Where you like to ride and what riding does for you?

[Ajmboy]

I haven't been out riding n a while and need to get out there! Bumping this topic as we have a ton of new members that can share where they like to ride. 😀

[John Torbus]

Turkey Bay OHV at Land Between the Lakes in KY. They have all kinds of terrain and it’s right on the lake so you can camp out and swim when your done! Absolutely beautiful place! 

[George Henry]

2 hours ago, John Torbus said:

Turkey Bay OHV at Land Between the Lakes in KY. They have all kinds of terrain and it’s right on the lake so you can camp out and swim when your done! Absolutely beautiful place! 

That sounds beautiful John.

[John Torbus]

It is a sweet place to ride and there so many trails to ride which are marked and vary from easy to insane! Lot of rock bouncers do the insane, past vertical climbs

[MarkinAR]

In central AR, it's pretty much mud parks.  There are a few trail central parks in the northern part of the state though.  my preference is mud and water.  Little 300FW doesn't much care for trail rides but it's a monster in mud and water.

[Micah Gafford]

Haven't ridden much else besides my property or friends but I just found out about a place everyone around here that everyone says is really great. Interlake state rec in Indiana It's a state part for everything off-road from hiking and biking all the way up to heavily modified off-road vehicles with beginner to expert trails. Hopefully we'll get a chance to go sometime and I can tell ya'll about. 

[Freedomflyer]

Where's the pics of where you ride? I ride in the mountains, and mostly 50" 2-track trails. Mostly what's available here. Always thought it would be fun to ride some dunes but don't have the right machine for that.  Then I hear the horror stories and see the accident videos and think no.....probably not. Seems like there's folks who don't think flying off the top of a dune without a spotter is a problem. Parts of it sure look like fun though. Not saying that our mountain trails aren't dangerous,  higher speeds dont happen too often due to our steeper winding trails and the possibility of sliding down off the edge. But still enjoy our mountains and exploring new areas. Love to see some pics of your favorites. 

 

[John Torbus]

Brother, that place looks AMAZING!!! Where is it located?

[Freedomflyer]

Hey John,

It really is a great place, we are so spoiled. Most of these trail heads are within 30 minutes of my house. The Forest Service does an amazing job of keeping the trails in good shape. We do have a few that are an hours drive but for the most part 30 minutes and we are unloading. We live in south west Montana in the Bozeman area. Where are you located?

[John Torbus]

I live in Central Kentucky and we ride a lot at Land  Between the Lakes which is a National Park located near Cadiz KY. They normally do a wonderful job of keeping the park up but due to Covid they’ve had to run a skeleton crew so not much weed whacking has gotten done on the campsites this year. But any other time beside this Covid, they do a wonderful job of keeping the place up and the trails cleared. 

[Freedomflyer]

The only bummer part of where we live as we have such a short Riding season. Our trails open June 16th and close around October 16th, depending on the area. Some stay open till Dec 1st, they close them down for a couple reasons,  safety and so they don't get torn to shreds. We do have one area that stays open most if the year that is BLM/Forest Service area. That is an hours drive. It does get to a point that trails are impassable due to snow, but parts of it are usable almost year round. Only problem is temperatures are pretty miserable to be out during the Winter . We do on occasion have stretches of 0 to -30 for weeks at a time.  Don't care how you dress not that pleasant to be out.🥶😁. The area is more high desert then transitions into the forest. Great area but heavily used in the summer.  This ride was the earliest ride we've ever taken,  it was in May.

[jwline]

I haven't been riding too many different places and they've all been wooded trails. Uwharrie, Red Oak Hollow, Outback, Hatfield Mcoys, and a few backwoods trails around the area I live in. Each has a little different type of terrain but ultimately they are all mainly wooded trails. If anyone lives in NC and has some great places to go I'm all ears. I'm up to try any types of trails out there, I just love to ride. When riding, there is nothing that matters except me, the machine, and the thrill of the ride. I'd be out there every weekend if i could be.

[jwline]

@Freedomflyer  These pics have definitely skyrocketed Montana to my riding bucket list!! And to be so close must be a dream 😁 The closest thing I probably have that would even remotely get close to that would be the Hatfield trails in WV and from where I rode when I went it looked NOTHING like that.

[John Torbus]

jwline, amen brother!

[Freedomflyer]

jwline, this is a great area,  our riding is the only thing that gets us away from all the people that have moved in. Even then you have to fight your way to get past the hiking trail traffic. But once out we see no one and it is absolutely  awesome.

