ClemsonCruiser
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I'd be up for the exploring of Speedwell and I got the GPS software to map it just let me know
Cold weather Cullowhee trip anyone?
- Thread starter concretejungle
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I'd be up for the exploring of Speedwell and I got the GPS software to map it just let me know
The speedwell rd is the one I was talking about. It's right off the cabins back deck.
ClemsonCruiser
Supporting Vendor
hmmmmmm then there might be some truth to these rumors
I will go where ever we need to go to map stuff. The rubber skin makes a good trail clearing device 
ClemsonCruiser
Supporting Vendor
probably makes you invisible on radar too ;p
I actually think that it might!! I can't use FRS or CB radios without rolling down a window.
ClemsonCruiser
Supporting Vendor
haha nice........that must be some thick lining
And if it's really dark outside, and I close my eyes, I can't see that truck for anything!!!
Stealth Avocado
*and on a side note, from what I understand from talking with turkeypen's wife who works for the FS, the new law that was passed last year (can't remember the name) and will be in effect with in the next couple aims at closing those trails we ride at cullowhee, she suggested to me we get some kind of group letter and send it to the appropriate congressman and so on...........
OK, now this is something I can help with. The new law (I think) is how the FS designates OHV areas...like Tellico.
Alex, you know that area really well, can you get me some information about the FS Ranger District. Like which one it is and where it is?
JP, can you find out from turkeypen what law his wife is talkin' about?
I can lead a charge to try to see what's going on and see if we can work with the USFS to help shape their plans for the area. Letters to congressmen don't work for $hit. Trust me...this is what I do for a living (well, sort of).
EDIT: I just did a little research and the State of North Carolina has $1.6 MILLION in RTP (Recreational Trails Program) that can be applied for and received for the development and maintence of off-road trails. There is the money there so that the FS would not have to take out of their budget to maintain trails. They like that because their budget are crap because of the War. Just thinkin...
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What JP was referring to was the proposed sale of national forest lands to private developers.
It's under the pretrext of a rural schools initiative, but you can imagine the real reason. Can you say friends of George? As to Cullowee, it would appear that a great deal of land in the "Roy Taylor Forest," where we enjoy on our Cullowee outings, is within the scope of that sale as evidenced by the survey marks last spring.
As to Tellico, the only issue I know of is alcohol (and having a spare cruiser to take you home.) The Tellico ORV is closed to alcohol due to the problems caused by those who weren't challenged enough by the actual trails. UPDATE: IT LOOKS LIKE A NUMBER OF THE TELLICO TRAILS WILL BE SEASONALLY CLOSED!! You may want to call the USFS headquarters in NC for better info: 828-257-4200.
What's interesting is that the camping facility for the Tellico is in Tennessee, and the trails are in NC. This means that bad conduct on the trails comes in front of my judge (who indulges my cruiser addiction). For example, a participant this year in GSMTR was charged with impaired offroad driving on trail 4. He blew an .18 and was driving a Hummer. The judge thought this was a Darwinian moment and imposed punishment accordingly. Lucky for him, the ranger didn't charge him with DWI, which would have made him an automatic pedestrian. (This is all public record so I am not talking out of school).
As far as getting NC to fund trails on federal land, that would be nice, but not likely. North Carolina has an abundance of state parks and state forests that are in big need of improvement and I can't imagine why they would spend state money on federal lands. The fed could blow 1.6 mill in a heartbeat (they blew that much on repairing one roof on the federal courthouse in Asheville and it still leaks). Then again, federal jobs in National Forest recreation have been cut dramatically, just like Heather said.
Being the guy who use to prosecute people for screwing up on federal land in western NC (read here former federal prosecutor), the only advice I would have is to get to know the ranger who is in charge of the district where you want to camp or wheel. Help them out, make the land better before you leave, and support them any chance you get. If they get stuck, pull them out; if they walk up to your campsite share your coffee; or if you just see them on patrol thank them because it is a thankless, dangerous, rugged, poorly paying job that tears them away from their families nights, weekends, and holidays. I know, I have lived through it for the last 16 years.
You do get to wheel a government rig (albeit a Jxxp).
You would be surprised . . . alot of the rangers are mountain bikers, hikers, and even off road enthusiasts. I know that the recently retired head of law enforcement for region 8 (which is National Forests in the Southeast) was a cruiserhead. And the guys with their boots on the ground are the first to support the responsible use of the national forests.
After this, I need a beer! I'm headed to the fridg.
Hey look, with this post I am now a junior, no longer a rookie!!!
It's under the pretrext of a rural schools initiative, but you can imagine the real reason. Can you say friends of George? As to Cullowee, it would appear that a great deal of land in the "Roy Taylor Forest," where we enjoy on our Cullowee outings, is within the scope of that sale as evidenced by the survey marks last spring.As to Tellico, the only issue I know of is alcohol (and having a spare cruiser to take you home.) The Tellico ORV is closed to alcohol due to the problems caused by those who weren't challenged enough by the actual trails. UPDATE: IT LOOKS LIKE A NUMBER OF THE TELLICO TRAILS WILL BE SEASONALLY CLOSED!! You may want to call the USFS headquarters in NC for better info: 828-257-4200.
