JOOP said:
I didn't know it was an illegal trail, my bad. It looked like a well defined trail to me.
I /we both saw illegal wheeling saturday.(But nobody said "dont do it")
Hell the forrest ranger was right there(The rock bowl) when some of it was being done. He didn't say anything, so how was I suppose to know?(I thought for sure he was going to be handing out tickets for tree's being demolished.)
I DID say don't do it. I didn't make a scene about it and I advised Tom to NOT publish the pics of the buggies climbing a hill on the SIDE of the road, but a 1/2 mile past the sign that says there's a $275 fine for driving in the ditches. Well, that would have included IN THE DITCHES since it wasn't on the road.
The name USER built should explain it. Do you see a trail on the map called USER BUILT.
JOOP, I understand and agree with the confusion that if trails AREN'T well marked it's hard to tell what's legal and what's not sometimes. However, in areas like Evan's creek where the trails and name are well established, you need to follow the established routes according to the map.
The Rangers may not have handed out tickets when guys were demolishing trees (I didn't see any of that personally or I would have made a scene, the area that I saw guys driving on was all rock and really wasn't doing any harm, other than it wasn't a legal area to drive on.) but he was still watching and taking notes!
Jaydog almost got a ticket down at the staging area when we got back. He parked in front of the sign, between the 7920 road and the entrance to 311. The ranger in training told him that it was an expensive ticket if he didn't move as it wasn't part of the trail or the parking area (sure looked like it was.) but he would've given him a ticket if he'd found it parked there.
I almost sound like Pokey now... but why is it so hard to stay on the trails?
I was surprising disappointed at the way some of the guys with VERY well built rigs (I'm not naming ANY names) were the ones that I saw with the worst TREAD lightly behavior. HOWEVER, the trails and the trail boundaries REALLY need to get better marked if they expect people to know where they can and cannot go.