Riding ATV Parks
 

Hello, everyone! While I have been riding ATV's for well over 20 years now, I have never visited an ATV park. We have an old 97 Honda Foreman 400 and a brand new (left-over stock) 2014 Honda Rubicon and the wife and I have started discussing how the riding areas near our home have started drying up and we would like to check out some of the ATV parks that are out there. Since the late 70's, our part of Kentucky has had access to either strip mining sites and/or gas well access and logging roads that really opened up the mountains. Sadly, in the last five years a lot of those areas have closed as the coal company bonds have expired and the land has remitted back to the original owners who then fence and gate the properties. Plus, the gas company roads and logging roads grow back up very quickly if left alone. We have seen a mass exodus out of here since the jobs left and there are just fewer people riding and keeping the trails open.

All that said, we are starting to become interested in riding other places. According to my internet research, the closest place for us will be Black Mountain ATV park in Harlan. I even have family over there and we've been to the trail head at Evarts in a car. Then there's Royal Blue in TN, Windrock, Wilderness trail in Bell County KY, etc. Any recommendations on those?

What equipment do we need? GPS, perhaps? I'm sad to say we don't even have helmets. Our ATVs spend the majority of their time on our own property. In fact, the 97 Foreman had 1000 miles put on it in the last year and it hasn't left the property in over 5 years. Would you consider that ATV too old to take to one of the parks? It runs great but I'm sure it could use some maintenance. It's old.

Lastly, while I'm old, bald and fat, I'm still pretty adventurous when I ride. My wife, on the other hand, left the adventurous stuff at the door long ago. She likes easy trails with lots of scenery. Are any of the parks around us easier than the others? I don't want her to get scared and stop riding. When we used to ride a lot, we had some folks that would ride with us that wanted to go places that would scare her to death and insist that we follow. That was one reason our riding slowed over the years.

Thanks so much for any help and advice you can give!

Neil

If your ATV's are in working order it doesn't matter how old they are on the trails. I have a 98' and I have no problems doing the same things others with 10-15 year newer can do, the only exception being if I want to (I'm not the daredevil type, if it looks pretty iffy despite others doing it, I just don't). Aside from making sure they run right, tires are pretty important on the trail. Even without muddy conditions you still need a good tire that will grip if you need it.

You should absolutely get helmets for a number of reasons besides the obvious. Many trails have rules that say you can't ride unless you do. They also protect you from taking a low hanging branch to the head. I've had several times when I didn't duck low enough and felt a bump on my helmet that if I hadn't had it on I'd have had my bell rung pretty good.

Here is what I use to look up where to ride, I'll link you to your state's results;
Kentucky ATV Trails

I have been to Black Mountain several times. Definitely my favorite place. Plenty of easy scenic stuff for your wife, plenty of harder stuff for you.