[bbehnke]

im looking for a place to wheel my jeep in the Hartford area. im going to have my jeep with me next year and i wanna have some fun with it up here other than just watching it siit in a student parking lot. illegal or legal i realy dont care but i would prefer to go to some place legal. the closer the better. gas is expensive for anyone let alone a college kid

[ToxicTurtle]

Originally Posted by bbehnke

im looking for a place to wheel my jeep in the Hartford area. im going to have my jeep with me next year and i wanna have some fun with it up here other than just watching it siit in a student parking lot. illegal or legal i realy dont care but i would prefer to go to some place legal. the closer the better. gas is expensive for anyone let alone a college kid

A ticket for illegal wheeling is even more expensive. Like $110 here in CT.
Now, with that in mind, wouldn't you really rather do things legally?

There are at least 30 places within 2 hours of Hartford that you can access through local club events. The cost to join a club: About $40-50 a year. One ticket and you'd have two years of wheeling covered.
Wheeling illegally will only help those who feel we shouldn't be in the woods get more ammo to keep us out and close even more places.
I'm one of those people in the trenches trying to keep places open, both public and private lands.
If you want to do things legally, I can be of all the help in the world. If you think you don't have the cash for dues, then join a club instead of that next small upgrade. The club will truly take you further than the upgrade.

Visit www.EC4WDA.org and go to Region D Northeast for info on the local clubs.

If you have any questions, just ask.

Talk soon,

[bbehnke]

thanks, i was kinda hoping for legal places to go first. so with all the places to go do you have to go with a club or would you be able to gather up a couple of buddies and then go?

[ToxicTurtle]

Originally Posted by bbehnke

thanks, i was kinda hoping for legal places to go first. so with all the places to go do you have to go with a club or would you be able to gather up a couple of buddies and then go?

There are only two places in CT that are legal, public roads. There are a few more public roads in MA and VT. The unfortunate thing is that currently there is NO signage whatsoever to let JQ Public wheeler know where they are. In all the spots, there are logging roads and illegal cuts onto private land that are not open for public use but have no signage to say "this area not the road. Private Property" So, unless you know exactly where you are, its very probable that you'll end up on someone's private land. In the two CT areas that are public roads, the abutting land owners are very intense about trespassing and will call the authorities and have you ticketed. AND... another part that sucks is that you can't say.. "Well officer, I didn't know this was private property, because there are no signs" The officer will tell you ignorance of the law is not an excuse. The rest of the places that are available are all private land and only open to the clubs.

I know that you are probably thinking that I can give you directions but unfortunately its not that easy. Getting you to the roads is easy. Giving directions in the woods is the hard part. W/O any signs how does one give detailed directions? Turn right after you cross the small stream. Well, right now, that small stream probably doesn't have any water in it, so you go right past because you're looking for a stream. Then, you'll turn left at the big tree with the funny rock at its base, it sort of looks like the old man in the mountain..... I mean, you'd end up somewhere you shouldn't be and then possibly "blame" me. "I was following this guys directions..." One of the locations a private road leads right into a shooting range! Not where one wants to stumble by accident.

The other item is that, quite frankly, I don't know you and I am in the position of protecting what we have and keeping it open to responsible wheelers. You stated above that you don't care if a place is legal or not, so I can't honestly feel good about letting you in on locations just yet.

So, initially, your best bet is to come out with the club. A) You'll learn the public locations and will know what you can drive on and what you can't. B) We'll get to know you and you will get to know us and quite hopefully, you'll understand why we as organized, responsible wheelers have the stance that we do about not giving out directions/locations.

Another thing is that by joining even just one of the local clubs, that membership allows you access to ALL of the 13 clubs trail rides that are part of our region. So, say you join Eastern 4 Wheelers. That membership allows you to email the president of Northeast Toyota Crawlers and go on their monthly trail ride. The next week, you email the trail coordinator for Long Island Off Road and go with them on a ride, the next week, you contact Berkshire 4 Wheelers... With 13 clubs, you can be wheeling EVERY weekend of the season and into and through the winter (although, maybe not every weekend in the winter). Hell, as a "college kid", it doesn't sound like you'd be able to afford the gas to be wheeling every weekend...

So, with all of this, I hope you can understand our position and I hope that you'll check out the myriad of clubs available for a very low yearly cost, join up and we'll seeya on the trails.

Talk soon,

[bbehnke]

thanks for some of the info im really going to concider joining a club next year. as for off roading illegaly. sure i did say that i didnt care but i had a place near me and it was the only place to go that was within 2 hrs fro where i lived in jersey and i have never went there becaus i didnt want to risk getting a ticket (i have heard from other people they can get prety nasty).

one more question. is one of those 13 clubs u mentioned North Jersey Jeep Club? because that is a group near me and some one already asked me to join that group.

[ToxicTurtle]

North Jersey Jeep is not a member of EC4WDA. Another Jeep club down that way, New Jersey Jeep Assoc. is looking very hard at joining EC4WDA this year. They are also working on getting insurance, which is a bit of an initial cost. So, that cost will play into their decision to join this year or not.

Glad the info helped.

If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Talk soon,