What's interesting is that the camping facility for the Tellico is in Tennessee, and the trails are in NC. This means that bad conduct on the trails comes in front of my judge (who indulges my cruiser addiction). For example, a participant this year in GSMTR was charged with impaired offroad driving on trail 4. He blew an .18 and was driving a Hummer. The judge thought this was a Darwinian moment and imposed punishment accordingly. Lucky for him, the ranger didn't charge him with DWI, which would have made him an automatic pedestrian. (This is all public record so I am not talking out of school).
As far as getting NC to fund trails on federal land, that would be nice, but not likely. North Carolina has an abundance of state parks and state forests that are in big need of improvement and I can't imagine why they would spend state money on federal lands. The fed could blow 1.6 mill in a heartbeat (they blew that much on repairing one roof on the federal courthouse in Asheville and it still leaks). Then again, federal jobs in National Forest recreation have been cut dramatically, just like Heather said.
Being the guy who use to prosecute people for screwing up on federal land in western NC (read here former federal prosecutor), the only advice I would have is to get to know the ranger who is in charge of the district where you want to camp or wheel. Help them out, make the land better before you leave, and support them any chance you get. If they get stuck, pull them out; if they walk up to your campsite share your coffee; or if you just see them on patrol thank them because it is a thankless, dangerous, rugged, poorly paying job that tears them away from their families nights, weekends, and holidays. I know, I have lived through it for the last 16 years.
You do get to wheel a government rig (albeit a Jxxp).
You would be surprised . . . alot of the rangers are mountain bikers, hikers, and even off road enthusiasts. I know that the recently retired head of law enforcement for region 8 (which is National Forests in the Southeast) was a cruiserhead. And the guys with their boots on the ground are the first to support the responsible use of the national forests.
After this, I need a beer! I'm headed to the fridg.
Hey look, with this post I am now a junior, no longer a rookie!!!
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Non Gov non Commercial OHV Park
Maybe this is a good place to breach my idea: A public OHV park on private land supported and maintained by the users.
There is a fairly large property owned by Duke power in Oconee/Pickens County SC between Lake Jocassee and Hwy 178. In the past it was mainly used by bear hunters and there are scads of 4wheeler trails criss-crossing it and a few semi-developed roads through it.
Back in the day we locals called it The Horsepastures and it was our secret playground. The current label is Jocassee Gorges. Geographically I guess it is Laurel Fork Valley and tributaries, perhaps some of Etowah valley as well.
Recently Duke sold some of the property to private developer, the Cliffs of Glassy people, for a development along the SE shore of Lake Jocassee. There was tremendous outcry and outrage among the nature folks and woods people and as a sop they 'dedicated' the rest of the woods to public use. I went up there the other night playing with my new FJC (fire roads at night great fun, you can go real fast with pretty good assurance anyone coming you'll see their lights). I noticed they are improving the main roads to unpaved highway level, lots of heavy equipment and gigatons of gravel in there. But at the same time they've gated all the old side trails.
So: Maybe if they were approached properly and saw good PR etc inherent they would let us develop some of those back trails into an OHV park.
This would be away from the ponderous weight of the government NFS bureaucracy (not that Duke's not pretty ponderous). It would kick it into someone's court who could use a little public love. And it would give us a new playground a good bit closer to a lot of us. I'd say this area is probably 20-25 miles N of Clemson, 30m WNW of G'vile SC. I'm guessing it's about 30 minutes from I-26 to the NE or I-85 to the South.
For what it's worth, maybe less than $0.02. If this has already been tried and failed it might be a dead issue.
The Clemson Mafia crowd probably knows a lot about this.
Anybody got any inside connections at Duke Power?
bw
Maybe this is a good place to breach my idea: A public OHV park on private land supported and maintained by the users.
There is a fairly large property owned by Duke power in Oconee/Pickens County SC between Lake Jocassee and Hwy 178. In the past it was mainly used by bear hunters and there are scads of 4wheeler trails criss-crossing it and a few semi-developed roads through it.
Back in the day we locals called it The Horsepastures and it was our secret playground. The current label is Jocassee Gorges. Geographically I guess it is Laurel Fork Valley and tributaries, perhaps some of Etowah valley as well.
Recently Duke sold some of the property to private developer, the Cliffs of Glassy people, for a development along the SE shore of Lake Jocassee. There was tremendous outcry and outrage among the nature folks and woods people and as a sop they 'dedicated' the rest of the woods to public use. I went up there the other night playing with my new FJC (fire roads at night great fun, you can go real fast with pretty good assurance anyone coming you'll see their lights). I noticed they are improving the main roads to unpaved highway level, lots of heavy equipment and gigatons of gravel in there. But at the same time they've gated all the old side trails.
