I believe the big picture here is not ATVs, OHVs, or Highway/Offroad vehicles...its the people using them...I've been going to Uwharrie for 6 years now and have always done everything in my power and with my group to keep things as safe, clean, and smart as possible. I have seen WAY to many trail users regardless of vehicle just go up there with a THROTTLE OUT attitude on every obstacle...what they don't see is the effect the vehicle has on the erosion and rocks...if everyone was a little more calm and smart and took things easy instead of flooring it and hoping you land on 4 wheels(or 2 for bikes) the trails wouldn't suffer half of the abuse...notice which trails get shutdown and repaired...its always the ones with challenging obstacles...with the UORTC (Uwharrie off road training center) now people should be put through a small class possibly through them to understand what a treat it is to have a place to go and enjoy trail riding and how we should all try to preserve it as best as possible...also everyone should be taught about equipment safety and recovery...to many winches in wrong places and around trees killing them...trees hold the dirt from washing away so we need them...I may be stepping on toes here but everyone should take a look at what has happened at Tellico and understand Uwharrie is headed down the same road unless people get some sense about there wheeling. Unfortunately we will never weed everyone out who is causing the problems but maybe we should all work together to help get this stuff under control and maybe work something out to get the NCFS some kind of OHV/ATV or work out ride alongs for the trails to help deter the wrongful users from even showing up...also I think we should help to get BIGGER BETTER signs notifying people of trails and what's required like out west many trails have signs notifying users the trail is difficult and requires a certain tire size, winch, lockers, no by-pass and rollover/body damage highly likely...this would deter the by-passers from going and finding an "alternate" route around the obstacles...all in all many will not read this, but the most who do should help get the message out and get everyone motivated to protect our small off road heaven and do what ever it takes to fix these problems. Just putting my ideas out there many will disagree and I'm sorry but it would be very inconvenient to have to travel more than a few hours to hit the trails.
