URE trail grooming 2006

drkelly

drkelly

Dipstick who put two vehicles on jack stands
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Location
Oak Ridge/Stokesdale, NC
Anybody know if they groomed the trails at URE this past winter for the upcoming 2006 season?

DK
 
I was under the impression they did it every year.
 
Yes, they will be groomed, but it won't happen for coupla more weeks, and the earlier before opening day, the better. That way the trails have a chance to settle from the grooming. I'll try to find out for sure when it'll happen while I'm at the ATV safety course tomorrow or at the forest planning meeting tomorrow night.
 
Push for more info about different topics....

do we know if they will ever open more difficult trails there. I was talking with a friend of the rangers a few years back and they said there are a lot of old trails they dont use anymore that use to be hard like something you would see at tellico. One trail was evidentally INSANE!!!!!! I dont know but it would be nice to see a new trail or 2 that drivers and us spectators could enjoy.
 
DOUGHBOYDD2500HD said:
......there are a lot of old trails they dont use anymore that use to be hard like something you would see at tellico....
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I've heard that also.
Do any of you oldtimers (Bruce...aka radioman) know if Dutch John ever went up to the top of the mountain?
It looks like and old roadbed about 100 yards from the top of the steep climb turns and goes almost straight up.


Matt:huggy:
 
Trails will be groomed in the next coupla weeks, there were (are) old trails that are not currently part of the Badin Lake Recreation Area OHV Plan, and yes, they were more difficult than what's there today. BTW, I can remember when Tellico was as easy as Uwharrie, but I digress. Plans for this year include a possible re-routing of the Dutch John hillclimb for environmental reasons, and some reworking of the the environmental controls already in place in some areas.

As for difficulty, none were as tough as the current tough sections of the Tellico trails, but there were several killer hillclimbs and a few 5+ rock gardens on those hillclimbs. Since some are within a short walk of the existing trails, I would be glad to show some of the more responsible members a few of these spots sometime if anyone is interested. That is, if you 4x4 people can tolerate an ATV rider.:lol:

There will probably be some discussion of re-opening some of the older Uwharrie trails, but any re-opening will all depend on environmental and maintenance concerns, and those concerns have absolutely NOTHING to do with tree huggers, it's just responsible management of resources.

First of all, everyone needs to know that the trail names as they exist now are really a set of misnomers. An example is that what's now called Dutch John is made up of sections of several older trails, and is actually only a part of the original Dutch John Road, and that a part of Forest Road 553, AKA Dutch John Road, is an improved part of the original, and the big hill climb is a recent thing that never was a part of the original. The section Lizooki is referring to is probably the connector trail for CCC, Falls Mountain, and Dutchman, and more than I can remember the names of.

The reason several sections of trail are closed is not environmental, it's the archeological sites that are so numerous in the area, some of which were instrumental in proving that this section of North America was inhabited by modern man more than 13,000 years ago, maybe twice that. There are some geological treasures in there, too, that show proof that the Uwharrie Mountains are the oldest in North America, were of volcanic origin, and were over 20,000 feet at their peak ( no pun intended :D ). The area is so full of these kinds of finds (arch, geo, and human habitation sites number over 3,000) that if we were trying to get an OHV trail system today, we could just forget this area altogether.
 
HammerTime.bmp
 
BIGWOODY said:
interesting read...
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Agreed. I would definitely be interested in seeing some of what Uwharrie was including some of the archeological sites if that is permitted.
 
So why were the original trails there originally? Mining or Forrestry trails im guessing? I have searched for some history of the Uwharrie OHV area and not come up with a lot.
 
Joel said:
including some of the archeological sites if that is permitted.
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I knew there was a reason I kept going back, it isn't the trails, the archeological sites would interest me more. Any of them have anything worth looking at?
 
NOw that would be a Uwharreie trip I would like.. walk old arch.. sites of course with someone that knows what they are...
 
radioman said:
As for difficulty, none were as tough as the current tough sections of the Tellico trails, but there were several killer hillclimbs and a few 5+ rock gardens on those hillclimbs. Since some are within a short walk of the existing trails, I would be glad to show some of the more responsible members a few of these spots sometime if anyone is interested. That is, if you 4x4 people can tolerate an ATV rider
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I've *walked* a few sections of the old stuff before, and ditto this accessment... not any ruder than Tellico, but a far cry from FallDam too! The entire time we walked it, I could imagine driving it with '70s hardware... stock Jeeps, little lift, open diffs, & 31" tires... would've been one helluva goodtime.

Speaking of ATV'ers... saw this old fart yesterday pulling an ATV with an Exploder... all kinds aerials & NCBBA plate on the front! Was kinda disaappointed when I didn't even get the finger when I honked & waved! :D
 
Does anyone remember the long red dirt hill climb off of Dutch John (I think it was anyway) that was still part of the trail system in the early 90's? It was like a series of stair steps. It had a small branch (creek) on the right side as you went up the hill. It was easy to do in a stock rig when dry but slicker than elephant snot when it was wet. That hill was fun in the rain with a old Ranger w/31's.

