I know this may start some finger pointing , but that is NOT the purpose of this post.

While spending time at the new Templeton Ride Area , I noticed some questionable conduct in the Parking Area . Steve and his crew posted signs asking ALL OHV's to stay OUT of the parking area . Steve is responcible for keeping the PARKING AREA acceptable for the ( owner ) AND his AWRCS racing guests .

That being said . I understand as with myself , we need to unload and have to get into the soft muddy area in the center of the field , BUT , I witnessed every type of OHV spinning & driving through this muddy area on purpose . I'm sure somewhere in the developement of this park WE are going to hear about the disrespect we riders / drivers are showing in the parking area . Come on guys & gals , WE DO NOT want to be our own worst enimies . This is a beautiful NEW , LOCAL ride area for US . Lets ALL try to not have the trusting & generous owner of this property to have ANY reason to not want us there . Steve and his crew have worked very hard to make this place as nice as we have all seen . To purposely cause them MORE work to keep the property acceptable to the owner is just wrong on our part .

So PLEASE guys , do your best to show the owner , Steve and his work crew how much we appreciate thier generosity and hard work on this new ride area by abiding by thier wishes and obeying the signes that are posted in these areas .

Thanks

A quick side note, Steve had netioned that several years ago the landowner was completely against this land being used by ATV's. He even went to the measure of removing a bridge so that they couldn't cross the river/creek. So here we are years later and some people just don't get it. I do have to say though that I personally didn't see the signs until 4X4 made mention of them. Perhaps WE can help spread the word on Steves behalf.

Good observation and good point. This is one of my pet peeves. How many times do you go places and it seems that a few people always think the parking area is a race track. I see it everywhere I go. People with expensive rigs parked in the area and some idiot thinks spraying rocks is fun. Ok I'm off my soap box.

I thought spinning your tires in mud and on loose gravel was a real test of POWER all this time! BAH HA HA HA HA HA HA!!

Every single ramey poker run ive been to was the same way. Also at tri county open houses. People just dont get it

you are right, it's like that everywhere, and you are also right, we are our own worst enemies. probably none of us are innocent of this at one time or another, but that's no excuse. we ALL need to be better stewards for our sport/hobby.
thanks for bringing this up!

For those of you who ride coal country, the first thing I though of when I read this post was the guys drag racing up and down and up and down Burma rd at RAC. Looks booring as hell but for some reason any nice day the sporties rip up and down the road and people wonder why land owners crack down. I have no idea about this place you mention 4X4 but you make great points!

+1 All the antics mentioned drive me nuts too !! Whenever I catch my son doing it-I squash it quick. I'm always amazed how far people will travel to ride in the staging area. See it all the time at the Flats in Trevorton. Some people just ride there all day doing donuts and dinging up my rig! Strange.

I can only imagine how aggravated any of those people would be if we did it to thier rigs. It seems those with the shallowest conscience, have the largest chip on their shoulder.

I cant tell you how often I hear a stone bouncing off my truck that I just want to fire up and blast them, just to see how they would react. Unfortunatley in this day and age you have a good chance of being shot. Still one of these days Im going to follow one of these idiots to their truck and just power brake a barrage of stones into their truck, stop the bike, turn around and smile at them. Not to mention the dip$hits who love to pass at high speed on a tight trail, and then roost you. Im thinking sandbag 12 gauge for them, mount it right in the center of the bars and line em up.

Of course I would never actually do either of these things. However we do need to continue to enforce the code of safe responsible riding and make sure its shared by others. I am sure that in time most of these guys will learn, or be taught, but like Stinkfoot said, if we teach the young ones now, we will rarely have to worry about them getting into a situation where they feel retribution is necessary for the experience they had. I believe there are many good things coming soon, and with the right attitude and example we can definitely highly impact the negative reputation ATVers had, teach people to form a new opinion, and confidently expect the next generation to uphold it. Keep plugging guys, and there is no dishonor in taking a pic with your phone and reporting the people riding like idiots, if possible. There is also no dishonor in keeping your mouth shut if the situation seems like it may turn bad.

I can't follow up with any other words than "ditto".

Way back when the state was first proposing the registration of ATV's, they claimed that if ATV riders would register their machines and get insurance, then landowners would not be so hesitant to open up land for riding. We all did our part, but yet the private land owners still have not opened up their land for the most part. Wonder why?

They don't want to loose everything because one person wrecks and gets hurt and them or their family sues. It would be nice if the landowner wasn't liable for our wrecks.

Just my two cents on this, after attending lots of Poker runs and open houses at many different places. If all are required to have registration and insurance this stuff goes to a minimum, it seems like if you have enough sense to do both the registration and insurance you have more responsibility. But I have seen the same thinga at ANF and they require both also. So as others say it is the few who make it look bad for the majority.

This is great reason to join a club. Teaching respect. Clubs can organize clean-ups to take care of land and trails. Have meetings to keep our trails open and teach our upcoming generation how to respect man, machine, & property. Now after saying that, I don't belong to any clubs. LOL I currently run my own business and have two little kids to try to catch. No time. I used to belong to a 4X4 club(triangle fourwheelers) & I learned a ton of info. from them. Stuff as a kid I never even thought of. When my kids get older we will def. join something so those values are passed on. Thats the only thing we can do to keep these areas open for us.

My friends & I currently run on several pieces of private land. We join together every summer & try to help these land owners out. Bailing hay, fixing barns, fences, whatever we can. The word has spread and more land owners have allowed us access their prop. because of this. If you see someone turn off your machine, take off your helmet & talk to them. Be polite & DON'T RUN!! Amazing how a simple conversation can open up longtime friendship.

great response blazin. wish i lived closer to ridin lands,would always stop to help if that's what it takes.

I hate when people make mud holes, they get so deep and no one can get through them. It really pisses me off!