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People from MA

5K views 37 replies 10 participants last post by  BlueRubiconrich 
#1 ·
Has anyone ever been on or heard about these trails marked in google maps marked as "Jeep Trails"

42.317183,-72.41027

42.349605,-72.464086

(just copy and paste those into google maps)

I live in Belchertown and would love to know if these are legal to use sense they are right down the street basically.
 
#3 ·
Well, the first one, if you do a street view at the southern end, you'll see that it goes into a farmers field and has a small building just inside the tree line and the other end, comes out in the garage of a McMansion.
I've been (heavily) involved in the New England wheeling community for almost 25 years and have never seen this. I would say...ILLEGAL

Second one: Same thing.. Do a street view and you'll see that one end is no longer. There is a self storage driveway there and a rather large security fence. The other end cuts right across a home's back/side yard.
Closed/Illegal.

There are only about 5 legal roads still left in MA that are hard enough to actually need 4WD for most of the drive. They are all in western MA.
These will be gone soon as too many people are using them irresponsibly and not being pro-active and dealing with the local communities enough.
Most of the New England clubs have access to private lands but as the ultra liberals take a stronger hold on our personal rights and allow the gov't to play a larger role in all of our lives, our ability to use those private lands is going to dwindle as well and unless we as a community wake up and do something about it, we will eventually lose ALL of our places to play.
Contact NEA or www.NOVA4x4.org for more info on clubs you can join.

Talk soon,
 
#4 ·
Damn I figured maybe I found a trail. I know about a few of those five trails you speak of, I have only been on the Rattlesnake Gutter though, I only know about a couple of the others but don't know were they are because I am not a member of any club. Looks like I should find one to join.
 
#5 ·
Rattlesnake Gutter is one of those private ones of which I spoke.. NOT a public road. Lots of greenie activists want that area closed, despite it being private. They are more pro-active than we are, so they will win and get it closed fairly soon I'd imagine. :rolleyes:
Sucks but what can you do? Be active like them...? hell no, thats too much like work! :laugh:
Some good clubs out there, look at a lot of them and find one that fits you.

Talk soon,
 
#7 ·
The landowner at Gutter is a large local company that feels that motorized use should have its place. They open their lands to the public as long as it is respected and as long as they don't face major issues to keep it open to the public.
Once they do, they close them. They have already closed/gated two other parcels in MA in the last year due to disrespect of the land and local pressures.
As more people are pressed into using less land, its only obvious whats going to happen.
Enjoy your Jeep while its still legal to drive... period... :( ;)

Talk soon,
 
#10 ·
Back in the day, many powerlines were open... BUT... Too many people disrespecting the land that wasn't theirs got them closed. And... IF we as a group were able to take the thousands of people who like to do this and actually get them to be proactive instead of re (or in) active, we might have stood a chance of keeping them open. No longer...

Those two "Jeep Trails" used to be roads.. They were most probably discontinued and reverted back to the abutting land owners, which makes them private property.

Talk soon,
 
#14 ·
I know of a couple trails WAY out in western MA that are still legal...I'm from Pittsfield. They're all old roads that are no longer taken care of and have fallen into disrepair.
You could also hit Savoy State Forrest. If you hit the northern end of it, it gets WET and LOTS of washouts. Since its a state forrest, and the trails are old ones to different camp sites, they're still the roads, and not the ATV trails....you just need to look hard and maybe mark them on GPS. The Pittsfield State forsest is the same way...you just need to search. I stumbled across one or 2 in PSF, but I don't have a GPS and I can't find them again.
You just need to make sure you don't do anything stupid or stumble onto any ATV trails. (Most are marked pretty well. You'll see a little pic of a jeep with no top or windshield with the infamous red circle with a slash across it.
 
#15 ·
The BEST thing to do is go the state's OWN site...

State Parks Trail Maps

Then, print them out and carry with you if/when you are traveling in that state forest (or park.. but the parks are much more civilized and most do not have any roads that require 4x4).
Here is the key fact:
We, as responsible 4WD enthusiasts, are allowed on ROADS.. NOT trails.
If the map shows a multi-use trail but it has "road" in its name and it is not gated, we are technically allowed on them (as long you are driving a registered and insured vehicle). However, if the key shows it to be a non motorized/hiking trail with a road name, we are NOT allowed.
Also, you need to check both winter and summer maps if available, as the winter use probably includes snowmobiles on many roads and during the winter, those roads are NOT open to our use.. Ya hafta give the sled guys their time in the woods too.. afterall, they may only get 2-3 months to really enjoy their sport.

Yes, this can be a little confusing, but in MA, there are some roads out there that may require 4WD in some spot.. there are probably only 2-3 that would require it for most of the length.

Also, also, you do need to know where you are, as the EPOs won't necessarily accept the "I didn't know where I was" excuse.

Have fun out there and be good... if you are rolling along in low gear and come across some garbage that some hikers left along the roadside, because they couldn't be bothered to pack it out with them, stop and pick it up... and then, as you leave, stop by the HQ and put it all in the trash receptacles... so the Rangers can see you doing good. :thumbsup:

Talk soon,
 
#19 ·
Yes they are scarce! I have stopped at the Ranger Station for the State Forest here in Lee and have looked at thier "Trail Maps" like Dave Brill said before too. They led me over to another map for comparison and thier info was great, They even gave me a few that were'nt listed on that small trail map or on the TOPO's but were legal to drive on and fun to use too. But on one or two trails marked as "trails" on the "trail Map" they said that is was legal to drive on... now they aren't the Environmental Police and I dont know if the EP's would belive me when I said that so its hard to judge sometimes.
 
