I live in southern Illinois and we have a pretty decent trail here. Not well knows but ridden by a lot of locals. About 6 months they put out the bulliten that the trails would be closed. The rangers were riding it and giving tickets. They finally recanted about a month ago. LAst weekend there were about 24 riders come up from Kentucky to ride. Many of them had large (800+cc) quads. The trails are now ful of ruts. Places that are barely passable. Almost completely ruined. It is very difficult to even get a 2wd through there now. The only redeeming factor is the ranger wrote over 20 tickets when they all returned to their truck illegal parking. Sorry to see anyone get a ticket but much more sorry to see the trails that are 1/8 mile from where I store my quads in danger of getting closed down again. Just my 2 cents. TonyT

 

It's a good idea to stay off the trails if they are extremely soggy so they don't get too rutted up. Another thing that can be done is to band together with an ATV club and fix trails that are in need of repair. One good day with a bunch of guys can make enjoyable riding for the rest of the year.

 

I hear your frustration. I work hard at developing trust with individuals to get permission to ride on private land.

I help maintain trails, clear storm damage, and help with general property mainainance since the owner is in his seventies. Then along comes some friends of his son to hunt this past fall. When not hunting they rutted up the fields he had rented out, tore up some of the trails and mudded thru some pristine areas that we had been requested to stay out of with their ATV's. Those six guys have almost ruined it for everyone. I have been down to his place once this winter and plan on going three more weekends to help fix their damage, just so my wife & I can enjoy their property in the future.

 

So a bunch of riders from out of state with "800+ cc" ATVs ruined the trials in one day? They were "barely passable" in 2wd. Sounds like they were riding bull dozers to me. Tony......let's be realistic here. There's no way these riders ruined your trails in one day. Sounds like a crappy place to ride with a bunch of cops all over the place writing tickets anyway. Wouldn't catch me within 50 miles of such an environment.

 

Sure 20+ biq quads can do lots of damage to a muddy trail. Especially when all they want to do is get muddy. Sounds like you might be the kind of rider that does not realise what harm you can do to a muddy trail and makes me glad you don't come. People who ride like that ruin it for a lot of us. The reason the cops were writing tickest is because of the complaints of the locals because of riders like this. Have a good day. TonyT

 

When you have a combination of freezing temperatures at night and above freezing during the day, trails turn to soup. It can actually rip up a trail with one quad. For instance, I was up at my land in VT getting firewood. I decided to see if a guy who lives up the hill from my land was home. Hopped on the X2 and the main road wasn't too bad. Sinking in an inch or two at most. I went to go up his driveway and was in 10" or so. It was in the sunlight while the road wasn't. I stopped as soon as I got in deep. I would have left a nice set of ruts up his driveway but didn't. It's just an example of what a quad can do to a trail or field. That's why many trails close up here in New England this time of year. It just leads to unnecessary damage.

 

Our trails are impassable for 2wd in many places and rough but it caused by mother natures wash outs and boulders. I would get bored if trails were so nice that a mountain bike could pedal down one with ease.

We groom our Snowmobile trails but for ATVs its the wost condition they are in the better.

 

I agree. I like trails that are gnarly too. But, there are private lands and multi-use trails that should be kept in a good state of repair. If a landowner gets offended by his land being torn up too much he'll close it.

 

Lets get on thing straight, no ORV trail was intended to be a paved highway for ANY type of ORV------PERIOD! If you dont like the rutts that are developed by the 800cc and larger ATVs, than find another trail or find a way to assist in funding for grading.

MANY MANY folks enjoy the heck out of riding rutted-up and muddy trails. I have NO ISSUES with this and enjoy the mud myself, on occasions. These types of trails should be funded by the riders and maintained thru ORV sticker sales like we have in Michigan.

ALL ORV operators MUST stay on approved ORV trails. When they get off onto their own and violate the rules of staying on the marked and designated ORV, this is where the real trouble starts.

Stay ON the trail and the trail should remain open.

 

There are access trails and many side trails. Many of the side trails are in any condition you would want to ride on. Mud, creeks, hills. It had been published many times in the paper and at city hall meetings that they want to close these down because of the way people abuse them. Many of these are areas that are connecting private property, or that can be seen from the main roads. These are areas that do not have to be destroyed. If you want mud then pull off the main access and tear it up. I disagree that every foot of it has to be ruts and mud. I have a 4wd and enjoy the mud also. So I do disagree, and unfortunately so do the people who have the power to close the trails.