Todd Adams
Grammy's Spotter
- Location
- Salt Lake City
I know we have talked about this before but there is still abuse going on in AF canyon from people that just don’t know. This will take all of us any time we go wheeling to deal with it. You just can’t ignore these folks. Talk to them get them to understand that what they are doing is wrong and it will have a detrimental effect on all of us.
On Saturday July 1st I ran in to a group of folks at the Rock Garden. 2 of them were friends and fellow members of U4WDA. The others were talking about just playing in the garden then going up to play in the lake. I asked them not to and explained the reasons finishing up with “besides all these reasons you will get a ticket if caught”.
So the three of us proceeded to run the mineral basin trail while the others turned around. On the way back down we ran into this group again and one of the rigs had driven into the meadow where we had spent a day fencing off in October of ’99. The fence has since fallen down but is no excuse to dive into a wet marsh just to see if you can make it.
So as I confronted them (only one rig had driven into the meadow since the others had headed my earlier advice) I got a lot of excuses. “I thought it was a road” “there needs to be signs to tell us where we can and can’t drive”. The feeling I got was they just didn’t know any better. These folks were friendly and had no problem listening to what I had to say about making all of us look bad. I have talked with many people like this and have found out most of them don’t get on the web or even know about sites such as this.
As we go wheeling it is up all of us to spread the word. Just don’t drive by when you see something wrong. Don’t antagonize them, rather ask nicely if they realize that what they are doing could lead to closure of the trail they are on. Let them know of all the groups dedicated to keeping the trails open and where to find out about them like this site.
As for the guy that drove into the meadow, he did receive a ticket from the FS.
As soon as I can I will be setting up another training session for the Utah OHV Trail Patrol specifically for us 4x4 users and will post it up.
Todd Adams
State 4x4 Director Utah OHV Trail Patrol
On Saturday July 1st I ran in to a group of folks at the Rock Garden. 2 of them were friends and fellow members of U4WDA. The others were talking about just playing in the garden then going up to play in the lake. I asked them not to and explained the reasons finishing up with “besides all these reasons you will get a ticket if caught”.
So the three of us proceeded to run the mineral basin trail while the others turned around. On the way back down we ran into this group again and one of the rigs had driven into the meadow where we had spent a day fencing off in October of ’99. The fence has since fallen down but is no excuse to dive into a wet marsh just to see if you can make it.
So as I confronted them (only one rig had driven into the meadow since the others had headed my earlier advice) I got a lot of excuses. “I thought it was a road” “there needs to be signs to tell us where we can and can’t drive”. The feeling I got was they just didn’t know any better. These folks were friendly and had no problem listening to what I had to say about making all of us look bad. I have talked with many people like this and have found out most of them don’t get on the web or even know about sites such as this.
As we go wheeling it is up all of us to spread the word. Just don’t drive by when you see something wrong. Don’t antagonize them, rather ask nicely if they realize that what they are doing could lead to closure of the trail they are on. Let them know of all the groups dedicated to keeping the trails open and where to find out about them like this site.
As for the guy that drove into the meadow, he did receive a ticket from the FS.
As soon as I can I will be setting up another training session for the Utah OHV Trail Patrol specifically for us 4x4 users and will post it up.
Todd Adams
State 4x4 Director Utah OHV Trail Patrol
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