Anyone have a have an action shot of this hill? All of mine are 35mm prints and I do not have a scanner to scan them.

<><Fish
 
FishHunt said:
Does anyone remember the long red dirt hill climb off of Dutch John (I think it was anyway) that was still part of the trail system in the early 90's? It was like a series of stair steps. It had a small branch (creek) on the right side as you went up the hill. It was easy to do in a stock rig when dry but slicker than elephant snot when it was wet. That hill was fun in the rain with a old Ranger w/31's.
Fish
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You sure that trail was not off of Daniel and Dickey Bell? I remember a trail exactly as you describe called Gold Mine that came out of the same parking lot as Daniel and connected to Dickey Bell close to where it crosses Dutch John Road (553). I also remember a trail off of the parking lot at the top of Falls Dam called Big Branch or Long Branch that ran off the other side of the mountain and connected back to Wolf Den I think. I vaguely remember riding a trail one time on the other side of 576 across from Wolf Den. Might not have suppose to have been on that one.

Here is how I remember the trails around 1989-1993 when I was riding my dirt bike down there frequently. It seems to me there were others, but I don't remember there locations. I remember Daniel had two steel posts in the ground at the parking lot so only motorcycles could enter.

ai34.photobucket.com_albums_d117_drkelly99_uwharrietrailmap_old.gif


If it is inappropriate to post this for fear that people will try to blaze these trails, let me know and I will remove it.

DK
 
Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner! Gold Mine Hill portion of Gold Mine Road was closed because it's next to the creek and the water bars on the lower end drain directly into the creek, so forget it. It's still subject to illegal riding by the outlaw ATV crowd from time to time, but the fines and the new ATV personal protective gear laws will weed out a lot of that bottom-of-the-gene-pool activity this year.

Some of the old trails are now portions of horse trails, and almost all are old mining and logging roads, but some are traces of old trading paths, and those would be the most likely spots for recognizable arch sites. The older Native American sites are somewhat harder to spot if they're not near the trails and trading paths. There are also mines in several places that you've looked right at as you passed by on the trail and didn't realize that's what it is.

Arch sites. How about Indian Spring? Anybody familiar with that one? Go past the Wolf Den parking area and a short ride down the road past the next gate (FR 516) is a sign on your left (if it hasn't been stolen again) that directs you to the spring. It's just a few paces off the road and the water is good. Then there's one that gets driven through on Rocky Mount, and there's one that's beside the trail on Falls Dam, and there are several that are within short walking distance of the roads and trails all over the OHV area, including THE site that was a town of several hundred that confirms the human habitation timetable.
 
Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner! Gold Mine Hill portion of Gold Mine Road was closed because it's next to the creek and the water bars on the lower end drain directly into the creek, so forget it. It's still subject to illegal riding by the outlaw ATV crowd from time to time, but the fines and the new ATV personal protective gear laws will weed out a lot of that bottom-of-the-gene-pool activity this year.

Arch sites. How about Indian Spring? Anybody familiar with that one? Go past the Wolf Den parking area and a short ride down the road past the next gate (FR 516) is a sign on your left (if it hasn't been stolen again) that directs you to the spring. It's just a few paces off the road and the water is good. Then there's one that gets driven through on Rocky Mount, and there's one that's beside the trail on Falls Dam, and there are several that are within short walking distance of the roads and trails all over the OHV area, including THE site that was a town of several hundred that confirms the human habitation timetable.
 
Woudl you be willing to put together a saturday or sunday ride to show a group of us exactly where you are talking about? I would love to see some of this stuff that i might not recognize as anything in particular.
 
Thanks for the info and jogging the memory banks a little more guys.

I know the Indian Spring. I drank water there several times when I was younger and Uwharrie didn't have as many hoodlums running around as it does now. I don't know if I'd trust the water there now. The last time I was by there someone had pushed in some the rocks and left litter lying around.

<><Fish
 
there used to be a trail across from wolf den called "CCC" not much of a trail except it led down to the lake.

Jim Nelson
(memory is jogged)
 
CCC, man that rings a bell. So that was the one on the other side of 576 across from Wolf den. Thanks. I wish I had kept one of the old trail maps from back then. It would be fun to look at now.

Gold Mine was definitely slick when wet. I remember coming around the turn at the base of the climb one time, and two guys on dirt bikes were sprawled out on the ground at different points and another was in the process of trying to get back down from a failed attempt. Good times.

Is the route I show of Big Branch correct? Did it circle around and connect to wolf den across 516? For some reason I am thinking it may have crossed another road or actually crossed the end of a road.

Any chance that trail could be reopened and the gate closing 516 opened up? That was my favorite spot to camp at the end of 516. Many people camped there. If that trail could be reopened, then 516 could be reopened and some of the parking lot congestion at 553 would be relieved.
 
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