Uwharrie Proposed Closures

LBarr2002

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2009
Location
SC
I saw this on FB. It says there's a meeting across from the outpost this Saturday at 8:00AM. Anybody in the know with the full story? What are they actually proposing and why does it mention closing Kodak Rock? It's been gone for years.

Screenshot_20220316-075228_Facebook.jpg
 
Saw that on FB too. Robyn posted it. I'm not sure what it was all about. I'm on the email list with Terry. There is a work day this weekend too I believe. Not sure what it is all about. I know some want to do rotating closures of the trails. URE days are numbered. I believe that.
 
That little snip-it of a FB post is pretty misleading from what was emailed out. Below is a copy and paste of the email.

Hi Everyone – This Saturday, March 19th we’re going to first have a coordination meeting at the Uwharrie Off-Road Training Center from 8 am to 9:15 am and then the OHV Trail Work Day will begin at 9:30 at Uwharrie Hunt Camp. Deb Bare from Lil’ Rampage Off-Road Club reached out to us to have a meeting to go over some key topics and we thought we’d also go over the final Uwharrie National Forest Trail Strategy for the motorized trails that we had to cancel in March of 2020. Susan Miller, our District Ranger, Annilie Kelley, our new LEO & I will meet with you all at the UORTC at 8 am. I have attached an agenda that I worked on with Deb and our folks here. I’ve also attached the final Trail Strategy Compilation Tables with comments and direction, the spreadsheet for Proposed Trail Updates for all trails and the map of the Badin Lake Area where the motorized trails are and will remain. I will have several copies of these with me (except for the map). I’ll have 2 copies of the map.

Following the meeting where we gather your ideas and input on the agenda topics those that are doing the OHV Work Day will go to the Uwharrie Hunt Camp to meet Kyle & Brock by 9:30. The projects for this weekend are to repair the wooden guiderail fencing on the Dickey Bell Trail and to install guardrails on the Daniel Trail. I have flagged out the sites on Daniel Trail and I’ll have it written up for Kyle & Brock.

Also, if any one is chainsaw certified and has their chainsaw and their personal protective equipment with them on Saturday there are several downed trees here and there that need to be cut back and cleared that are in the trail tread. Make sure to bring your chainsaw card and all of your PPE if you want to do that work. Also, any one going with the sawyers to be a swamper needs to have long pants, long sleeves, work gloves, closed toed shoes and a hard hat with them to work with the sawyer. We’ll, of course, have plenty of trash to pick up and downed branches and tree debris that can be cleaned off of the trails.

Everyone that will be doing the work day please have the appropriate work clothes, closed toed shoes, work gloves, water and food. If you have your club’s volunteer agreements and group roster please bring them on Saturday and turn them into Brock & Kyle. Thank you for all of your help. Bye - Terry
 

Attachments

  • UNF OHV Coordination Meeting Agenda 03_19_2022.pdf
    332.7 KB · Views: 268
  • Trail Strategy combined Compilation Tables 05_06_2019Final.pdf
    990.2 KB · Views: 276
  • Proposed Updates for all trails table_0506_2019 (1).xlsx
    14.9 KB · Views: 275
  • FY19_Trail_Strategy_Badin_Lake_Final05062019.pdf
    1.6 MB · Views: 263
From my understanding and what I have read through the emails......this is a meeting to go over all of the proposed closures and reroutes and take outside input. This is a rescheduled meeting from 2020 bc well you know.....rona.

Also I believe (could be wrong) that Kodak was still technically on a "temporary" closure list still (what a joke) and that this is the final call to close it indefinitely.

We all know, if something is closed out there it never reopens
 
Hopefully they dont take away anything else.

Side note, Deborah Bare is nothing but trouble. I helped found that group and left with most of the others because of her. For everybodys sake, yall be careful with anything shes involved with.
 
JSJJ388 said:
Hopefully they dont take away anything else.

Side note, Deborah Bare is nothing but trouble. I helped found that group and left with most of the others because of her. For everybodys sake, yall be careful with anything shes involved with.
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Any chance of going a lil in depth on this? Karen? Don't want to get involved w her or or group but if I go I would like to know the type of dumbass that is there I have to contend with
 
Thanks @drkelly for those detail shots. @redneckjeep87 if you go please let us know what you find out. Now that I see the details of what was posted I remember seeing this and discussing this back in 19 or so. I went out there with Scott walking the old Gold Mine trail looking for a lower connector for Daniel so it wasn't a dead end trail.
 