#21 ·
If you have written permission from the landowner.
In the case of a state land logging operation, usually, the logging company has a permit to use the roads to access certain types of trees. Sometimes the logging co will create roads to access trees.. However, again usually, those roads need to be decommissioned as part of the permit. The roads used by the logging companies are open only to their permitted vehicles, unless they are using state forest, public roads.

Again, sorry to be the bringer of bad news but too little action on our part to ever make that change and too much from the other side for us to think that we'll be able to legally wheel on any public land 10 years from now. :(

Talk soon,
 
#23 ·
^^ look up, ya mass is pretty crazy it has taken me over a year to gather the spots that i have, and i think they're pretty damn good with that being said i have permission to wheel all the spots. And one of them is going to be closed soon because to many are throwing trash everywhere starting fires making their own trails you know the usual. But im still going to be wheeling there considering my family owns over 200 acres of the land, it used to be a great spot but now that everywhere is closed people are being forced into less and less spots, hell clubs from other states come to our little spots and try to wheel its crazy!!!:rantoff::brickwall:brickwall
 
#24 ·
Set up a date for a cleanup talk to the NEA I'll help you I've done many cleanups
,come to the NEA meeting Jan 9th. ask for help.Don't do it a lone.
 
#25 ·
We have the same problem here in N.H., No legal offroad trails. We do have a few class 6 roads that we can run here and there. But nowadays most of them are " owned by the landowners". I would like to find a club in my area to run with this summer but havn't been able to locate one as of yet. If anyone here in the rochester N.H. area is looking in please PM me With info. Good luck with your trails in MA.
 
#26 ·
NH is rife with good clubs.. check out the NEA.. (I'm sure Rich will chime in with the web addy :D )

It would be nice if we as a wheeling community (when I say we, I mean, everyone who actually takes their rigs out and shifts into 4WD) would realize that it shouldn't matter if you live in MA and wheel in VT or live in CT and wheel in MA, etc, etc... The small state and "not in my back yard" mentality is one of many reasons we are in the situation we are today... IE no real legal public places to wheel.
Just some numbers before I turn my quick rant off....

Just think about how many Jeeps and even slightly modified 4x4 trucks/SUVs are registered and being driven on the roads of ALL of New England......(insert Jeopardy theme here).... OK... maybe 2-3 hundred thousand... more..? OLD federal numbers stated that " only nearly 10% of those who own a 4x4 will actually use 4WD for activities other than snow/inclement weather driving." The latest numbers I had seen were generated by SEMA if I recall correctly.. they had jumped the number to upwards of 20%

OK... lets say that there are only 200,000 registered 4WD vehicles in all of New England (remember, that includes 15 million people in NYC and what, 3-5 million in Boston, seems like a small number doesn't it... but lets keep our numbers small anyway...)
10% of 200K is 20,000 people who use their rigs for 4WD activities other than snow driving... and of course.. 20% is 40,000 rigs being used for "fun 4WD activities"
Question:
Why the hell can't 40,000 freeekin people effect change in this tiny area of the United States known as New England?
:brickwall:brickwall:brickwall
 
#28 ·
The NEA has NH clubs Northeast Association of 4WD Clubs
And I don't think we (Jeepers)are lazy I'm not 2010 will be my 21 year in
4wheelin.We do cleanups , and so many other things. Join a club see what we can do for you and you for us.
 
#29 ·
Thank you David for the great point, I personaly moved within the last year to a new area and don't have a lot of time to "get out" and meet people. I talk to the locals at the gas station or store but they all tell me of trails I can go on "If I don't get caught". That's not the kind of wheeling i'm looking to do. I will deffinatly check out the NEA and join a semi local club and I guess by doing so I can pass the word along to the local wheelers I meet and make things happen in that respect. Thanks again David, I look forward to talking to you again.
 
#31 ·
I'm going to agree with the statement that the 4x4 crowd is, in general, lazy. Well, perhaps apathetic is a better word. For sure, there is a small core of people that are very active but the masses are not there. Even within the NEA, which has perhaps 2,000 members, only a small fraction are truly active.

David layed out the numbers above. Thats more than enough if everybody invested time & money. Clean-ups, toy runs, Tread Lightly, discouraging illegal wheeling, and all those things are great - my club does them as well - but its naive to think that these activities are going to effect political change. The only way its going to change is to play the game; that means funding political action committees, lobbying influential politicians (particularly the relevant committee chairs), cozying up to department heads, and even fielding candidates. NEA dues is something like $5 for each member of each affiliated club. For all intents and purposes NEA membership is free - yet people will balk at the notion of paying more. What if all of the 40,000 wheelers that David talks about put $50 on the table devoted towards political action? I'll offer that $50 is chump change in the grand scheme of things - a night at the bar, a few packs of cancer sticks, half a diff cover - but taken as a whole that $2 million combined with capable leadership (which already exists) would make the wheeling crowd a force to reckon with. The main problem I see with a political strategy (besides apathy) is that here in NE the states are small and it would be expensive to set up the machinery in all of them. In my state the RIOHVA was actually gaining traction a few years ago but then it apparently fell apart because of in-fighting.

I myself just re-joined the regional wheeling community after quite a few years pursuing other interests. From what I have been able to divine so far there is no significant political activity. The strategy appears to be partnering with private land owners instead. Can't really fault that strategy since otherwise we would have nothing but I have my doubts if this approach is scalable as (if) the sport grows.
 
#32 ·
In Ma we deal with the DCR. The Gov appoints a person to head the DCR
and It's a greenie everytime.Just when you get a guy to talk to he leaves
or gets moved somewhere else. Forget the 1,000 rule on trails. we need to get the state of MA to see us as OHV's and give us those old roads to drive on and not convert them to trails.
 
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