So: Maybe if they were approached properly and saw good PR etc inherent they would let us develop some of those back trails into an OHV park.
This would be away from the ponderous weight of the government NFS bureaucracy (not that Duke's not pretty ponderous). It would kick it into someone's court who could use a little public love. And it would give us a new playground a good bit closer to a lot of us. I'd say this area is probably 20-25 miles N of Clemson, 30m WNW of G'vile SC. I'm guessing it's about 30 minutes from I-26 to the NE or I-85 to the South.
For what it's worth, maybe less than $0.02. If this has already been tried and failed it might be a dead issue.
The Clemson Mafia crowd probably knows a lot about this.
Anybody got any inside connections at Duke Power?
bw
ClemsonCruiser
Supporting Vendor
bill we know exactly where you are talking about.......... the horsepasture trails used to be one of the main local wheeling spots up until they closed it down about 5-6 years ago.
I like your idea and it could be worth a shot, because we do happen to have an "ace" in our pocket........... the developer of the cliffs is friends with one of our members and his son used to actually have a FJ40 and wheeled with out club. Also the cliffs developer I believe actually owns another local wheeling spot know as the Hushole just north of travelers rest.
hopefully I will see you tomorrow at the AAH and we can talk over the Cullowhee issue and your idea for the horsepature trails
JP
I like your idea and it could be worth a shot, because we do happen to have an "ace" in our pocket........... the developer of the cliffs is friends with one of our members and his son used to actually have a FJ40 and wheeled with out club. Also the cliffs developer I believe actually owns another local wheeling spot know as the Hushole just north of travelers rest.
hopefully I will see you tomorrow at the AAH and we can talk over the Cullowhee issue and your idea for the horsepature trails
JP
Looks like I need to get on the ball and make a Cullowhee trip while it's still there, huh?
- Thread starter
- #35
What JP was referring to was the proposed sale of national forest lands to private developers.
As to Tellico, the only issue I know of is alcohol (and having a spare cruiser to take you home.) The Tellico ORV is closed to alcohol due to the problems caused by those who weren't challenged enough by the actual trails.
What's interesting is that the camping facility for the Tellico is in Tennessee, and the trails are in NC. This means that bad conduct on the trails comes in front of my judge (who indulges my cruiser addiction). For example, a participant this year in GSMTR was charged with impaired offroad driving on trail 4. He blew an .18 and was driving a Hummer. The judge thought this was a Darwinian moment and imposed punishment accordingly. Lucky for him, the ranger didn't charge him with DWI, which would have made him an automatic pedestrian. (This is all public record so I am not talking out of school).
As far as getting NC to fund trails on federal land, that would be nice, but not likely. North Carolina has an abundance of state parks and state forests that are in big need of improvement and I can't imagine why they would spend state money on federal lands. The fed could blow 1.6 mill in a heartbeat (they blew that much on repairing one roof on the federal courthouse in Asheville and it still leaks). Then again, federal jobs in National Forest recreation have been cut dramatically, just like Heather said.
Being the guy who use to prosecute people for screwing up on federal land in western NC (read here former federal prosecutor), the only advice I would have is to get to know the ranger who is in charge of the district where you want to camp or wheel. Help them out, make the land better before you leave, and support them any chance you get. If they get stuck, pull them out; if they walk up to your campsite share your coffee; or if you just see them on patrol thank them because it is a thankless, dangerous, rugged, poorly paying job that tears them away from their families nights, weekends, and holidays. I know, I have lived through it for the last 16 years.
You do get to wheel a government rig (albeit a Jxxp).
You would be surprised . . . alot of the rangers are mountain bikers, hikers, and even off road enthusiasts. I know that the recently retired head of law enforcement for region 8 (which is National Forests in the Southeast) was a cruiserhead. And the guys with their boots on the ground are the first to support the responsible use of the national forests.
After this, I need a beer! I'm headed to the fridg.
Hey look, with this post I am now a junior, no longer a rookie!!!
Thanks for the Bump ConcreteJungle!
- Thread starter
- #37
It deserved it.
I am headed to Cullowhee tommorow morning. Might be a day trip (wifes birthday is Saturday) or it may be overnight and get up on sat to get back b/f lunch. I will know more in the morning...this is a scouting trip for the trip I am leading with some people @ Erskine in January. These dates seemed to be the only way we could do any scouting so I hope it works out for us to figure out everything.
I will try to post up some pics when we get back...unfortunately my 62 wont be going as I am still waiting on a package from Kurt @ Cruiser Outfitters b/f I can get the front axle back together, rear is almost done, just need the weather to warm up. Its a little chilly working on a cement driveway under a cruiser until 10pm
I will try to post up some pics when we get back...unfortunately my 62 wont be going as I am still waiting on a package from Kurt @ Cruiser Outfitters b/f I can get the front axle back together, rear is almost done, just need the weather to warm up. Its a little chilly working on a cement driveway under a cruiser until 10pm
ClemsonCruiser
Supporting Vendor
good luck matt!!! enjoy the trip
