Facebook post spurs debate at the height of marijuana harvest season.

A graphic posted to the Friends of Garrapata (FOG) Facebook page Sept. 1 warns people to stay off one of the most popular trails in Garrapata State Park.

The map shows red X’s over the Peak Trail off the Rocky Ridge loop. “STOP!” it reads. “You are entering a marijuana growing area during harvest time. Growers may be armed and trails booby-trapped.”

As of Sept. 3, the graphic had been shared 50 times and had almost as many comments. But the comments are split – some supporting the idea there are dangerous pot grows in Garrapata, some questioning it, others calling it fear-mongering.

FOG co-founder Austin Keegan says he created and posted the graphic after an acquaintance described irrigation pipes coming out of a cattle trough. Keegan says he relayed information to the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office before posting the warning.

“From my standpoint, the main thing is safety for the people and for the animals out there,” he says. “There’s already a drought, and if there’s poison in what little water there is, suddenly there’s a die-off. Something has to be done.”

Carmel resident Keith Vandevere, an attorney and Monterey County planning commissioner, blasted the post on his blog, Xasáuan Today. “There’s nowhere to hide a marijuana grow on the ridge and no water to keep a grow alive,” he writes. “Next, it’s highly unlikely that marijuana growers would booby-trap a popular hiking trail, since that would guarantee their quick discovery.”

Vandevere flags a series of sarcastic bants on Keegan’s Facebook post from what appear to be a group of young Latino men who recently hiked Garrapata.

“Ohhh dammm fuk it hay que entrarle al negocio,” one wrote. (“We need to get into the business.”)

Vandevere suggests the FOG warning could be an unfair microaggression. “Please let’s hope it can quickly be confirmed that the whole thing isn’t the result of someone seeing these young people or some other group ‘hiking while Mexican,’” he writes.

Keegan responds: “I didn’t say anything about Latinos. I don’t know where he got that.”

Mat Fuzie, Monterey District superintendent for State Parks, says it’s highly unlikely there are pot grows near Peak Trail.

“There’s been no direct evidence, and we patrol up there regularly,” he says. “We basically told [Keegan] it was irresponsible for him to post something like this.”

Still, Fuzie adds, State Parks and the Sheriff’s Office are cooperating to do a flyover patrol of the area.

Sheriff’s Cmdr. John Thornburg says his office plans to follow up, but county law enforcement is low on resources to investigate reported pot grows in the wilderness since the dissolution of the County of Monterey Marijuana Eradication Team: “That’s exactly the unit we would send.”

Remote outdoor pot grows are fairly common – several large sites were recently busted in South County – but they’re usually in secluded locations away from hiking trails, according to Thornburg.

“It’s not where you’d want to put a grow, because when people do find it they call us,” he says. “And we chop it down and take away everything.”