Cailin Nelson '97 discovered a wire stretched across a mountain bicycle path near Sachem Pond on Saturday morning, which poses a potential hazard to mountain bicycle riders.
Nelson removed the cord, which she found stretched across the trail up to Boston Lot Lake, when she discovered it, she wrote in an e-mail message.
Dartmouth Outing Club mountain bicycle instructor Mike Silverman expressed concern about the condition of the trail.
"If a person gets pulled off their bike they could hit their head," Silverman said. "If they are out there by themselves they could be knocked out or disoriented."
Silverman said he wants to evaluate the situation as soon as possible.
He added that the paths are not patrolled so the string poses even more of a danger.
The cord was located about one-third of the way up the trail and was two to three millimeters thick, "but really strong," Nelson wrote.
"The cord was wrapped between two trees on either side of the trail and it was wrapped around in two loops at a height of about 5 feet off the ground," she wrote.
"I don't think the tension in the cord was great enough to actually cut into anybody," Nelson wrote. "It definitely would have thrown someone off their bike and bruised face [or] neck regions."
She wrote the trail is rather dark and the terrain, including a hill, makes it difficult to make quick stops.
Nelson wrote she thinks the string was put up as a prank.
"It didn't strike me as the work of an adult with a serious dislike for mountain bikers," Nelson wrote. "It just didn't seem well done enough to be a really serious effort."
Assistant Director of Outdoor Programs Brian Kunz said he wondered if the cord might be related to logging activities in the area.