[Freedomflyer]

I would be out also, this year sucked for ride time, toooooo busy. I think we only made it out 5 for six times. Pathethic! I can tell you one thing, if you ever made it this direction I would make sure to take you out,  as lon as it wasn't during the 4th of July, we have some amazing trails that I never get tired of riding. What do you ride? We have a couple of Can Am 570 Max's.  We chose the  two up machine so we can stay legal if we ride double. So we can also take other couples out with us if they don't have a machine. Make your way up here and I'll get you out.😉

[quadmaniac]

@Freedomflyer great pictures, just beautiful! I would really enjoy riding there, maybe one day! Love these two, like out of a magazine:

Edited October 28, 2020 by quadmaniac

[Freedomflyer]

Quad, I hope this is something I can do for a long time. I  just hope the folks moving in here don't ruin it for everyone.  Someone always seems to get a bee under their bonnet and whine and cry about something and get things changed.  Always amazing how the voices of a few are so loud and drown out the voice of reason. Like I told jwline, make your way here and I'll take you out.  I  know that's  easy for me to say,  there's a lot of different places I'd like to get to someday as well. Takes time, money, and a lot of planning.  Yeah the pics Come out pretty good sometimes,  not bad for an S9 phone camera LOL😉 Pretty bummed out about this years riding s season, was very short for my wife and I,  I  think we only made it out 5 or 6 times.  Life was just too busy this year, and winter came really fast and early. We've already had 12" of snow on the valley floor, most trails are closed and temps have dipped to -20.🥶🙄 Crazy, set a bunch of record lows around here,  this global warming is killing us. Supposed to be high 40's low 50's  by weeks end.  There is one area that stays open most of the year might be able to sneak one more in but wont be any too warm.

[Airborne]

Wow great pictures....i have always enjoyed ridding since i was a kid , from Briggs and stratton mini,s then all through the machines , to Harleys, now back to my quads ...always gave a sense of freedom ,

we enjoy the trails in the woods near our home on own property, we hit the power lines and enjoy that as well.  

When sitting on our porch on any sunday we always hear the locals on trails in the distance, i have never minded hearing it , pretty much “ Farmboys having fun “ our road is private and goes a mile in off pavement , its accessible a few miles in from random trails , one day i was doing some maintenance on our road lol.....i heard them off in the woods , one was a throaty 4 stroke yamaha dirtbike.     I took a break  i knew they would stumble out of woods to our road , then there they were quads and a dirtbike lol......the kind of had that “ oh sh** look ....i walked over younger guys, the one took helmit off said hello , told buddies to shut it down , he said i think were lost never knew this road was here ...i said no problem. We talked a bit looked at their machines , i then told them i have no issue w/ them coming through , just be respectful, you thought you gave them the world ......all polite   Lol.  Remember they were lost at first......the one kid said thank you this saves him an hour from his house coming through ,lol  Bur i was a kid too once and i always remember respect property owners.    Since then they come through on occasion,wave and dont haul as*.   They even moved a tree that i just never got to yet from road, and then i noticed that they “ groomed the sides of thorn bushes , , where we live theres a huge network of trails in and out of woods combined with powerlines nearby so you can ride for a whole day its nice........

[Jarheadgreasemonkey]

Favorite ride is Sand Creek near Paragould AR...

 

"Clay Mountain" serves as the backdrop in this pic:

 

 

Pictured are my two running ATV's...

2012 Polaris Ranger 800xp and 2004 Honda Recon.

 

Hopefully I'll be posing pics like this to include my new "project"... 1995 Polaris Magnum 425!

[Freedomflyer]

Airborne, that's cool! Not very many understanding folks around these days. Grew up in Manhattan, a town of about 1500, ten miles away from where I live now. It's not 1500 people anymore. The main city in our area is Bozeman,  Belgrade, (where I live now)was 10 miles away and about 2000 people, another 10 miles Manhattan,  another 10 miles Three Forks. Three Forks was about the same size as Manhattan,  1500 or so. It is Headwaters of the Missouri River which runs into the Mississippi. 3 different rivers come together hence the name Three Forks.  Anyway, all of these towns were quiet communities and stretch across a beautiful valley that's about 35 miles long and about the same wide. When I was in high school Bozeman was 19,000 people, it's a state college town and had about 8000 students. Fast forward 40 years to today. Bozeman itself is about 60,000 and has 17,000 students (pre Covid) and is almost joined to Belgrade. Belgrade is about 13,000 people. Manhattan is about 6,000 people and Three Forks about 4,000. Figure there's about 160,000 in the valley now.  All of that to say, as a kid, there were farmers and ranchers that would let us ride their thousands of acres of property because we were responsible and respectful. We just loved being out and weren't out to destroy anything or tear anything up. As they passed away and their kids sold off land, developers and wealthy out of staters bought their "piece of heaven" and closed everything down.    Great to hear you talked with those kids and showed understanding and kindness. Like I said not very many understanding folks these days. Hopefully they will continue to be responsible and respect.  We may not have the private sector to ride anymore but have outstanding forest service trail access so very thankful for that. It seems that even with the influx of people there's not a lot of them that are heavy into ATV's at least in our valley. Hardly see or hear anyone when we're out.😁

[Akunin]

This thread needed a bump!

 

Lets see if a panoramic turns out. Took this off the drone today. My favorite riding area!

And if the pano doesnt work than this other one will do

 

 

 

 

[Akunin]

And I'll throw this in for good measure, just playing with drone footage a bit. Nothing spectacular but shows the area better than the pictures above. 

[Akunin]

And last one. Fun day just playing with the drone and riding about 45 miles.

