Feature > Events/Trail Rides
Wheelin Private Land
Have Your Favorite Off-Road Areas Been Closed?
by Allen Merritt
Spectators love to watch competition events ar Byrd’s Adventure Centre.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Arkansas had many good 4WD trails. The old farm-to-market and logging roads in the Ozark National Forest in the northwest part of the state and huge tracks of private property in the Ouachita Mountains of southwest Arkansas were open to recreational wheeling. Unfortunately, the Forest Service closed many of the challenging trails in the Ozarks, and the timber and mining companies closed most of the Ouachita trails. As a result, all around America, more off-road enthusiasts are wheeling on fewer public trails.
Find Incentives for Property Owners To Profit from Your Off-Roading Owners
In northern Arkansas, the Rock Crawlers 4x4 Club diligently worked to keep National Forest trails open, but the Forest Service continued to close the club’s favorite trails. Loss of these public trails, however, led to a profitable partnership between off-roaders and private-property owners.
Byrd’s Adventure Center (private property nestled beside the Mulberry River and surrounded by the Ozark National Forest) is the traditional base-camp for the Rock Crawler Club’s events. The camp caters to river-runners, rock-climbers, mountain bikers, dirt bikers, ATV enthusiasts, and four-wheelers. Roctoberfest is the Adventure Center’s biggest and most profitable event. Naturally, the center didn’t want to lose off-roader business for lack of challenging trails. Ma Byrd, Adventure Center owner, asked the Rock Crawlers to develop obstacle courses and trails on the center’s spacious property — and so business remained.
The Rock Crawlers built challenging courses including a huge rock garden, hill climbs, mud pits, and forest mazes. Each year, the 4x4 club expands the courses. Now many OHV organizations, plus national 4x4 competitions, like Ramsey’s National Off-Road Challenge and Sports in the Rough, use the Adventure Center year ‘round for competition events. The club has a top-notch obstacle course that brings in hundreds of off-road enthusiasts and even more spectators. The Adventure Center now has so much business that owners had to open additional hay fields for overflow parking. The events outgrew the center’s restrooms and showers, so the club provided labor to build larger facilities. The partnership offers great off-roading and additional income opportunities for the property owners.
In southern Arkansas, off-road adventurers have been wheeling logging roads, gas- and power-line right-of-ways, and mining areas around Hot Springs since the late 1970s. Over the years, local 4WD clubs and larger groups, like the Jeepers Jamboree and Super Lift’s 4xAdventure, developed an unofficial trail system on non-posted private land. Unfortunately, in 1999, the major landowners closed access to the trails and put the property up for sale.
In 2001, a group of off-road enthusiasts purchased a large tract of the land and formed Superlift Off-Road-Vehicle (ORV) Park. The property includes many favorite 4x4 challenges and miles of logging roads. The new owners invested lots of time and money developing the fantastic 1,254-acre ORV Park. Now wheelers and OHV clubs buy weekend or annual passes for off-road adventures. Competition organizers rent the park for events. Soon, the property will be paid for, and investors will realize a return on their investment.
Off-Roading for Fun and Profit
Off-Road Adventures in Kansas City 4WD Association leased private land and developed the Kansas Rocks Park.
For over 27 years, the Phoenix 4 Wheelers rented a ranch and developed camping facilities for its P4W Ranch Roundups. Until the land sold, the ranch offered terrific recreational off-roading for the club and benefits for the owners. Now the club is wheeling on Bureau of Land Management land.
The Minnesota Go-4 Wheelers have co-hosted the Memorial Day Total Off-Road Rally for 36 years. It holds off-road races and trail rides at the Trollhaugen Ski Area in Dresser, Wisconsin, which provides trails and facilities for off-roaders. It’s good for off-roaders and profitable for the ski area, too.
For many years, hunters exchanged cash or labor with farmers near Pittsfield, Illinois, for opportunities to hunt on the bountiful land. Then members of the Two Rivers Jeep Club started helping farmers build or maintain trails to hunting stands. In exchange for labor, the 4x4 club has limited access to 16 properties for its Illinois 4x4 Safari events. This three-way exchange is a good deal for farmers, hunters, and off-road adventurers. In fact, it was so good that Debbie and Tom Wombles converted 700 acres of their farm into the outstanding Rockport Off-Road Park, which is open to dirtbikes, ATVs, and 4x4s Friday through Monday year ‘round.
Negotiate Win-Win Deals
SuperLift RV Park near Hot Springs, Arkansas features miles of mild to wild trails. Clubs and competition events use the park almost every week.
The Heartland Off-Road Association negotiated a deal with the owners of the Cat House Recreation Area, a 1,500-acre country club. The club includes an 18-hole golf course with clubhouse, several lakes, shooting ranges, hunting, fishing, a convenience store, and miles of mild-to-wild OHV trails. Off-roaders buy memberships for the privilege of using the country club’s facilities. Off-roading members can wheel anytime, and the 4WD club can host its Kansas Krunch off-road events for a per-visitor fee. The country club gains a much larger membership and financial base.
The Kansas City 4WD Association needed a place to wheel locally, so it arranged a long-term lease with a landowner at Fort Scott for its Kansas Rocks Park. The association leased the property with grant money from the Kansas Recreational Trails Program, a funding program administered by the Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks, initiated by the Federal Highway Department from gas taxes. The grant provided an 80-percent reimbursed funding while the association contributed the other 20 percent through donated capital, materials, and labor. The Kansas Rock Park consists of 240 acres with approximately 45 trails and obstacles, and the association plans to purchase an additional 640 acres of surrounding land.
These win-win alliances between recreational land users and landowners are but a few of many partnerships. Even more places exist where outdoor enthusiasts barter money or labor for the privilege of enjoying their sport on private land. In fact, we’re looking forward to off-roading this fall on the Longhorn Ranch in Terlingua, Texas, at the Sports in the Rough event near the Rio Grande.
If public trails or private off-road parks aren’t available near you, search out opportunities to develop a profitable relationship with a nearby landowner. Be good capitalists, negotiate a deal — and everyone wins.
Contacts:
Heartland Off-Road Association
Kansas Rocks Recreation Park
Rockport Off-Road Park
www.rorp.com; 217-437-5337
Two Rivers Jeep Club
www.trjc.com; 630-717-5337
Phoenix 4 Wheelers
Minnesota Go-4-Wheelers
Superlift ORV Park
www.orvpark.com; 501-625-3600
Rock Crawlers 4WD Club
Sports in the Rough
Byrd’s Adventure Center
www.byrdsadventurecenter.com; 479-667-4066
See Kansas Krunch article at
www.memorial4x4.org/spectators/index.php