Vehicles are illegally parked on a two-lane highway in Frazier Park. Photo courtesy of Melanie Bernhardt, Facebook.
[KHTS] – Hordes of people descended on the fresh snow in the Cuddy Valley-Mount Pinos area west of Frazier Park over the weekend, forcing California Highway Patrol officers to shut off-ramps and local residents to clean up the mess.
Residents have reported visitors leaving behind large amounts of trash, blocking roads and driveways, creating traffic jams and trespassing on private property. CHP officers had to close all the freeway exits leading into Frazier Park, only allowing residents in before 1 p.m.
“Anytime there’s snow up here, we’re going to get people from L.A. and Bakersfield up here to play in the snow, which is their right,” said Adrian Garcia, public information officer for California Highway Patrol in Fort Tejon. “But it just creates a bad situation where we have so much traffic in such a little area. It just causes a big headache for the local residents.”
Officers wrote numerous tickets throughout the weekend due to people blocking driveways and roads and double parking their cars. Some were even at risk of being towed due to safety hazards.
“That’s something we don’t want to do if we don’t have to,” said Garcia. “A lot of the people that come here and play, they don’t understand the rules. We get people parking on both sides of the road, and it’s harder, or impossible, to get an emergency vehicle through there.”
While CHP officials have no current plan of action other than to continue to implement road closures as needed, Garcia has some advice for Santa Clarita Valley and other L.A. County residents planning to travel to the Frazier Park area in the future for snow-related activities.
Plan to arrive at designated snow play areas by about 8 a.m., as they will fill up quickly.
Come prepared to bring trash back home, as there are no trash receptacles at snow play areas. Be respectful of area residents and don’t litter or leave trash behind.
Pay attention to posted signs stating snow play areas are closed, and turn around (legally) in the case that these signs are posted.
Never block driveways or roads, or double park vehicles. Always park on the downhill.
Don’t trespass onto private property to play in the snow.
A photo taken by a snow plow driver who was blocked from continuing down a road by vehicles stopped for snow play activities. Photo courtesy of Kelsy Edgar, Facebook
Drive cautiously and obey all traffic laws, particularly when making U-turns.
“If you see a long line of cars, you probably want to turn around and try some other time,” said Garcia. “Obviously, we can’t not allow people to play in the snow, and we don’t have enough manpower to have an officer stand checking IDs for hours. We are definitely open for suggestions if somebody knows a better way of doing it.”
Area resident Melanie Bernhardt says she welcomes area visitors who are respectful.
“Just be respectful of the rules,” she said, “and we will continue to be welcoming.”
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75 Comments
People have no respect for our land.
Edwin Guille
Did you go?
No i will go by my dads
Oooh! Ook!
And this is the way they parked on the road. How is that safe for anyone?! I was visiting friends up there this weekend and people were letting their children sled on hills right next to the road and were throwing snowballs at passing cars. Why!!?!
No brains———they need to go home…….
Not to mention the tickets for crossing double yellow lines to avoid hitting others since there were so many cars parked on the road scary!
Yeah, I’d be fighting those tickets too, especially when the cars they were passing had no occupants parked in the middle of the road!
I know, I live up in the area and it’s people like this who have no regard for private property and all the Trask left behind is why all of us up here are going to do everything in our Power to keep the areas CLOSED TO NON RESIDENT VISITORS!
Very sad——
Critter Miller
And people don’t know why we are upset and say we need to get over it.
It would be better for you to know the area you are reporting about. This is NOT Frazier Park. This is the road leading into Pine Mountain Club. Frazier Park is 12 miles away from here (pictures).
It might be a “right” to play in the snow, but it is not a right to litter, park illegally, start fires and BBQ’s on the side of the road, play in the road, block the road, have little children sled into the road, or trespass on private property. I think the road should be closed before it gets so crowded that is causes problems. Please people use common sense and common courtesy. Take your trash home. Don’t block the road. Your life could be endangered as well if an emergency vehicle can’t get through.
I think the scariest part was watching people walk out onto the pond at the park so scary there are soooo many lost hooks in there it is strickly fishing only pond how scary and sad it would have been for someone to fall in
That’s horrible thay people don’t clean up after they enjoy themselves. I don’t live up there, but do enjoy going. Sorry to all that live there..
Thank you. If every one had the same attitude there wouldn’t be so many problems.
We were fortunate to play yesterday for a couple of hours. Able to find safe parking and lots of area that are open to public to play. People who visit need to plan ahead, plan early, don’t be in a hurry while driving, be vigilant as pedestrians walk in front of moving cars from inbetween the parked cars, slow down while driving, plan to clean up any trash or food they are responsible for. I keep plenty of plastic bags for any trash. Keeping the area clean is extremely important. Need to take care of the beautiful nature and be respectful of others properties. Don’t trespass.
Exactly!!!
We did the same last Friday, there was an area used as a parking lot with police offices directing traffic and making sure you had you parking permit. The road was closed at that point so we walked up away from the road (allowed by the police officers at the location) We had snacks that we only eat at our truck and had trash bags with us. It can be done right and we can still enjoy the wonderful snow.
Perfectly said! We went Sunday for just a bit but got there before 10am. Nice not to be in a rush and able to find parking without any problems…sad that people can be so careless of nature and others around them, especially when we’re all there for the same reason!
Woefully inconsiderate and disrespectful to these residents and nature! Whatever happened to having just a smidgen of thought for others?
Taryn Marcotte
It’s just snow!!!! Lol. I guess if you didn’t grow up in it like we did it’s a huge deal…..