Edited March 5, 2021 by Akunin

[Freedomflyer]

Hey Akunin, been a while. Sorry we werent able to link up last November when we were down in Rapid. Wasn't much of  a pleasure trip. We had to go down and move the inlaws out of their house, was not a pleasant ordeal.  Went from 5500 sq. ft to about 950. Spent 8 days there getting things packed up, a few home repairs, a little plumbing. Hadn't a minute to ourselves,  we were ready to get home that's for sure. 

Saw you bumped this thread I'll add a bit to it. We took our first ride of 2021, it ended up being the same place as last year, took a bit of a different route but went out about 2 1/2 weeks ago officially making it the earliest we have ever been out. It was a great day,  was about 32 degrees when we started but warmed to about 70 as a high.
Was an interesting ride, I didnt expect as much snow as we ran into. Some of the trails we went on were labeled Black diamond, have been on them before but being's they are nestled in the trees, many were solid ice making the decent on some of them way more technical than what I'm normally used to. Planning how to maneuver a turn when corners are sharp and dry is one thing, planning how your going slide around it without flying off the edges is another. Made for an exciting but tiring day. My Maxxis Bighorn 2.0 tires  performed flawlessly. Since I was the designated leader I also doubled as the Guinea pig, made several walking trips back up the hill to guide others down and to ride my wife's machine down through several tricky areas. Was some of the best riding I've had to date, just had to think clearly and be careful. We stopped at a spot called "The Lunchroom" an area between these big slabs of rock with a couple of rudimentary tables to eat lunch. Am growing more fond of this area each time we ride it. Rode from about 9 until 4:30, with the slippery trails that was plenty. Got home about 5:30 spent 4 1/2 hours cleaning up the machines. Looking forward to the next ride.

[GrizzlyRider]

On 10/27/2020 at 2:22 PM, jwline said:

@Freedomflyer  These pics have definitely skyrocketed Montana to my riding bucket list!! And to be so close must be a dream 😁 The closest thing I probably have that would even remotely get close to that would be the Hatfield trails in WV and from where I rode when I went it looked NOTHING like that.

I agree, great pics @Freedomflyer, your latest and the ones you posted in October, really nice. Looks like an amazing time.

@Akunin that drone footage is awesome, looks like out in the middle of nowhere. Very cool!

 

[Freedomflyer]

GrizzlyRider thanks, it was a great time! We are finding each time we go out we enjoy it more than the time before. When we get to explore a new area and find another beautiful view we wish more and more that we would've started years ago. The enjoyment level of this hobby/sport just continues to grow for my wife and I, It is great that she is growing in both confidence and experience. When we find these areas, all we want to do is take people back there and share it.

So jwline let me know when you want to check that off of the bucket list, I am always looking for an excuse to get out and this is a standing offer of you ever make it out our way. Thanks for commenting on my pics you guys.

[Akunin]

3 hours ago, GrizzlyRider said:

I agree, great pics @Freedomflyer, your latest and the ones you posted in October, really nice. Looks like an amazing time.

@Akunin that drone footage is awesome, looks like out in the middle of nowhere. Very cool!

Thanks Grizzly. To think all that is just 20 mins from Rapid City and all the trails that the Black Hills have to offer in the mountains. Lots of different kind of riding out here for sure!

 

[Akunin]

On 4/21/2021 at 12:14 AM, Freedomflyer said:

Hey Akunin, been a while. Sorry we werent able to link up last November when we were down in Rapid. Wasn't much of  a pleasure trip. We had to go down and move the inlaws out of their house, was not a pleasant ordeal.  Went from 5500 sq. ft to about 950. Spent 8 days there getting things packed up, a few home repairs, a little plumbing. Hadn't a minute to ourselves,  we were ready to get home that's for sure. 

Saw you bumped this thread I'll add a bit to it. We took our first ride of 2021, it ended up being the same place as last year, took a bit of a different route but went out about 2 1/2 weeks ago officially making it the earliest we have ever been out. It was a great day,  was about 32 degrees when we started but warmed to about 70 as a high.
Was an interesting ride, I didnt expect as much snow as we ran into. Some of the trails we went on were labeled Black diamond, have been on them before but being's they are nestled in the trees, many were solid ice making the decent on some of them way more technical than what I'm normally used to. Planning how to maneuver a turn when corners are sharp and dry is one thing, planning how your going slide around it without flying off the edges is another. Made for an exciting but tiring day. My Maxxis Bighorn 2.0 tires  performed flawlessly. Since I was the designated leader I also doubled as the Guinea pig, made several walking trips back up the hill to guide others down and to ride my wife's machine down through several tricky areas. Was some of the best riding I've had to date, just had to think clearly and be careful. We stopped at a spot called "The Lunchroom" an area between these big slabs of rock with a couple of rudimentary tables to eat lunch. Am growing more fond of this area each time we ride it. Rode from about 9 until 4:30, with the slippery trails that was plenty. Got home about 5:30 spent 4 1/2 hours cleaning up the machines. Looking forward to the next ride.

Hey FF! Sounds like a truly rough several days. Hopefully all is well on that front. As for the ride you took.. as always great pics! Looks like a great way to open 2021!

[pikachu78]

I go riding to try to become a better mechanic to get a basic understanding of the fundamentals