STOP CLOSING OUR TRAILS

[Jeepster05]

1049160

I was in central Florida this past week and I went out wheelin with my uncle in his stock 97' TJ. The place we went to was a sand pit surrounded by sand cliffs. We saw a little hill that led up the side onto a trail so we put it in low range and went for it. At the base of the incline there was a little water. We went really slow and almost got to the end of the puddle and then the front just dropped. We were skrewed nothing was working and the jeep started to flood. We went alone, but we saw a couple of guys in little tacomas. they ended up tying to us and not doing any help. They had no clue what they were doing. The next thing we know, the park ranger was at the top of the hill yelling at us, saying he was gonna call the cops and all that bs. We ended up talkin him out of it. Then he said we were the 2nd rig he caught in an hour, then he said that he had brought bulldozer down there and dug out a 6 foot deep trench at the base of the hill.

I wanted to rip his head off. finally we had to call tow truck and got out fine with a little flooding but I'm still really ticked. [addsig]

 

[Tug-n-pull]

1049164

This is a thing that we are going to have to band together to change. The Tree Huggers and the flower people of the world are the wheels that are squeeking the loudest so they get the oil so to speak.



The tread lightly program that PASmokeater is all way talking about is our only hope. as a groupe of off roaders we could make a voice that could be herd. Other wise we will just need to lower our jeeps and cruise the blvds.



Well planed out sponcered trail rides with a positive message is the way to prove the power at power that we are ok folk. Again I use the Harley Davidson to show we can change the image we hold. From out laws to icons they have become.



Many years the 4 wheelers were wild rut building, trail destroying, beer can throwing, no reguard for the rest of the world folk. Now we need to show that we are responceable nature loving folk who want to get into the back country area in our jeeps.



I know the truth about most Jeepers and that we do care but that is not how we are viewed. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck folk will think it is a duck. So go to the Jeep jamborees and other organised runs. Make it a public event where the average Joe see us doing the right thing. Start local Jeeping / 4 wheeling clubs and work with the system to get the roads open.



Then we wont get into the ditchs that the man digs as a trap. I hate this has happened and I for one am going to try and make it change. As a groupe we can get the trails open again. It aint going to be ez.

Tug[addsig]

 

[bigTlilODD]

1049168

AMEN TUG! I hate seeing this type of attitude towards "non-hikers". I 4X and I mountain bike (now written as MTB) and I deal with these issues on both sides. We MTB'ers have a group called IMBA that helps us to keep trails open and teaches us to build trails correctly. Funny thing is, I don't see hikers doing much trail maintenance. But the 4X group, that I'm looking at joining, has trail maintenance trips. So do all the MTB'ers that I know. I don't think I've seen a hiker pick up and hike out any trash. I know some do, but not the day hikers on the local trails. Plus we also deal with "traps" like what Jeepster ran into. But, MTB traps are different. We get fishing line strung across the trail, barbed wire and even trail damage! Some enviromentalists will even wreck the trail to try to make it harder for us to ride on it! So, they wreck nature to keep "us" from wrecking nature.

So this ranger dug a pit and filled it with water to keep people from driving in a certain are. I guess if you were going any faster and got hurt then that would be ok, because he stopped you from hurting nature. Were there any signs saying "No tresspassing" or "no vehicles" if so, I must side with the ranger for stopping you but not that way. If not than he's wrong and I'd take his heiney to court! Imagine some guy on a motorcycle or a quad!

I guess the ranger doesn't care that he's done more damage to the ecosystem than you would've done. If it's a standing pool of water, he has now contributed to more mosquitos, which can carry diseases. He has also contributed to erosion. You engine was in the water, so there is now oil, coolant, grease and other fluids in that water and an animal is going to come by and drink that water!



We all need to participate in the tread lightly program and learn how to be responsible off-roaders. We need to all contact our elected officials, whether you like them or not, and tell them how you feel. In fact, here in New Mexico we just got a new Governor, a democrat!

He is asking all the republican game commissioners to resign! He said that they need to be replaced by people with more "balanced" views! Well, his Lt. Governor, Diane Dennish, is a hardcore enviromentalist wack-job! She wants almost everything banned from the forrest! Except hikers. If we keep silent about these issues, then our sport will be silenced![addsig]

 

[far_right]

1049177

DOWN WITH DEMOCRAPS......HAHAHA!!!

