where the trail stops and private property begins," said Cotten.

Last November, in response to e-mails and calls from the residents, Russ Nygaard, El Dorado County deputy director of facilities and engineering, met with Cotten and the other residents in the area to discuss their concerns and how the county proposed to address them.

Despite agreements about what could be done, no action was taken. The group met again at the county offices on May 13. Signage for Old Depot Road was promised, fencing and restoration of the road base was promised, according to Cotten, but no action was taken after the meeting.

On Oct.27, Tom Celio, deputy director of maintenance from El Dorado County Department of Transportation, met with the Cottens at their home and told them the county would be putting asphalt grindings down where the road base was torn up; installing "No parking beyond this point" sign on Old Depot Road and reviewing the fencing layout with the neighbors.

"We've been hearing promises for a year now, and we just want action taken," said Cotten.

The Mountain Democrat  was unable to contact Russ Nygaard or Tom Celio

Signage, fencing and road base repair are the three things the residents along the trail want from the county — and some courtesy from trail users.