Tray Mountain North Ga (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Nov 10, 2019
Threads
3
Messages
24
Location
Gville
It's sad that this has to be my first post but here it goes. I'm totally new to this sport and this was my first time out.

My wife and I entered the trail head and saw a sign "closed road", that's it, nothing else. I was thinking that they didn't want cars driving up there because the road was bad. I figured Ibwas good in a 4x4. We got about 1/10th of a mile in and decided to have lunch. somebody left a dwindling fire by the creek and we decided to have lunch there.

When we were finished we packed up and were going to head out and a forest ranger Chambers pulls up and wanted to know why I went passed the "road closed" sign and why I started a fire. I said sorry, we'll head back to Chimney Mtn Road and I didn't start the fire, it was already there when we arrived. He said nope, you aren't leaving, let me see your DL and said we was giving warnings for the past 2 weeks but he had it!! He was giving me a citation for being on a closed road. WTF??? This is the first time I had ever been off road because I just bought the used GX470 and it was my first time out. I told him, look at the temporary tag on my truck, I had no idea this was a major violation? This ranger Chambers didn't care, he said he was tired of Off Roaders and wasn't putting up with this anymore and started talking about silt and the environment and asked me i fished? He said that I wouldn't be a le to fish if this silt keeps running into the Chattahoochee and off roaders are causing this mess.

Ranger Chambers was a total @sshole, even my wife questioned what his problem was. If this is who the US forest service is, then we have problems up there. This guy accused me of being on FB off road sites and posting in off road forums and I don't even have a FB account and I've never posted on an off road site. Then he told me if I didnt pay the fine, the US Marshall's would come arrest me. This guy has a screw loose and should not be a Ranger!! He is not wired right.

That's my experience on this trail thanks to our wonderful forestry service <sarcasm>.

Just as he gave me a citation, 2 guys were coming through in jeeps. He issued them citations too. I've been a law abiding citizen my whole life and I'm a veteran and I have to deal with a jackass like this from the forestry service. BTW, they charge $230 for driving past a road closed sign, lol, you can bet I'll be showing up to court for this citation.

From the sounds of what this ranger Chambers was saying, he creeps on off road sites to see what off roaders are talking about as far as trails and what their plans are. I deal with Law Enforcement every week and NEVER have I dealt with a wacko like this ranger Chambers.

If you're heading to North Georgia, don't go to Tray Mountain, the forestry service is WATCHING you!!
 
I was up there a couple weeks ago and saw the road closed signs. Not sure why they don’t close the gate like they do on every other forest service road they close. I’m not very good at following rules, the only reason I didn’t continue on is because another guy was coming out that had just been give a citation. Sorry for your luck.
 
Bummer. I've never ventured up/ down Tray because I've always read it was closed.
 
Well, I'm going to be "that dude" and say THIS IS HOW WE LOSE ACCESS ....I was up there this summer. I checked the forest service site and the road was plainly listed as closed. I even drove up there....saw the sign that clearly says "road closed" as you did. I even mentioned the fact on here in another thread, and pretty much got responses to the effect of "yeah it's closed but we do it anyway"

So you knowingly drove up a closed road and were surprised to get a ticket? There are plenty of open roads in that area to drive. There is no need to go pissing off the forest service driving on closed roads.
 
Access to the top of Tray Mtn via Chimney Mtn Rd has been closed a while. I think there is a chain or gate at the top, but not at the bottom where the neighborhood road leads to the closed road.

Closed is closed, but I guess you know that now @GX470Dawg. That ranger may have a chip on his shoulder but he's not wrong about you being in violation.

I've experienced a similar situation up at Wildcat Creek Rd. It was years ago and we arrived after dark to set up camp. We saw the initial sign that said "no camping between the road and the creek for the next X miles". There were plenty of "no camping" signs plainly mounted all along the creek side every 100 ft or so. We kept going until we didn't see anymore signs and set up camp. Along comes the ranger and says we are in a "no camping zone". We explained to him our strategy and he said we ripped the sign down. We disagreed and he said he would run up the road to find an open site for us. He then added, that if he didn't find an open site he'd come back and give us a ticket for every tent we had. We all got tickets about 15 minutes later. The next morning I crossed over the creek to look around and found the "no camping" sign that someone had indeed torn down and tossed as far as they could. I took the sign home (well, I paid for it ;))

You're never going to argue or convince them, once they got you. Better to play it soft and act penitent. Or even ask how to make the situation better (i.e., help them make their job easier).
 
I was very nice and respectful to him until he started accusing me of things I hadn't done. I'm always respectful to law enforcement. After he started saying things that never happened, that's when it changed. I've never had a problem with law enforcement, this guy was an @sshole!!
 
I've run Tray a few times in the last year. Not positive which side I've gone in each time but I'm pretty sure I've done both upper and lower sections. Can't say I remember any road closed signage, and there were a ton of other cars, road cars included, on the service road.

Just call the ranger station next time. This is one of those things, like @thebeedeegee said, if we mess around, the rest of us get burned. Private land is Big no no too, unless you've got permission from the owner. There is a ton of area in N GA and nearby Tennessee. I promise, Tray mountain isn't worth the fine or any diminished trail access.
 
This saga came to an end today. The other guy that got a ticket after me was at court today with me. The ranger that issued the citation was transferred and didn’t show so the prosecutor dropped the charge. Lesson learned and I will obey signs posted “road closed” and “no trespassing “ in the future.
I celebrated by putting on some spidertrax spacers 👍
 
I will say that this is nothing more than entrapment. You put a sign up, don’t put any kind of barricade up to block entry and have a game camera that trips and notifies your phone that someone Is on the trail. Then you show up and write a citation.
 
I will say that this is nothing more than entrapment. You put a sign up, don’t put any kind of barricade up to block entry and have a game camera that trips and notifies your phone that someone Is on the trail. Then you show up and write a citation.

I'd guess it's more a budget thing. gates cost money which I'd bet the forest service doesn't have a ton of. Also would be tough to put up gates at every road in case they need to close them according to conditions
 
Well the saga is over and it looks like you came out better. You got the ticket dropped and a set of Spidertrax spacers! Win win for you.
 

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