If you read the blog "Slow Down for the Gotcha's" you saw some of Brant-Cima road. In addition to the "gotcha's," which were drainage crossings in this case, we found another unexpected hazard along this route: a barbed-wire booby trap.
The GPS showed a couple of lines along Brant-Cima road. We decided to check out the one less traveled by. This route wound its way roughly parallel to the railroad tracks, but was on the other side of an ever-present barbed-wire fence. The path closest to the railroad tracks was the more beaten of the two, but both were clearly two-track vehicle routes.
As we neared a drainage crossing, I had to put the brakes on in a hurry. Someone had taken it upon himself to block this line with barbed wire.
Blocking a line with barbed wire by stringing up a fence is one thing. This was quite another. The barbed wire had been pulled off of the fence posts, stretched across the trail a little below knee height, and wound around a nearby yucca plant.
Hitting this in a four-wheeled vehicle may have damaged the vehicle, but hitting this on a motorcycle would have certainly resulted in personal injury, or worse.
We didn't want to leave this barbed-wire booby trap for someone else to be injured by, so the wire cutters came out and did what they do best.
We then backtracked and got on the beaten path next to the railroad tracks. You can see in the second photo that someone has placed a downed telephone pole in the wash to discourage people from following the other line. A downed pole is OK, since it's visible. Low-lying barbed wire is not cool.
We can't imagine this having been done by a National Park Ranger. This must have been done by someone who didn't think of the potential harm that barbed wire can cause.