Trail Etiquette

Ridgerunner

Ridgerunner

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Location
Fuquay Varina, NC
We were At URE this weekend and I think there were more morons there that I have ever seen.

There was a guy in a XJ on Kodak that must have tride 15 times to go over this little rock while there wer 13 rigs waiting on him to get out of the way. then He finaly decided to break his drive shaft. now instead of just winching him self up out of every bodys way. They decided to try to fix it.

Then there was a bunch of Rovers that decided to go around the fence at kodak.

We also had 2 quads run into our rigs because that were to in too much of a dam hurry to wait their turn
 
We saw a bunch of quads go around fences. Too many torn up fences at Uwharrie! Man, I busted my a$$ many, many months and brought my own tractor down there several times to help build those fences. That sucks.

And the next person in a quad that hits my rig is either handing me cash to fix it, or I'm planting a tire on his seat. I was "too nice" in June when the idiot with small kid (no helmet) on the back didn't know how to shift his quad into 4WD and slid repeatedly into my TJ when we were nice enough to pull over to let him by.

Sorry for the rant.

I hate that you guys ran into trouble Carl. Our group had no problems on Saturday. Great weather! :)
 
Man... parents that let little kids ride w/ no helmet make me so mad! Our last URE trip there was a little kid, MAYBE 6 riding a full size quad w/ no helmet coming out of trail head of wolf den. I said, "where's your helmet little man?" and he replied, "in the truck, daddy don't care." I just shook my head and thought, "well fuck-lot-a good it's gonna do you in there!" Then his little sister, maybe 4 or 5 yrs old, came riding behind him (no-helmet), with a toddler that was no older than 18 months sitting on her lap/in front of her. Damn I wanted to go beat up their parent(s).

I'm sorry for my rant, but it's one thing to take your own life in your hands, but just ri-god-damn-diculous when you gamble with children's lives who don't know any better by not teaching them proper safety.
 
i agree, things seem to get worse and worse up there despite efforts. especially this year. if uwharrie wasn't so convenient to raleigh or there was somewhere else just as close, i'd never go.
 
Ridgerunner said:
There was a guy in a XJ on Kodak that must have tride 15 times to go over this little rock while there wer 13 rigs waiting on him to get out of the way. then He finaly decided to break his drive shaft. now instead of just winching him self up out of every bodys way. They decided to try to fix it.
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You forgot his untied 35" spare on the roof, revolvers, and lack of seat belts. I figure he and the helmetless parents/kids are self correcting.
 
I have had a few trail nats scrub the side of my jeep but im not too worried, mine looks like crap anyway, everytime it has been a middleaged prick who thoght I was in his way.
 
I made the mistake of going opening day this year. I was beating on a small ledge on wolfs den in the rain. A couple of quads decided to go around and the last on fell into the trail when the egde gave way. I never saw the quad until I heard the people screaming and then the BANG. I had it under the nose of the junk, r/f planted on the tank and the junk teetering on 2. Luckily the rider stopped sliding about 10 feet from my junk. I tore the shit out of that quad, tires, tank, fenders, seat, bars, cables and so on, I figure I did 2 or 3 thousand dollars damage to it. (relatively new honda) The guy who was riding it I think thought I was going to beat his ass, very apologetic about it all. Other than a new dent in the skid, no damage to my junk at all and we got the thing out from under the truck and his friends drug it away. :rolleyes: What a dumbass, I asked him flat out, WTF he thought he was doing. "I was tired of waiting on you truck guys" LOL, his impaitence cost him a assload of cash that day. Had he gotten under there with it, chunks of him would have landed in Pitt County as I was on the limiter in 4lo, 4th gear.

I also picked up a egg shaped dent in the tailgate this year, going down Falls Dam, slid to a stop and the fool behind me slid right under the assend of the truck. Face planted the tailgate. :lol: I honestly wonder if he broke his nose and you could see him hold back from the pain and trying to play it off. Other than the dent, he got into the longside brake hardline and tore the tabs off the housing.

The quads are becoming a problem.
 
luckily i've never had one hit me. if i ever do, it'll be on. just for the principle of it, not that i care about my sheetmetal.
 
In spite of the fact that I too am a "quad" owner/rider, the ATVs aren't BECOMING a problem, they have BEEN a problem from day one. Every other place must be safe as hell 'cause the dumbshits are all gathered at Uwharrie. I see the day coming sometime when the numbnuts will have to show a safety course certificate to get a pass. The rule is already in place and enforced that requires a certificate to participate in workdays on an ATV, and us "polite" ATVers support capital punishment for the numbnuts who allows his recently toilet-trained kids to have anything ATV (other than one that fits them), and who also fails to require them to wear the safety duds.
 
