Investigation into spike strip found on Marin County trail complete

Photo: Courtesy Marin County Bicycle Coalition This spike strip was discovered last week along a trail situated on...

An investigation into a spike strip discovered on a Marin County trail is being declared complete by local sheriff's deputies.

The spike strip was found last week by two bikers, and was originally thought to have been located on a trail in the White Hill Open Space Preserve. Marin County sheriff's deputies spoke with the bicyclists and determined that the 27-inch long spike strip was placed on private property located next to the park, according to a press release from the sheriff's department:

Based on the condition of the spike strip, it appears to have been there a long time. The spike strip was found on a segment of trail that comes off of the White Hill Fire Road, which itself is contained within the White Hill Preserve. The trail where the spike strip was found is signed no trespassing. According to the property owner, hikers and mountain bikers once used the trail regularly and the owner has not seen of evidence of use for a long time.

The spike strip was described by the sheriff's department as a 27-inch-long tube containing 34 two-inch screws. The strip was found affixed to the ground, according to a previous report by the Marin Independent Journal, and was removed from the area by the cyclists for safety purposes.

Although the investigation is considered complete, with no suspect or motive being disclosed by the sheriff's department, previous reports had attributed the dangerous item to an ongoing argument over trail usage. There's been some contention over how best to use trails in Marin with both mountain bikers and hikers vying for trail space, but the discovery of the spike strip certainly had some bicyclists feeling targeted.

"I think that it's fair to say that this has all the appearances of being targeted at people on bikes," Jim Elias with the Marin County Bicycle Coalition said Tuesday to SFGATE. "It was a gesture that I would describe as violent: It clearly was intended to frighten or intimidate people, and the consequences could have been very serious."

Although Elias feels the spikes are aimed at bicyclists, he stressed that the incident should be considered an "outlier" in the ongoing trail discussion.

"In our minds, we treat this as an aggressive gesture and one that could have real consequences, but this is not something that symbolizes the conversation going on between different trail users," Elias said.

"This is a potentially criminal act and I think it's important that we frame it in that light, rather than something that's characteristic of the larger debate."

Citing the "Slow and Say Hello" program with Trail Partners — a group made up of the Marin County Bicycle Coalition, the Marin Horse Council and the Marin Conservation League — Elias said that a lot of progress has been made between the groups over the use of the trails.

Programs such as Slow and Say Hello are "based around the notion that we talk to each other," Elias said. "When we take a moment to consider someone else's needs and their well-being on our shared lands, we work together toward overlapping goals. That's where progress is made, and I think that's where 95 percent of the effort is being devoted, as opposed to these outlying gestures of whatever someone was trying to express."

The Marin County Sheriff's Department stated that they have increased patrol of the area and asked that if any other similar devices are found, to contact their office.