Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 19, 1995 TAG: 9506200008
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: 6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
``A lot of serious riders are willing to travel long distances now for good trails, because good trails are hard to find,'' said Worsley, a 47-year-old plant manager who lives in Greensboro and is the founder and president of the North Carolina Trail Riders.
The Patterson Mountain Off-Road Vehicle Trail, tucked in the mountains of the George Washington and Jefferson national forests near Eagle Rock, is going into its second season with a new loop. It isn't just a riding spot for Worsley and his group. It is theirs to take care of: to trim vegetation, to police litter, to construct water bars.
``One of the reasons that we were allowed to develop this trail system, we indicated when we were doing our environmental assessments that we would develop a partnership and keep it clean and keep the tracks right. That is where these fellows - thank God - have come in for us,'' said Dale Huff, assistant forest ranger.
The trail-bike club has adopted the trail much the same way hiking clubs adopt sections of the Appalachian Trail, Huff said.
While a new brochure being prepared by the forest service describes the Patterson Mountain trail as ``an exciting trail for all-terrain vehicles and dirt bike enthusiasts,'' Worsley calls it a ``bunny slope,'' which is the description used to designate the beginners' hill at a ski resort.
``It is a good ATV trail,'' he said. ``Most of my guys are motorcycle riders. This trail is pretty small for them. It is very open, very fast. It is not a case of, `Can I ride this?' It is a case of, `How fast can I go without killing myself?'''
ATVs are those four-wheel jobs you sit astride and zoom across the countryside on balloon tires. Trail bikes are off-road motorcycles, with lots of clearance and knobby tires.
The major attraction of the Patterson Mountain trail to bike riders is its potential, Worsley said.
``We are looking at this long-range,'' he said. ``If it is always going to be a small, ATV trail system, it really wouldn't be much interest to us. But we are hoping if we can stabilize it that we can put in some single track, too.''
What bikers want, instead of a two-way traffic ATV trail, is a single-track, 18-inch pathway cut along the side of a ridge where the challenges are tight and technical.
There is nothing on the drawing board to expand the Patterson Mountain trail into that kind of facility, Huff said.
``But that is one of the benefits of having volunteers,'' he said. ``If they come up with an idea, something they would like to implement, then the forest service, being a public servant, must respond to those requests.''
The origin of the trail dates to the 1980s, when the public was asked for input on the Jefferson National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (the George Washington and Jefferson national forests recently were merged, with the headquarters in the Roanoke Valley). The plan attracted a surprising number of requests for trail bike and ATV riding opportunities.
The New Castle District spent a year evaluating three potential trail sites, settling on the remote northeastern end of the 13,000-acre Patterson Creek area. The region is composed of a long, narrow valley that rises sharply to mountain ridges, with tranquil Craig Creek meandering along the northern and eastern borders.
The trail concept brought harsh criticism, some of it from environmentalists who felt ATVs and trail bikes aren't compatible with national forest objectives, which include wildlife habitat and hiking.
Other opponents weren't opposed to ATVs and motor bikes specifically. They just didn't want them in their favorite hunting spot, which happened to be Patterson Creek. It is an area where turkeys gobble from the ridges in the springtime and deer travel down the draws in the fall to feed in wildlife clearings.
For hunters, the forest service worked out a compromise, which closes the trail during spring and fall hunting seasons.
``We are having very little negative input from anybody,'' Huff said. ``The folks who complained the most, actually, where the hunters. They were afraid that this nice place they have been hunting all these years was going to be inhibited by a bunch of noisy machines.''
During the planning stages of the trail, an ATV club from the Roanoke Valley promised to be the caretaker of the facility, but the club dissolved. For forest officials, the arrival of the North Carolina riders has been a godsend, because the agency lacks the resources to keep the trail open without assistance from volunteers.
When the Patterson Mountain trail reopened last week for its second season, it included an extra loop Huff believes will make the facility more attractive to riders.
``We are expecting a lot more use on this new tract, because it is longer and a lot more complicated, and it has twists and turns and bumps, all of those kinds of things that the ATV riders like,'' Huff said.
The George Washington and Jefferson national forests now have five off-road vehicle trails. A year before the Patterson Mountain trail opened, an ATV complex was completed on the Pedlar Ranger District of the George Washington National Forest. It is a 27-mile loop south of Buena Vista.
Another trail is about 12 miles west of Harrisonburg on U.S. 33, and two additional trails are near Edinburg.
Some national forests appear to be more intent on closing off-road-vehicle trails than opening new ones or expanding existing ones, Worsley said.
``The thing we are most excited about right now is a movement in southern West Virginia called the Hatfield and McCoy System,'' he said.
There is serious talk by timber and coal companies of building a 600- to 800-mile commercial trail system on corporate land.
``If they do that, I will be up there every weekend,'' Worsley said.
The Patterson Mountain trail can be reached by traveling north on U.S. 220 from the Roanoke Valley and turning left onto Virginia 615 just past Eagle Rock, going 1 1/2 miles, then left onto Virginia 685. Cross Craig Creek and bear left at a fork onto Virginia 818. Go four miles and turn left onto Forest Service 5020.
The South Pedlar trail can be reached by traveling south from Buena Vista on U.S. 501 to the intersection of Virginia 130 at Snowden power plant on the James River. Just past the plant, go left on Forest Service 564.
by CNB