Planning a riding vacation

We're planning a family vacation. We'll take my old rancher 4x4 and the rhino. We’ll either tent camp or rent a cabin. We want to be able to ride from the campground to the park on the atv/utvs.

I have two girls, 10 and 12. They have been riding for several years. They do pretty good but they have never totally grasped the “feel” of the bikes (like where power bands are, which gear is best in a given situation, understanding shifting your weight, etc). The wife is in the same boat as the kids when it comes to driving atvs. They do good, just sometimes they could do better. So, we’ll stick with the easy and moderate trails

My initial plans are to go to windrock and stay at either windrock park campground (owned by coal creek?) or windrock campground (two miles from the trail head).

Anyway, a couple of questions:

How safe are these parks for a family vacation (I mean is it good people that are usually found riding in the parks)?

Is it okay to have a cooler with beer in it in the riding areas as long as you behave with it?

How rough are the moderate trails?

Are there any other good riding areas in North Georgia, Alabama or TN that I haven’t found and you would recommend?

What’s the weather like in mid march in the windrock or brimstone areas?

Which park do you suggest?

Is is ok to ride double on the 4 wheelers?

Other suggestions, advice, recommendations?

Thanks,
Rodney

My suggestion........don't go to Windrock. I would go to Brimstone or Hatfield McCoy. Windrock is alot of rocky terrain, which can lead to some technical expertise coming into play. H/M has many diverse trails. You could always come meet us in March in WV at Wagon Wheel.

Windrock is good but for what you want you would do better in a atv park, there are several, highland park is in west ga, Broadriver is near athens ga, also durhamtown. These all have camping and cabin rentals on site. If i was going to take the family to winrock i would do it when they have their spring jam, they have guided rides for all skill levels, the new coal creek campground is much nicer than the old windrock campground and its closer to the trails. Also Indian creek campground is good and you can ride to the trails. All these have websites you can check out and decide.

you can camp at houston valley over towards dalton (ga)also. this is a purty good park.

Bigg Bubba wrote:

you can camp at houston valley over towards dalton (ga)also. this is a purty good park.

but you cant ride the rhino there and it along with most ga. owned areas close jan.1- march 31st too.

One of the reasons I liked the windrock area is that it put us within a reasonable distance of pigeon forge/gatlinburg - in case we wanted to go spend a day there.

We do want a mostly relaxing ride - more of an exploration sort of thing. Don't misunderstand me, my kids aren't bad drivers, they mostly lack experience in challenging terrain and I don't allow them on steep hills, etc anyway. They ride several times per week or more but it's on our prop, which is mostly rolling hills (pasture). Heck, daddy don't crave the more adventurous places like he used to.

What about the double riding (the rules on one of the GA atv parks prohibited it) - and the beer situation (some folks get bent out of shape over a beer or two)?


When in March are ya'll going to wagon wheel? My kids spring break is March 16-20 (14-22 if you add the weekends).

Thanks for the responses so far.

Beer is never allowed on any riding area ive been too, but most people still do it, long as its on the trail or in camp nobody will hassle you. Windrock has no rules against riding double although they do require you buy permits for every person on their property at 17.00 a day.

Thanks gunrunner/gunny. I don't want anyone to get the idea that I'm a drunk or anything. In fact I don't drink very often. It's just that some places make the rules for liability purposes - some for ideology - alot of difference between enforcement with the two. There's a river camp /atv riding area we go to occasionally as guests (we're going to join). They have the NO alcohol rule - but what it really means is act like an adult with it or get thrown out.

I do appreciate this forum and the recommendations that I'm getting.

Thanks,
Rodney

I would say consider evats, the trails there are a bit easier. If you go to windrock stay at the new campground. The bath house is newer and cleaner. Windrock may be ok because there is a lot of gravel road riding.

Check out Burning Rock. New campground at the trailhead. They are building cabins right now. 8000 acres to play on from mild to wild.

I found burning rock thru google - looks nice - thanks.

What is evats? I cant find anything on that.

The cabins at the new windrock campground appear to have an amenity or two.

Re: Indian Creek Campground. Their website is giving me problems. To get to any of their details, you have to join their forum site. I did that. But then when I clicked on the general info forum (where rates etc are), it said moderators only - wouldn't let me post in the general b.s. forum either - and yes I followed the email link they sent me to set up my membership - oh well . . .

Rodney, it is Evarts, Kentucky. It is in Harlan County. The great thing about the place is the locals are nice as can be, and they will give you free guided tours. You cannot beat it. Trails vary in difficulty from easy to extreme. Also, there are a wealth of rentals right there by the trailhead.

Thanks LT. Found some stuff on evarts now - still looking.

You guys are in riding meca. :D

www.atvresort.com From the campground you can ride the Hatfield McCoy trail Indian Ridge and all of the FREE Wagon Wheel trails.You can also ride your machine to the Pineville Pinnacle Creek H/M trails from this campground.

www.trailsheaven.com

Very tentative but better than it was at the beginning of this thread - - the wife and I were talking about this: Drive to WV stay at ashland resort for two or three days, drive over to Evarts for one or two days and then down to Windrock for a three or four days. We'll be gone maybe 7-10 days or so. We'll probably do this in late may/early june. While staying at Windrock, we can leave the atv & utv and go to pigeon forge/gatlinburg on 1 or two days (returning to the campground at night).

Is there any touristy stuff within a reasonable drive of the ashland resort/oliver springs, wv and/or evarts, ky? I don't want the kids/wife to get burned out of riding/camping - I'd like to break it up the way we can at windrock.

Is it reasonable safe to leave your trailer & rides at ashland and the campground by the trailhead at windrock? I can chain them together.

We really appreciate the advice so far.

Rodney

We rode Evarts and had a great time. We drove from south florida and it was worth the drive.