[addsig]

 

[jeepmaster]

1049183

we've recently had our only trail closed due to people taking advantage of the woods to dump old fridges and washers. its unfortunate that the irresponsibility of certain people ruins everyone else's responsible fun. [addsig]

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

1049271

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font class="pn-sub">Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT class="pn-sub"><BLOCKQUOTE>The next thing we know, the park ranger was at the top of the hill yelling at us, saying he was gonna call the cops and all that bs. We ended up talkin him out of it. </BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>



Sounds like you were somewhere you were not supposed to be, ie. OFFLIMITS. Breaking the law and trespassing and/or running on closed trails does just as much to hurt the sport of wheelin as the greenies do. Stay educated and don't give them more ammo to take more land.



You wheel somewhere you could have gotten in trouble for, and then you bitch about somebody closing your trails

[addsig]

 

[Jeepster05]

1049305

Had there been any sign of any form telling us not to be out there we would have gone somewhere else. We're not stupid about that stuff. I think it was really crappy for that a hole to do that and didn't warn us. THERE WAS NO SIGN.[addsig]

 

[dingus]

1049314

if you don't own the land, and don't have express permission from the owner to drive on it, you shouldn't be there. tresspassing. plus its just common courtesy. how much did the tow truck charge you to pull the rig out?[addsig]

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

1049322

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font class="pn-sub">Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT class="pn-sub"><BLOCKQUOTE>Had there been any sign of any form telling us not to be out there we would have gone somewhere else. We're not stupid about that stuff. I think it was really crappy for that a hole to do that and didn't warn us. THERE WAS NO SIGN.</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>



I agree with the fact that somebody may have been negligent by purposely creating a dangerous obstacle knowing that vehicles frequent the area.



I don't agree with the argument that the area wasn't posted. Free roaming is a thing of the past, you need to do the research and determine the legality of the access, if for anything to protect our sport. Although unfortunate, these are the times we live in.[addsig]

 

[ecor]

1049326

Talk about getting bad they just closed all of the snowmobile trails through Central NY because some lady riding a snowmobile with a micowave on her lap died by hitting a tree and her family sued. So NY's answer was to close the trails...





ecor

[addsig]

 

[darkwolf]

1049334

it's the same here in holland,

there's only one good place to go that is not millitary but real nature.

it's not difficult to drive trails there but the woods are great,it's the only real wildlife we got left in our little country but the same happens....there gonna close the trails

it makes me very angry against 2 kinds of people=

1-respectless off-roaders,

2-a hole hippies....

i really love wildlife a lot and respect it,but that doesn't mean you can't off-road...,just have some respect..[addsig]

 

[Tug-n-pull]

1049341

Our town was a small, near dead, a want to be ghost town. Store fronts set empty, and building going to pot in need of repair. Driving down main street one evening I said to my wife "I wish someone would open some kind of business and blow the breath back into this place". Wife says "your someone arn't you do some thing about it!"

First I felt like she had kicked me in the head then i thought I will learn to keep my mouth shut. Then the thought of saying it out loud and being froced to answer my own question is reason enought to get off my butt.



I picked a nice older building, signed a lease, and started a business. Two years later I sold the business for a great profit, and it is still running six years later and doing well. It was an Antique Mall and then there was another open, and another open, and I opened an Auction Business that goes hand and hand with the others. Resturants moved in and a furniture store. Town is alive again!



So as posted in my new years resoulation is to "Reopen Trails that have been closed to 4 wheelers" I have meet with several local officals so far and have a long road ahead of me. We will ride the trails again in Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina again.



So If you really want someone to do something about reopening trails and or closeing more trails get out there and put some work in and fight for the trails you want. As a groupe we can make a difference for that matter even one of us can at least make a stand.



I don't want to use this but it is real and in our faces everyday. I am not taking sides or forceing anything here but! "look at the USA we have let a bunch of little ol whinny tiny groups of folk change our way of life in the USA (remember the phrase in God we Trust). A very few non Christians got the prayer kicked out of schools, The ten commandments taken from the court houses, our trails are closeing, they want our guns, many of our basic freedoms are being taken as we set by and pat the taxes that they use to do so." Either fight or give up as for me I plan to fight for the freedoms afforded us by our fore fathers!



This is just an example! Don't hate me unless you fill you just have to. If this does make you hate me there was never anything to be lost in the first place. "A man that stands for nothing will fall for about anything" Tug[addsig]