{"id":26302,"date":"2024-08-03T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-03T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/section-of-wilson-mesa-trail-will-be-closed-through-november\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T23:37:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:37:37","slug":"section-of-wilson-mesa-trail-will-be-closed-through-november","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/section-of-wilson-mesa-trail-will-be-closed-through-november\/","title":{"rendered":"Section of Wilson Mesa Trail will be closed through November"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Here
Here is wire placed on a section of the Wilson Mesa Trail, discovered July 10 by a dirt bike rider. (Photo courtesy of San Miguel County Sheriff\u2019s Office Facebook page)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

A wire deliberately strung across the Wilson Mesa Trail was discovered on July 10 by a dirt bike rider on a stretch of trail between National Forest System Roads 645 and 623.<\/p>\n

Physical barricades and a Forest Closure Order temporarily closed the trail to the public a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Part of the trail \u2013 beginning at the end of NFS Road 623 and stretching 5 miles west to a trail head on NFS Road 622 \u2013 will remain closed through Nov. 30.<\/p>\n

\"This
This 5-mile section of Wilson Mesa Trail will be closed through Nov. 30. (Courtesy of the United States Forest Service)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A public safety alert went out on July 12 to warn residents, as \u201cthis illegal and malicious activity poses a severe hazard to \u2026 trail users, risking serious injury or worse,\u201d according to the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests and the San Miguel Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople need to stay aware and be careful,\u201d Montezuma County Emergency Manager Jim Spratlen said.<\/p>\n

The wires are especially hard to see when traveling at high speeds or in low light conditions like dawn, dusk or nighttime, which makes them \u201cextremely dangerous,\u201d the release said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis despicable act is a severe public safety threat to our community. We are engaged in a rigorous investigation to catch this loser,\u201d said San Miguel Sheriff Bill Masters.<\/p>\n

This is the second time a wire was placed around chest height on the motorized Wilson Mesa Trail. The first incident in early July injured a rider, but no one was injured in the second incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are shocked and dismayed that people would act in this way; intentionally endangering other residents and visitors and their ability to enjoy public lands,\u201d San Miguel County Manager Mike Bordogna said in the release.<\/p>\n

Trail users are encouraged to stay alert, travel in groups and avoid using the trail at night.<\/p>\n

To report suspicious activity or any related information to the wire incident, people are asked to call 970-728-1911. There\u2019s a $1,000 reward for the person who helps the Sheriff\u2019s Office find the alleged suspect or suspects.<\/p>\n

The person or persons responsible will face \u201csevere legal consequences, including potential charges of reckless endangerment, assault, and other related crimes,\u201d according to the release.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

separate incidents of wires placed on the motorized trail in Sam Miguel County triggered a temporary closure that began July 13<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,658,977,29,976,1310,2938],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-26302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-hiking","tag-mountain-biking","tag-newsletter","tag-outdoor-recreation","tag-safety-of-citizens","tag-uncompahgre-national-forest"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26302"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79306,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26302\/revisions\/79306"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26302"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=26302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}