Did you know that Iowa has about 800 miles of multi-use trails? Approximately 640 miles of these trails are developed or under development. However, besides hiking and biking, the only engine powered machines allowed on some of these trails is snow mobiles. Many of these trails are created from abandoned railroad beds. If you have heard of the Wisconsin Cheese Trail, it is basically a multi-use trail for hikers, bikers, ATVs, and snow mobiles. It was once a railroad system. It links a few small towns and provides some ecnomic benefits to them from the trail users who spend money for gas, food, lodging, etc. The scenery along this trail is quite appealing and their are a couple of approved off-road grass trails that can be taken for a more adventurous ride.

While various ATV riding clubs pursue public land for conversion to ATV parks, it is also nice to have one or more extended trail systems, especially if they link several towns together. If you know of any abandoned railroad beds that are not under development, please let me know and I will investigate. If you can provide me any information, like the different towns along the path, or a company that owned it, etc, this would be very helpful for tracking down a source to collect enough information so a proposal could be developed and submitted to the appropriate governmental bodies. If you are not aware of it yet, Iowa now has an ATV lobbyist. We have a long way to go toward improving good riding opportunities in this state. So, if you know of any possibilities, please help get the word out.

I can be reached at mtaylor41@hotmail.com.

 

I JUST READ IN NOVA NEWSPAPER THAT THEY SEND OUT EVERY TO MONTH THAT THEY JUST OPENED SOME TRAIL LIKE THAT.I WILL FIND OUT WHERE THEY ARE AND RE POST LATER

 

were u from? i know fo great places to ride. pm me

 

I would certainly like to know of new places, but..... They must be legal. I belong to the Two Rivers ATV Club in Davenport. We don't ride where it's not legal because we are trying work with various governmental bodies to get them and keep them on our side in order to get more land for the general public to ride on. If we don't operate that way, our freedom to ride is incrementally taken away from us all. I only know of four state run and approved riding areas and one privately owned area (Solon, IA). See http://www.iowaohv.com/DNRMapBook2002.htm. I always hear of places that are not official. The only other place I know that the state is looking at is a 1500 acre area near Ft. Dodge that used to be a quarry. Riding illegally can result in some big fines.

Last Spring, Iowa made it legal to ditch ride all year round. However, county boards of supervisors and municipalities can add restrictions to that law or ban ditch riding all together.

I'm not shouting at you, but just letting you know up front that unless an area is DNR approved, privately owned and operated to benefit the public, or ditch riding, it's illegal and can get people into trouble.

Still, I would appreciate any information that you can give on areas that have potential to be developed into legal riding areas, meaning that the appropriate govermental bodies need to be contacted by ATV club representatives to get the ball rolling.

 

solon ohv park sucks. if i were you some day i would make the trip to Oskaloosa to Bluff Creek OHV. it is awsome 300 acres of abanded strip mines. there is everything im ageinable.. its great . more info pm me

 

alot of people dont like bussy but it is a good riding area and its been around for many a years my dad said they use to go there back in the day, I usaully go to the riverview park in waterloo, or stick to a couple local guys tracks that are located in montezuma, I am actaully from Brooklyn, I see 2000IaWarrior your from w'burg where do you ride around there, we are going to build a motocross in the next year for a practice track and trying to get a motocross track built at the brooklyn raceway to have a yearly series

 

Also I was wandering on the ditch issue i never knew that was legal, how do you go about finding that out if our area is legal or not i thought the OHV messed up when designing that law and that its not actaully legal to ditch ride anywhere, i read an article at the iowa ohv site let me know .

 

bussey is awsome. back in the day. ur dad might of gone to wilcox. that is were my dad use to go back in the day. i dotn know how ne one could not liek bluff creek. it is like 200x better then wloo and close for you to. i ride aroudn in fields. roads etc and go to 600acres a bit. but nto as much as bluff

 

FirstTime -Do you know how the Fort Dodge area is coming along? Does anyone have an idea on when it is going to open? I used to ride ther all the time till this spring when they asked everyone to stop till it was legal and I am getting real antsy to go back. Sory I do not know of any abandoned rail beds. Around here they all get ripped out and farmed.

2000IAWarior- Bluff Creek is a great place to go if your closebut it is nothing at all compared to Fort Dodge. If The proposed land becomes state park it will be several times larger than all the rest of the state ohv parks put together, and that is just he tip of the ice berg compared to what is there to be had if it becomes availoble. I hope Fort Dodge becomes a state park, then Iowa will have a ohv park to be proud of.

 

ya i hope that there are more state parks coming to iowa for us to ride fort dodge would be a step in the right sirection havent heard anything about it really though, it would still be a long drive for me, but now i go to waterloo which is a good 70 mile trip and bussey is prob 40 miles