Ya i was the one with jumper cables to my ds. It quit charging so every hour or so i had to put it on the truck for 15-20 minutes. That ticked me off. Bluff Creek is 5+ hours from home and there was no way i was going to go home early because of a dead battery. What did you think of that uphill jump in the gravity canyon track? It took me a few tries to get up the nerve to do it. It was fun though once I got it.

 

www.iowaohv.com.. i live near iowa city. ne one go to 600 acres let me know we can get togehre and ride

 

98red- A freind of mine and i are going to the councel bluffs riding area tomarow afternoon. I have no clue where its at but if you want to joun us weel be there around 2:30 or so.

 

95wolv- I got your message but cant get the reply button to work. pm an email or something

 

FORT DODGE IS NOT A RIDING AREA. All the ground is privately owned and ridden on illegally. The local club and state association are trying to make it into a legal park, but unfortunately, due to the illegal riding, the mills are hesitant to donate because the illegal riding can't be controlled. Posting it on the internet and advertising it will only make it worse. The DNR has scopes set up and already have a list of over 100 license plates of people who park and ride. I wouldn't advise it until it's a park. And if you could help to keep the riding down, we could make it a park much, much, much sooner. A 21 year old boy died there on Memorial Day weekend, riding illegally. That was very unfortunate. It is also a detriment when the community and the mills see people getting hurt when riding illegally. PLEASE don't ride there so that you can ride there legally very soon.

There are many places in Iowa that are private and allow you to ride there should you go through the right channels. Join your local club and find out. Our club has over 100 acres private timber, and one of our club members allows us on 1100 acres of private timber. There is private ground near spencer in NW Iowa that a local club is allowed to ride on. There is also a lot of private ground North of Fort Doge that you may be able to ride on by being in that club.

Go HERE to find clubs and riding areas.

 

AMEN ATVgurl - broadcasting that you ride in illegal places only hinders anyones efforts in getting these into parks. And then have a death occur will really cause a problem. I hadn't heard about that death over Memorial weekend..that's too bad.

There's also that park out by council bluffs that is a legal place to ride - it's a pretty decent place to ride. Nothing like Bussey but a fun place to go play around on for a while.

 

I forgot to mention that it would be worth your while to help out in getting the park by not illegally riding. In the end, the proposed park is 1500+ acres of prime riding ground. It will be the most awesome park in the midwest with the riding and proposed ammenities. I'm not begging for you to not ride there illegally for nothing! It's just a big cost to you and to me and everyone else around here that likes to ride if you keep riding there and publicly telling other people to until it is a park.

 

AtvGurl- Im not trying to start a fite but im willing to bet that you have in the past and most likely continue to ride Fort Dodge. Im terably sorry to hear abought the death. I unfortanatly live in a corner of the state that has 0 legal riding places any where even close. The Spencer club area is smaller than my back yard and less fun. I just went to the council bluffs area this weekend and it was a 2 1/2 hour drive down there. When i got there and parked the guy next to me said I should park in the middle of the lot where all the people where because someone broke into his truck and stole the radio out of it in broad daylight. We soon realized we had just wasted a drive to omaha and after 1 hour loded up and drove 2 1/2 hours home. Bluff Creek is 5+ hours frome here and almost as boring. I do hope that Fort Dodge becomes a riding area soon. Most of the riding i do is on the west side of the blacktop on private ground where the owner dont care. The thing that I dont understand is what is the reasone for cutting down on illegall rideing when your just going to turn around and open it to the public. it acomplishes 0. From what ive seen in the past that will be a imposible task. there are hundreds of people out there every time ive been there. Like I said I would almost make a wager that you and Polarigurl have been there in the past and will continue to go in the future, legall or not. I dont mind beeing put in my place and told what im doing is wrong but when the person doing the yelling is rite in line behind me, it tends to be a wast of my time.

 

I think one of the major points I wanted to make is not to broadcast anything on the internet about riding in illegal places. You are correct, in past years I have riden in places where I shouldn't have riden, but with our sport being so heavily scrutinized and with people working so hard to make legal riding parks, we do not ride illegally anymore, we go to legal riding parks or on private property where we have permission from the landowner to ride.

 

I hope all of you know there is riding right next to you no matter where you live in Iowa. The ditches in Iowa are open to public riding. We started a trail along Hwy 63 north toward Lourdes and love it. We hope to setup more trails. The ditches do offer exciting riding, not to mention nice mud holes. We were at bluff creek Memorial weekend and we were impressed. I feel ATVing has a future in Iowa, lets not ruin it now. Mitchel Sand Pits in Waterloo is a nice place to go on a Sat or Sun afternoon. It is also a nice place to take kids. They offer a nice kiddie track right up front that is sectioned off. I do urge people to explore the ditches, however watch out. There are quite a few obsticles in the ditches. Also make sure you respect people's yards. If someone has their ditch mowed up nice, slow down and don't tear it up. Otherwise we might loose that riding opportunity.