It pays to stick to these sidetrails to avoid traffic, but trail protocols must be strictly adhered to, as there's not much room to pass another user. Watch out for dogs, though, as many owners ignore the leash laws, and even the gentlest pooch will take a swipe at you if you ride right up and scare the crap out of him. Like the guy last week who told me it was OK for me to keep climbing the technical section I was on, as he had plenty of room to get down it around me. Mind your Ps and Qs to keep these trails open for us locals who have very few other places to ride during the week. This applies especially to closed sections of the trails.
Some loops run through private property, and are chained off.
Fortunately, they rarely run straight acroosss the trails, but they're not highly visible. Maybe it's because I'm from Colorado and have a passion for wild places, but it just breaks my heart to see trails that have doubled in width in the 2 years I've been riding them. If they get much wider, I'm afraid the state will pave them over as an HOV lane for the Merritt. Things are just WAY too crowded out here for people to be able to ignore trail protocols. Take a left which will take you up an easy gradual climb.