So my fellow ranger Tim and I went to the sand caves today to look for trespassers. The sand caves are beautiful and an awesome place to hike, but they are dangerous and the ecosystem there is extremely fragile. Also, their most common visitors are teenagers looking to drink, get high, and grafiti in a secluded place. As a result, they are off limits to the public. Of course, that only inspires more people to try to climb up to them. So Tim and I went up there today to flush any kids out and establish our presence there. Sure enough, while taking a break about halfway up the illegal trail, we encountered two teenagers each with a sixpack of miller light. We politely informed them that they were illegally trespassing, and after a quick "sorry bro" they turned around and fled back the way they had come. Tim and I then continued up the the caves. There was no one there, but Tim was sure that on a Friday afternoon there would be more visitors so we settled down at the top of the cliff where we could see all the illegal trails and waited. Sure enough, after a few minutes passed by we heard bushes rustling behind us near the "backway" to the sand caves. Tim and I grabbed our pruning shears and held them menacingly as we crept towards the noise so we wouldn't scare them away before we could get close enough to really screw with them. We heard them getting closer and closer and on Tim's signal we both stepped out from behind a bend in the trail. We were almost as surprised as the kids were because they were the same kids we had just kicked out ten minutes ago. Everybody just kind of stood there for a minute and then, simultaneously, Tim stepped up and put a hand on the first kid's shoulder and the second kid took off like a deer back down the trail. We're technically not allowed to restrain anyone or even give them a fine, but Tim did one of the funniest things I've ever seen. He told the first kid to put down his beer and sit down in the middle of the trail. Then he pulled out his radio and quickly clicked and released the talk button so that it would beep. This way, the kid (and for a second me) would think he was actually talking to someone when in reality he was talking to a turned off radio. Then Tim said "Sheriff dispatch district four, we have two trespassers in the San Elijo Lagoon. Both are male, approximately 17 years old. One is wearing a black striped shirt and a black hat, the other is wearing a white shirt and a green hat. The second one is currently fleeing the scene, probably headed towards Rios. I have the first one restrained. Please send a couple of squad cars to pursue and arrest." Then he clicked the radio button again as if he were ending his transmission. At this point the kid sitting in the dirt at Tim's feet looks like he's about to piss himself and Tim is trying valiantly not to laugh. Then he turns to me and says "Did you happen to bring zip ties?". And as he's turning back to the kid the kid rolls over, hops up, and takes off at a dead sprint down the side of the hill, not even on the trail. We watched gleefully as he ran right through a grove of poison oak all the way down to the trail and turned left. Then Tim yelled "the sheriff is over there, don't go left!" and the kid skidded to a halt and ran back the other way, presumably the direction opposite that of his parked car.
So, after that successful prank we were rewarded with a sixpack of beer ... which we had to turn over to the county :(