I ride my ATV there often, and I as a truck wheeler know the etitique and respect and the way of the trail. so its not just all the atv-ers, there are some good ones left. The bigger rig has the right of way, and you can never be to polite.
 
SpydyrWyr said:
I'm sorry for my rant, but it's one thing to take your own life in your hands, but just ri-god-damn-diculous when you gamble with children's lives who don't know any better by not teaching them proper safety.
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And to think, if their parents stupidity doesnt seriously harm or kill the kids, they will grow up raising their kids the same way.
 
Well, Idiots are born everyday, and they grow to breed more Idiots. Rish used to have on his sig, "Stupidity should be painful" Too bad it isn't( unless it gets then hurt) I see it all the time, and I AM one to open my mouth to the kid or parent.

I pity the one who ever finds himself underneath my Jeep. Hope they are up on all their shots!
 
radioman said:
In spite of the fact that I too am a "quad" owner/rider, the ATVs aren't BECOMING a problem, they have BEEN a problem from day one. Every other place must be safe as hell 'cause the dumbshits are all gathered at Uwharrie. I see the day coming sometime when the numbnuts will have to show a safety course certificate to get a pass. The rule is already in place and enforced that requires a certificate to participate in workdays on an ATV, and us "polite" ATVers support capital punishment for the numbnuts who allows his recently toilet-trained kids to have anything ATV (other than one that fits them), and who also fails to require them to wear the safety duds.
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I am one of the former ATVers that used to participate in work days. The NFS screwed themselves on getting volunteers from the ATVing community. They banned ATVs from work days last year because a stupid ranger took a dirt nap (died) somewhere out west while riding their quad on the job. They banned ATVs from work days after that. The membership of the club I was in all decided that it was time to stop supporting Uwharrie because of this rule. The members of this club respect trail truck owners and enjoy sharing the trail with trail trucks. Not all ATVers are "trail gnats" I have a bigger problem with the NFS not enforcing the rules except the ones that require no effort on their part. A CRACK DOWN is needed. Riding without a helmet should be illegal on public property. Making the parents responsible should be the law.

Here is a few lines of the ATV clubs rules and regulations that pertain to this topic. I wrote these rules myself.


Use of ILLEGAL DRUGS will not be tolerated and may result in termination of membership.

Use of ALCOHOL during riding will not be tolerated and may result in termination of membership Enjoy an adult beverage after the ride.


No FIGHTING will be tolerated and will result in immediate termination of membership

Members are encouraged to promote SAFETY & PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.

Helmets will be required at all club functions No exceptions This rule applies to trail rides and all public events.


Members are expected to improve our image as ATV operators.

Not all ATVers are bad. This club is a perfect example of what all ATVers should be. Too bad that is not the case at Uwharrie. I have resigned from this club because I no longer have a quad. If I buy another one you can bet I will rejoin. These are a great bunch of folks to ride with.
 
I do not even want to get started on the idiots from the weekend especially when I was at kodak saturday afternoon or the amount of tickets I got a few people sent via mail
 
radioman said:
I see the day coming sometime when the numbnuts will have to show a safety course certificate to get a pass.
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Not likely to ever happen...the FS can't even get the quads to pay their way on the trails...About 1 hour into our trail ride this weekend, The Lovely Jeep Wife asked me "Don't the quads have to have passes to ride the trails"... So I started looking. Not one of the 50 or so quads I saw the rest of the day had a day pass on it...I'll grant you that some of them may have had an annual pass in their pocket...but I'm sure not all of them.

It is time for the 4x4 comunity to become more active in the planning meetings at URE...I know it's on my list of "to do's" for next year. Our voices and our concernes need to be heard, and hopefully acted on by the FS.
 
I enjoy the quads, both riding and watching. (hey ya'll, hold my beer and watch this) Not all quad riders are bad, there just seem to be more bads ones than good ones. I've been pass checked the last 3 trips out to URE, I've never seen a quad get pass checked. I've never had a ranger check my rig or cooler for a damn thing, tellico or URE. I think its just past time to enfore the rules in place including adding a impound rule for drinking drivers on FS lands.

I can see whats coming down the pike, a full motorised vehicle ban in URE. Why? Because people cant follow the rules and manage to have a good time.
 