JSJJ388 said:
Side note, Deborah Bare is nothing but trouble. I helped found that group and left with most of the others because of her. For everybodys sake, yall be careful with anything shes involved with.
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"Brand ambassador" :eek:

I've witnessed numerous explosions from her.
 
redneckjeep87 said:
Any chance of going a lil in depth on this? Karen? Don't want to get involved w her or or group but if I go I would like to know the type of dumbass that is there I have to contend with
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Its been a few years, so some details are fuzzy. But she is just flat crazy. Like batshit crazy. But the straw that broke the camels back was that were doing a ride up in the mountains and she was leading, I brought up the rear. She took an unplanned and off route turn, didnt tell anybody else and left half the group behind. Then wouldnt answer the phone or radio and ghosted us. Then blamed me for it. Shes also a hot head. I havent seen her in years, but unless she has mad e a full 180 she is just straight up trouble.
 
drkelly said:
Looks like there might be a nice new hill climb section at the start of the Dutch John reroute #2.

View attachment 369035
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The Daniel reroute looks to be as steep as what it's replacing too, so depending on what the actual terrain looks like that might not be too bad. Of the proposed maps the only thing I don't like is the reroute around the Dickey Bell hill climb. That's the only part of that trail that is a "challenge" and I hear a lot of new wheelers use that as a benchmark to determine if they're ready to try other trails like Daniel.

Duane
 
I still believe URE is a lost cause. I used to volunteer all the time, signed all the sheets to “log hours so the system gets more money”. Well that never panned out and then they closed Kodak. I haven’t volunteered since then and have only ridden there maybe twice. I still advocate for spending your money at private parks (except Big Creek, that is a whole different soap box I will stand on) to try and keep those open.
 
snappy said:
Guys read the usfs operations manual. I know at one time Darren had a copy about reroutes to heal the trail system.
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If you've read it, can you give us a summary?
 
Well I didn't make it. Have a buddy that did though so I will let yall know what his take on it was. Robin from the Uwharrie OHV Fam page Said it was the same ol pony show bs. No accountability and no care for the actual forest or its history....just in educating kids. Apparently the new DR is rather "woke" unfortunately
 
I watched the entire meeting live. I didn't take away the same as Robin did. Some old news was gone over as expected. The "closures" were explained as bypasses being made with leaving some main trails open, others were bypassing some good areas and closing off those areas such as Dutch John hill climb and Dickey Bell knob which we don't want to lose either of those. She said Lakeview may be ready for 2023, there is a lot that has happened that I know for a fact has so it's closer than before but we will all believe it when it happens.
We do have a new LEO that will be visible starting with opening day.
At least there's some communication going on again.
With all of the interest here on the subject and all that said they were going to attend, I thought it would have been a much bigger crowd, there was maybe 20 people there?
Ive been involved with URE for over 20 years and I've been dissappointed much of the time with "management". But it is what it is, a Gov't agency that lives in red tape and bureaucracy. URE will never be what we want it to be but its a local place for us all to go to get in the dirt with our friends.
 
drkelly said:
If you've read it, can you give us a summary?
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Basically you rotate or temp close sections of trail to heal and reopen and closed and repeat. The major issue at URE is the loops connecting back together. EVERYONE needs to remind themselves this is a national forest and not an offroad park. The trail system is in bad shape due to poor management, planning and over use without temp closures to ruts and wash outs to heal and fill back in naturally and manually.
 
I would be down for a rotating trail system or sections of trail, especially if they reopened the Kodak section of Rocky Mtn Loop and added it back to the mix (pretty sure that's a lost cause though :kaioken:)

Duane
 
LBarr2002 said:
The trails never reopen...
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If you are referring to Kodak, that never will reopn due to poor planning and management. I was greatly involved in that study and helping put up the fight to keep it open. The original trail was only 30 ft wide but as Kodak became a spectator spot it grew to over 200 yards in one spot. I will catch heat for this but here it goes...... the FS did not shut that down, we as wheelers did! We would have work days to put up guard rail and by the next weekend people where on the other side of it again until the just wheels right there some of the arch sites. People would even take artifacts and make fire rings out of them. The only way to have that section reopened would be to bury the whole section under x-feet of dirt(do not recall the number of feet but it was a lot) to the tune of millons of dollars. A lot of the trails out west do this and keeps them open.
 
snappy said:
If you are referring to Kodak, that never will reopn due to poor planning and management. I was greatly involved in that study and helping put up the fight to keep it open. The original trail was only 30 ft wide but as Kodak became a spectator spot it grew to over 200 yards in one spot. I will catch heat for this but here it goes...... the FS did not shut that down, we as wheelers did! We would have work days to put up guard rail and by the next weekend people where on the other side of it again until the just wheels right there some of the arch sites. People would even take artifacts and make fire rings out of them. The only way to have that section reopened would be to bury the whole section under x-feet of dirt(do not recall the number of feet but it was a lot) to the tune of millons of dollars. A lot of the trails out west do this and keeps them open.
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I absolutely agree with you that the wheelers cause it. The same thing has happened to the right of the Daniel Ledge and the multiple lines after the switchbacks.

My point was, temporary closures for healing are one thing, but has a closure ever been temporary at Uwharrie? Has anything that's been closed or rerouted ever been reopened?
 
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