Dirt biking solo in the Santa Barbara County outback can be treacherous, if not deadly.
A Santa Maria resident and U.S. Marine Corps veteran got a taste of how dangerous it could be after getting rescued on April 3 in the La Brea Canyon area, according to Kelly Hoover, the public information officer for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office.
Hoover said the 38-year-old man, who was not identified, is an avid dirt biker and reportedly went out to Los Padres Forest to prepare for an upcoming ride.
When the man didn’t return by nightfall, the man’s family reported him missing and the Santa Barbara County Search and Rescue team was dispatched to find him.
Around 11 a.m. on April 3, the rescue team discovered the man standing in a creek. He had apparently suffered an accident and broken both of his arms and injured his leg. The man who had been sent out to find him, Hoover said.
The man was flown out on and taken to a nearby hospital for medical treatment.
According to Andrew Madsen, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service in Goleta, the incident is under investigation because the man was riding in an area that was off-limits to motorized vehicles.
“He was violating a forest order by being on his bike out where he was,” Madsen said, adding that the order’s been in place for at least five years, ever since an “intense” fire occurred there several years ago.
After the fire, Madsen said, rains came and washed out the road, making it impassable to motorized vehicles.
However, Madsen added, people may still hike, ride horses, and even bicycle in the area.
This article appears in Apr 7-14, 2016.