I have called and sent pictures of all the Land Rover group that made new bypass trails Sunday on Rocky Mount Loop. There was a lot of them from Cary LR so if you know anyone down there talk to them.
I will be setting up a meeting with there higher ups and have already talked to the park rangers. I was ok with one or two of them doing it and then told them they were off the trail and they said they would stop and not let any more go but the rest of them said who cares and went on.
One said they "don't go much and don't know the trails so who cares."
Another said that "if the park ranger wanted to write a ticket he had people to take care of it."
I got pictures of it but could not get pictures of the people in there Rover that told me that because they were all walking and clapping after each rock a Rover made it over.
J
 
I think that someone said we had two rigs hit but it was three total and two of them just took off and did not stop or say anything. One guy backed into one rig and hit the front when the rig was going up hill. Good thing he was going slow.
I can tell you this if someone hits me on the trail I have a some what large rig and don't know if I will be able to stop it before the quad would get run over.
If they hit you and run is it the same as a hit and run on the road.
If so I will be taking a lot more pictures and track the people down with the ranger later. Two of them I seen camping on the trail.
If the Rangers cant or don't do anything it is time we start doing it.
J
 
On opening weekend coming up the Dutch John hill climb one of the quads flipped over on a rider above the trail. It rolled over top the guy, then fell into the rut, about an 8' drop! then tumbeled 20' down the trail to the rig behind me that I was strapping up. Bent the quad pretty bad.

The stupidest act I witnessed that weekend was a jeeper. Someone with a brand new Rubicon and a winch that took the family out. We were headed up Rocky Mtn loop toward Kodak when a little girl stopped us and told us to wait for her daddy who was stuck. We stopped and walked up the trail to see what was happening. We got up to the steep rock ledge to see a new Rubicon was high centered on the rock trying to come down the trail. the dad had the teenage son securing the winch cable to a tree saver around a tree. As we got up to the jeep the father was taking up the slack in the cable. he was standing next to the driver side door of the jeep. All it took was a small tug to get the skid off the roock and the jeep started to roll down the trail!!! Mistake #1 was operating the winch with no one in the rig, mistake #2 was trying to run next to the rig and get in to stop it!!! had the father tripped he would have certainly fallen under the rig since he was in one of the deep ruts. The TJ coasted 40' or so before driving up the side of the rut and stopping. The winch cable got wrapped all around the axles and tires. Mom and the daughter were hysterical and crying.

That was one crazy weekend. Not sure I want to do that agian!

Gary
 
MR. GADGET said:
If the Rangers cant or don't do anything it is time we start doing it.
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URE Vigilante justice!! Sounds like a good basis for a chuck norris or steven segal movie :D I'm just kidding, I know exactly what you mean.
 
it has gotten worse at URE. you got drunk fawkers on 4wheelers riding all through the damn woods. i have seen a lot of young kids with no helmets. then u have the guys who attempt kodak 20 times and bust a friggin axle when there are 20 others waiting. and then people who break and dont move the damn thing out of the way...

last time i was at tellico it wasnt too bad... but i dont undstand why people cut illegal bypasses... like the one on guardrail. if ur gonna bypass guardrail, u might as well skip whole damn trail. it pisses me when that kinda stuff. only bypass i have is on the front of my jeep...and it says WARN :flipoff2:

rantoff.gif
 
I've been to URE a few times this past year and haven't had too much trouble out of the ATV's, but have seen a few of them ride off the trail, and I have also seen some trucks off the trails as well, and these are the things that will eventually lead to permanent closures of trails. I think that a club should have the responsibility to have trail leaders educate and monitor the others in thier group during an organized trailride.

One thing I have wondered was the possibility of inviting one or more of the rangers that has the authority and the desire to write tickets to ride with someone in a group. At Tellico I know they have a quad or two that can get into the trails, but other than that they drive stock trucks. I don't know about the vehicles at URE, but I've only seen a couple of pick-ups on the gravel roads. We need to get them into the trails so that they can see what is really going on.

Right now the word on the internet about the trails is this... "I've never seen a ranger on the trials or had my cooler checked, so why bother leaving my Beer back at home, getting a pass or sticking to driving on the trails"

I would think that if there were more posts about how a person got fined for not having a pass, or for riding off trail, it would at least slow down these activities. After all, money is a great motivator, a $5.00 day pass or even a season pass doesn't sound too bad when the alternative is a $50 or more fine without one.

I remember at the begining of the season about a couple of people getting tickets for driving unlicensed buggies on the roads. Now it seems that most with trail only rigs, will trailer them to and from the trails instead of trying to drive them on the road. The word got out, and the activity was changed.

Just a thought
 
When I was up there riding my atv, I got checked for a pass..He flagged me down and told me to stop and then got an attitude and accused me of not having a pass..I laughed at him and scraped the mud off my right fender and showed him a season pass and he left, un happy cause he couldnt get on my case for not wearing a helmet or for not having a pass.
But yes, they do drive stock trucks
 
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