Melissa Bye heard you had a mess. So sad people don’t respect other people’s neighborhoods. They sure wouldn’t act like that in theirs!!!
Traffic really was horrible, but we decided to just stay home all weekend, which was fine with us. ?Yesterday I guess CHP started closing off ramps because it was just too many people. Hopefully they’re better prepared for next time.
I bet they would. ?
Real classy people to go makes pigs of themselves instead of simply going to enjoy the snow
Wendy Wendi Powell! This is California! Lol
Hahaha sure don’t miss it! :)
No way!
Sara Scott
Gayyyyy
A simple solution would be to have the county assess the amount of safe and legal parking spaces and when it is full, close the road.
We were up there Saturday and we own a house up there that we rent. It is sad to see how visitors disrespect the town. If you pack it in then pack it out. Simple enough you would think. I hated when I lived up there and weekenders came up because they don’t care that they leave the town littered. They should close visitors down for the residents sake. We were forced to park on the paved roads when we lived there because the dirt roads don’t get plowed. Then you add this nonsense of rude visitors and this is what you get!!! The sherriff in Frazier should close the off ramps so these rude people can’t come up there. People are so stupid and they don’t watch their kids either. Accidents waiting to happen!!!!
City folk.
My aunt and uncle live up there and I went to visit them. It was so sad to see that everyone leaves their trash, destroys people’s private property and have a blatant disregard for residents who are simply trying to get home. Law enforcement really need to get a handle on the mayhem that this is creating. I know some property owners had damage too. And you can imaging they have to pay for that repair themselves.
Ticket them all.
Lauren Kobe Wendy Leonard
Sad!
Such a bummer. Super sad!
Are the rules posted on the roads/websites? If not, how are people to know?
Jesse Corr they talking the trash the snow bunnies leave
We used to own a cabin in PMC and it was horrible getting in and out with even a little snow. Sheriff used to close the road to residents only at the Y. You had to show membership card.
One time I saw people shoveling a lot of snow in the back of their SUV lol…
Donna Warda
I hate when we get snow because we have to deal with these inconsiderate idiots!!
Trump wouldnt let this happen
I live here. People were going #1 and #2 in the open and this isn’t the worst. Commute time was doubled even triple for some. Not to mention the numerous dangers.
This last weekend is beyond words.
The photo above depicts a two-lane highway with no shoulder. All of these people are parked illegally, hampering emergency vehicles and residents. Please come play in the snow, but please obey parking laws as a matter of public safety – ours and yours!! :)
F**king snow bunnies lol save some for the locals!!
So sad..I dont see all the city folks commenting “to get over it now”..
It’s snow! So not worth all that. I’d be pissed if I lived there and had to deal with inconsiderate snow bunnies!
Residents up here are NOT HAPPY! Took me an hour for a 20 min drive dodging cars and people. No respect or regard for anyone or anything!
We got there early and my children had a great time playing until…we got all these people and their broken plastic makeshift sleds that were plastic bins, broken skateboards, etc… It was horrible because they left their trash behind, they congregated in big groups and just interrupted everyone’s fun.
Chris Lee
Does not look like fun!!
Yeah, we always cleaned up our trash when we came up there….. some people are so enconsiderate when they go places, they leave and lay waste to places we all use….. we should always be considerate of the people who live in the Are since we are extruding on their community and many times peoperty. I am always,thankful that those families didn’t kick us off their hill…..
Hahaha we saw this when we were leaving. Glad we got out of there when we did.
Emma Marroquin Dora Alvarez
Stephany Zavala
We’ve had the same problems in the snow in Tehachapi.
No respect ?
Keep the tickets coming! It will ruin their day and those inconsiderate people will tell their friends. The word will spread.
GREAT JOB to the CHP.
Awful! Was there last Saturday. Parked off road in legal spot and cleaned up trash that was left behind. Unfortunately, some people are ignorant or just don’t care. Ignorance is everywhere these days. Sad.
Gabino Corado Maria Torres
Local residents need to get together and talk to sheriff Youngblood to see what they can do to fix this problem. Rally together if really want something to change.
we USED to go to Frazier Mountain, but got sick of the low life’s and pigs who took over and made a huge mess, God Bless those poor residents! I sympathize with them, it WAS crazy, we go east now, much more respectable and dignified crowds, more organization and clean!
we don’t mind having the “snow bunnies ” visiting the mountain. Just take the trash when you go. Usually on Mondays all the visitors are gone and nothing but trash laying in the snow. I recall someone leaving a vacuum cleaner standing upright in the snow.
It’s really not that difficult to take your trash with you…we did it ?. However, I don’t understand why people just don’t eat at their cars? It’s not like you bring a blanket and picnic on the snow ?. When we were driving through big bear 2 weekends ago we were shocked about how many people left their broken sled/snow toys…it was awful!
This is a community and a hometown for many..,treat it with respect if you are just stopping by or don’t go if you can’t be respectful.
We lived in PMC from ’77 to ’83 and it was bad then. Shaking my head. So much of society has lost respect and common sense. I feel sorry for the locals and law enforcement that are forced to deal with this. It costs lots of money and time.
You know people are going to follow places were the Snow is, maybe they should make a place or a park for all this Visitors! Humans enjoy beautiful places the wild Nature! Just have more trash cans available for this Visitors, and big sign please clean up after your self. Every body have the right to enjoy the same like you.
Don’t miss the Flatlanders / snow bunnies !!
Enlist the help of the community. Give them the authority on these days to take care of the community in whatever capacity is needed. And, limit the number of cars allowed in the area at these times. There are a number of venues that have to limit people for safety code reasons. Do the same in this area.