Chino Hills Mayor Brian Johsz was enjoying his weekend when he received a confusing text from a colleague. The person sent a photo of what appeared to be a sign posted along the trail of the Inland Empire city’s popular McCoy and Eucalyptus loops, with all-caps, red text stating “TRAIL CLOSING AT THE END OF THIS MONTH” and “CLOSING JANUARY 31ST.” No other information was provided on why the loops, which can be accessed via the McCoy Trailhead, were seemingly closing or when they might reopen.
“I looked at it like, ‘That doesn’t look like any of the signs that we’ve ever put up.’ Let alone, staff wouldn’t close a major amenity in town without at least giving the mayor and City Council a heads-up,” Johsz said. The supposedly official sign was also missing the city logo, which features a red-tailed hawk and an oak tree.
Johsz would quickly realize that the quiet, mid-sized suburban city — which is located in a hilly area near the borders of San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange counties — had unexpectedly found itself in a social media firestorm. What’s worse, the ease with which viral hiking videos, as well as images generated by artificial intelligence, can spread on social media meant that Chino Hills officials would struggle for days just to play catch-up with various rumors…