header
Join the ATVA
Renew your ATVA membership
Home News Rights Riding Racing Clubs About Contact

Get your kicks at pay-to-play riding areas

May 10, 2004 – When Chris Connelly bought an ATV in 2002 he ran into a problem that's increasingly common for ATVers and off-road motorcyclists nationwide:

He had no place to legally ride.

So he decided to do something about it. He hooked up with Alex Ernst (right) of the New York State Off-Highway Recreational Vehicle Association, and others, and created TrailPass—New York's first statewide, private off-highway motorcycle and ATV trail system.

Off-road enthusiasts nationwide, from New York to Georgia and Texas to Alabama, are increasingly frustrated with government's foot-dragging in creating off-highway riding opportunities. So these enthusiasts are finding ways to create private parks and trails on their own, while still lobbying government for public places to ride.

For example, in Taylorsville, North Carolina, the private Brushy Mountain Motor Sports Park opened last year to give local enthusiasts a place to ride.

The 1,500-acre facility features more than 35 miles of wooded trails, with another 100 miles planned over the next couple years.

Membership is $250 a year, $400 a year for families. Day passes are $25, $15 for a half day.

In Union Point, Georgia, the private Durhamtown Plantation Sportsman's Resort features 35 miles of single-track for off-highway motorcycles, three different motocross tracks, more than 60 miles of ATV trails, and more.

A one-day pass is $25.

In Gilmer, Texas, the Barnwell Mountain Recreation Area is owned and operated by enthusiasts who make up the Texas Motorized Trails Coalition. The 1,800-acre park opened in 2000. Membership is $35 a year, or $15 a day.

Probably the granddaddy of public-private efforts is the Hatfield-McCoy Recreation Area in West Virginia, with more than 400 miles of trails on private land. The Hatfield-McCoy Regional Recreation Authority, a public corporation established by the West Virginia Legislature, is responsible for developing, building and managing the trail system, which opened in October 2000.

Fees range from $15 for a one-day permit to $100 for an out-of-state resident annual pass.

The TrailPass program in New York involves not only more than a hundred miles of trails on private land, but a free day or two at some private OHV parks as well. For a $50 annual fee, a rider gets a TrailPass ID card and sticker allowing the rider on any of the trails in the network.

The trails are maintained by local OHV clubs, and the clubs get funding and insurance from Trailpass for managing the trails.

The trails are on private property where landowners have given specific permission for the club and TrailPass holders to ride.

"TrailPass isn't there to take over the trails," Ernst says. "The clubs are responsible for the trails, and TrailPass gives them the tools. The liability insurance is the big nut.

"A lot of clubs were trying to open trail systems but they couldn't because the landowners wouldn't do it without insurance," he says.

TrailPass has riding areas all across New York, with trails ranging from a small family oriented trail in Vestal to a more challenging double-loop trail with a mountain summit destination in Lake George.

Ernst believes the TrailPass effort could serve as a model for off-road enthusiasts in other states who want to develop private riding trails. But he also stresses that enthusiasts can't stop their efforts to get government to create riding areas.

For more information, contact:

© 2004, All Terrain Vehicle Association