Uhwarrie opening weekend 2009

[rtj731]

well, I hate to drag this down but man...this sucks! I just got word from my buddy...and he was pretty upset over the conditions of the trails and bath house. I know groups have been working on the trails over the winter. But, he said they have collected enough trash to fill a regular kitchen trash bag today(monday)...said litter was everywhere. Couldn't take a shower yesterday cause the bath house was a complete mess. Found a condom wrapper,wet & muddy socks left, muddy wash clothes,dozen muddy bars of soap, tissue paper all over the floor and toilets!!!! He's gonna start a thread on NC4x4 when he gets back to tell his side of things. But, for his family to have to see this and ask him about the kind of trash they saw is awful. He said this morning the bath house was cleaned to a T! then when they got back around lunch things started looking bad again, then when they came back for good...it was almost the same as Sun. night. This is a shame, and the worst part is....it's mainly the wheelers doing this. These are the folks that sleep on the trails and come by to use the showers, the wheelers staying at arrowhead, and even the hunters when they are there. We dont need this to turn into some other closure over something as simple as picking up after yourself. That just shows you that folks walk away thinking...."huh, someone else will clean it" and that is true...but do they need to clean that much??? Should anyone have to pick up a condom wrapper?? I'm just letting off some steam, but this ultimately falls on us the wheelers. All I can ask, is that...if you are on this forum(and in this group) you conduct yourself as such and be thoughtful of those things mentioned here. I like URE and Arrowhead! I would hate to lose this place!

Chuck,
Hate to call people out but the Zuki guys were at it Sunday in the bath house, same old song and dance plenty of people drinking along the trails and trashing the area. I for one believe in having a good time but also being responsible. An individual rolled his quad in front of me and guess what... you guessed it beer cans flew out from his ATV. Janet bless her heart was doing her best, she stopped by the site and informed me that a new LEA officer was working the area and he is a stickler for the rules. No parking outside the paved areas, NO NO alcohol within the camp sites, he is on the prowl for RED SOLO plastic cups. Janet spoke about her willingness to see past responsible adults, and stated she is currently working ("training" her words) the New guy. As for the Zuk folks I spent over an hour between the first and second ledge of Daniel waiting on them to clear the trail they just blew by and stopped in the trail, some guy busted his rigg and all they cared about was their inherit right to do whatever they pleased. When my son asked if they would move one rig so we could get by the response was "if you can't get by than it's your problem" so my son said "well body damage is your problem". The guy who owned the rigg (the motorcycle engine Zuki) came over and apologized. Lots of folks out this past weekend, but ya I have to agree we MUST police ourselves or find a new hobby.

[nhopman]

Definitely hate to hear it's like this. Hopefully this is just isolated to opening weekend and the bigger than normal crowds there, and things get back to a more "normal" weekend quickly.

I know Janet has been letting a few things go at the campground, but I have been there a few times where several of the campsites got rowdy and beligerant due to excessive alcohol. It's probably good to have a new officer that is eager to hand out a few tickets.

What they need to do is pick a weekend and get a bunch of officers and place them at each of the trail entrances, then send the FS guys down each trail to search every single vehicle and coolers and write up EVERYONE they catch with alcohol in park and arrest a few for DUI. They also need to issue tickets to any ATV riders without helmets, and absolutely bury anyone seen going off trail. They also need to do random checks on the trails throughout the year just to keep people a little nervous. It wouldn't take too many times doing this to get the word out, and maybe the people who cause the most trouble will either go somewhere else or at least keep their trash off the trail.

Nick

[bucketobolts]

I'm with Nick. It is better to nip this in the bud than to wait till you have such a problem that you have to make a decision to effect everyone. Remember wheeling in Uwharrie is a privilege not a right.

[broncomania]

i agree with nick to. Aaron also made a good statement about taking care of it now .
places like this are being shutdown all over. lucky for us its not in our back door. just imagine if uwharrie closed . where is the next closest place thats this big and legal to wheel ??? you guessed it , very far away. maybe carolina broncos forum should start our very own clean up day once every so often. you simply start a thread for a clean up day with a date.clear it through janet . you get to wheel for free while cleaning up trash. then you just set the bags at the dumpster and wheel on until ready to go home. nc4x4 already does this.

[JayT]

Totally agreed... This really sucks, but I partially blame the opening weekend "crowd". Like Nick said, let's hope it gets back to "normal" very soon. We've been talking about adopting a trail... Before I left for this week, I found out whom to talk to at the FS... I'll get the paperwork when I get back and make sure to get this rolling ASAP. We can't lose URE. It will require at least 4 workdays a year, but I don't that'll be a problem for most of us, will it?!

[bone collector]

:xyxthumbs:not a problem at all

[broncomatt]

To hear this is disturbing to say the least. It wouldent take much to get URE closed to motorized vehicles, weekends like that will cause it.
There are always trash bags in the pocket of the drivers seat in my rig, its not hard to pick up your trash.
I realy like Bronomania's idea of some work weekends, thanks JayT for getting the forms. I will gladly bring that little trailer I had at the meet n greet to haul the trash out of the trails (thats one of the reasons I built it). Lets make it happen. :rebel:
Broncomatt

[nhopman]

Adopting a trail would be a good thing. If we decide not to adopt a trail as a club, we could always get a group to go to their scheduled work days. I went to one a couple of years ago and it wasn't too bad. I was there for the day, but they let you stay at in the group camp for free and will give you a free day pass for the days you work. I think we were done by noon or so with the work and got to play the rest of the day.

I haven't found the dates for this years schedule, but can post up when I do find out.

Nick

[broncomania]

lets adopt a trail i like that idea.