Another New England trail ride

[KentT]

Just joined an ATV club in Southern Vermont -- which is more "UTV friendly" than Mass or New Hampshire. This club has the management rights to the trails on a 2500 private tract just outside Townshend. It has between 30 and 40 miles of trails all over the mountain, and all are very well maintained and passable by a 2WD quad (if you're good) or a UTV. Only two trails are really challenging -- and thats when you're going up them -- but even they can be accessed from the top and you can come down them. All the rest would be classified as easy with a couple moderate, I'd guess. No real technical rock climbing in boulders to speak of, but there are a few spots of ledge that can throw you off-camber if you don't hit them just right. We all were on skid plates a few times today. Lots of high water-bars to climb up and over though, as they control the runoff on the mountainsides. Not a whole lot of mud this late in the year -- but we bypassed a couple deep spots and were in mud up to the pan a couple times. Just nice, well maintained trails.

The club members can stay overnight (one night -- no extended stays without special permission) in a couple of old hunting cabins, plus they've put in a few nice picnic areas. The cabins and one of the picnic areas even have outhouses -- which could be useful... The trails are well marked and they provide a topo trail map in a larger scale than the "standard VASA" map. After Lloyd and Kendall left, I spent another hour or more wandering around by myself, just checking my location at trail junctions. BTW -- we were the only three riders on all the trails today. Crowded on Sunday afternoons, huh?

Any way, here's a slideshow on FlickR of some photos of the easier trails, when I could hold a camera while driving. I went back and checked out the the hunting cabins. You'll have to overlook all the pics of my Rhino -- I'm still loving this thing...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kentthomas/sets/72157619328054789/show/with/3606029966/

 

[JohnDeere4300]

I would love to get to ride in that area once.

Have you ever heard of this trail system?

Hatfield-McCoy Trails Official Web Site- Home Page


The trail goes through my dads property on top of the mountain.....and he sold them the part for that..Me and my brother use to ride it a lot.

 

[2fast2]

I'd love to ride the Hatfield McCoy but it looks like they don't allow Gator XUVs. Is that correct?

 

[ghitch75]

the way i read it you can.....

Knowing the Hatfield-McCoy Trail Rules - Trail Rules and WV State Law - Hatfield-McCoy Trails


nice pic's KentT.....

 

[Dmace]

Man those pictures are great! I am so jealous...

Not many trails in NH, but also not much time for me either.

 

[JohnDeere4300]

I'd love to ride the Hatfield McCoy but it looks like they don't allow Gator XUVs. Is that correct?

Yes you can ride a Gator.

the way i read it you can.....

Knowing the Hatfield-McCoy Trail Rules - Trail Rules and WV State Law - Hatfield-McCoy Trails


nice pic's KentT.....

I was getting ready to put that link up on the rules, and saw that you did....Nice ride in your Avatar

I would like to have a side-by-side but the trails on my property are not wide enough....Just enough room for a ATV.

You can see how narrow the trails are going up the mountain....I have a Honda Rubicon and on some hills you need a winch just to get to the top, so you don't flip backwards....There have been so many people killed in West Virginia & Kentucky on ATV's.

This is on my hunting property, and we used a mattock, shovel and a big bar for rocks to make the road

 

[KentT]

I would love to get to ride in that area once.

Have you ever heard of this trail system?

Hatfield-McCoy Trails Official Web Site- Home Page


The trail goes through my dads property on top of the mountain.....and he sold them the part for that..Me and my brother use to ride it a lot.

Yes, I've certainly heard of it, though I've never ridden there. That would be incredible to have that trail system literally in your "back yard!"

How about RoyalBlue, Brimstone, Tellico, or Windrock?

I'll be riding either Brimstone or Windrock at the end of this this month, when I'm in Tennessee for my annual family reunion. We're about an hour from Windrock, two hours from Brimstone or Tellico, and maybe 2.5 from RoyalBlue...

 

[KentT]

Man those pictures are great! I am so jealous...

Not many trails in NH, but also not much time for me either.

NH is still confused about how to handle these side-by-sides. They're only allowed in one state forest -- Jericho Mountain, which is over 4 hours away from me. I'd really rather have registered it in NH, which is a bit closer, but VT is much more "side-by-side friendly"...

I'm trying right now to get a "rules determination" of whether I can ride it up Mt Washington on Aug 2nd, when the VT ATV clubs climb the mountain...

 

[ghitch75]

Yes you can ride a Gator.




I was getting ready to put that link up on the rules, and saw that you did....Nice ride in your Avatar

I would like to have a side-by-side but the trails on my property are not wide enough....Just enough room for a ATV.

You can see how narrow the trails are going up the mountain....I have a Honda Rubicon and on some hills you need a winch just to get to the top, so you don't flip backwards....There have been so many people killed in West Virginia & Kentucky on ATV's.

This is on my hunting property, and we used a mattock, shovel and a big bar for rocks to make the road

we don't have mountains in southern IN but we have some pretty steep hills....i have over 1000 acres to ride on around here....a lot of them are old skidder trails from loggers so there nice and wide for the Gator and some atv trails can be a little tight....be fun to come down there and give some of your trails a shot!!....we have an open county you can ride on any county road with a reg. tag from the state.....just can't go down state hi-way but you can cross them.....


man KentT 40 miles of trails out east sounds like a barrel of fun!!

 

[JohnDeere4300]

Yes, I've certainly heard of it, though I've never ridden there. That would be incredible to have that trail system literally in your "back yard!"

How about RoyalBlue, Brimstone, Tellico, or Windrock?

I'll be riding either Brimstone or Windrock at the end of this this month, when I'm in Tennessee for my annual family reunion. We're about an hour from Windrock, two hours from Brimstone or Tellico, and maybe 2.5 from RoyalBlue...

I have heard of the trails, but have never been there.

The Hatfield-McCoy trail goes through the top of my dads property in West Virginia....The pictures that i showed are my own trail that go through my hunting property.

At my dads home where the trail goes through the top....We had a dozer make a road so me & my brother could go straight up the mountain, and get on the trail.....My brother lived in West Virginia also, and i live in Kentucky....But when we rode the H-M trail we bought a year pass to get on the trail...(my brother died this year from a motorcycle accident) and i quit riding in W.Va.

That's a nice picture of your ride!!!

What do you think of the 09 Honda Big Red??.......My wife wants one, but we would only get to ride it on our flat-land.....but i guess we could take it to dads to ride...but it takes me 1 1/2 hour to get there.....I really like my Rubicon