Coal Creek OHV Area input

I guess he got scared off.... maybe he will take a few of the suggestions anyway...

I haven't been scared off. I have just been busy lately. Technically, I don't start work until Sept. 1. Currently, I am just a contractor and am trying to help out where it can. As an OHV user (and as an employee), I want people that come here to enjoy their experience.

There have been very useful suggestions made so far. What I see more than others is better signage and a per vehicle fee. Signage is definitely something I can do. The per vehicle thing has always been a concern of mine. No promises, but I have a couple of ideas that on that such as a family rate or kids cheap (or free). No promises, but I will work on it in the future.

Thanks again for the suggestions. Your comments are not falling on deaf ears.

Coal_Creek_OHV_ Area wrote:

I haven't been scared off. I have just been busy lately. Technically, I don't start work until Sept. 1. Currently, I am just a contractor and am trying to help out where it can. As an OHV user (and as an employee), I want people that come here to enjoy their experience.

There have been very useful suggestions made so far. What I see more than others is better signage and a per vehicle fee. Signage is definitely something I can do. The per vehicle thing has always been a concern of mine. No promises, but I have a couple of ideas that on that such as a family rate or kids cheap (or free). No promises, but I will work on it in the future.

Thanks again for the suggestions. Your comments are not falling on deaf ears.

Thanks for responding. Your comments seem positive, and that;'a a good thing. Keep up the good work!!!!!

ridepate wrote:

Coal_Creek_OHV_ Area wrote:

I haven't been scared off. I have just been busy lately. Technically, I don't start work until Sept. 1. Currently, I am just a contractor and am trying to help out where it can. As an OHV user (and as an employee), I want people that come here to enjoy their experience.

There have been very useful suggestions made so far. What I see more than others is better signage and a per vehicle fee. Signage is definitely something I can do. The per vehicle thing has always been a concern of mine. No promises, but I have a couple of ideas that on that such as a family rate or kids cheap (or free). No promises, but I will work on it in the future.

Thanks again for the suggestions. Your comments are not falling on deaf ears.

Thanks for responding. Your comments seem positive, and that;'a a good thing. Keep up the good work!!!!!

Here is my grief about WR.... Yearly pass--$88.00
Daily pass---$17.00

$88/365 days $0.24 per day to ride!!!!

I was coming up this summer for the week to ride 4-days. It was going to cost me $275.00 for 4days to ride with my family. I was going to stay in the WR campground for the whole week too at $ 275.

I went to Royal Blue and rode for $67 for the whole week and stay at RideRoyalBlue campground. I saved $208 for the week and had just as much to ride maybe more!!!

WR lost my business not for the trails or campground but for the GREED!!!!

Let me address some details on signage, to hopefully be a help:

1. On the trails themselves, when a trail intersects another -- put signs clearly visible pointing down ALL trails in ALL directions.

2. When a trail intersects a gravel or paved road, put signs up that identify the Trail number AND the road number. When you're coming down the trail, you don't necessarily know what road you're crossing. This is especially important if you must travel down that road a distance to drop off on the other end of the trail...

3. Put the signs on EACH SIDE of the road, as described in #2 above.

4. If the trail doglegs or otherwise goes down the road instead of going directly or diagonally across it, put up an additional sign that points you toward that connection. Think of how signs point you back toward the Interstate, once you've come off an exit...

5. Out on the roads, put up signs at fairly regular intervals that identify what road # you're on, kind of like highway signs do. In fact, mileposts on the roads would be a great way to mark, describe and communicate locations to everyone.

6. Also, on the roads, put up signs at regular intervals that point toward landmarks or destinations -- such as toward the snack bar or the intersecting highway (forgot the Hwy number).... this is especially important when one road intersects another.

7. Put signs on the roads where one road intersects another -- they're even more poorly marked than the trails...

Some of these details seem redundant -- but they are important when either a sign has been torn down/stolen, or if I missed seeing a sign for some reason... and that is easily done, as you're watching for rocks, ruts, etc.

Hope this helps!

KentT,
Thanks for the comments about signage. I have traveled a lot to ride. I have been as far north and as far west as the Rubicon Trail in California (and and few places in between) and I agree that signage is key. It's one thing to know the trails, but it is another if you don't know them and you are relying on a map. This is one of my highest priorities for the area over the next couple of months. We have a full-time trail crew and their may concern is water quality. It will take a little bit of time, but improving signage is very high on the list of improvements.

Thanks again!

So it's silt fencing and then Signs. Have you been getting some heat over the erosion run off?

just digg a hole... and the silt and sand and wattever, will be caught.

wastn trout unlimited involved in trying to shut down tellico ? sorry havent been keeping up on the thread

i ride coal creek all the time it is probably the most fun riding place i have been to ,but you do need to try and come up with a way to mark the north side without people tearing it down,i know my way around up there without a map but for some 1st time riders it might be helpful .but i still pick windrock as the best place to ride

oh coal creek ohv area,do you know who Lewis Thompson is?he is in charge of a lot of the rock crawls he is a short fella and he drives a green rhino 700 around,and we parked his camper in the trail maintenance building at the spring jam

No water quality problems that I know of and that's the way I want to keep it. I would rather stay ahead of instead of trying to fix problems.

Smith700, I do know Lewis. We used to ride some with Jeeps. I haven't seen him in a while, but we have a mutual friend that I talk to some.

Everyone, have a great weekend.

yeah i assume you know that he and another fella are in charge of the coal mining in silvey gap on g2

flcj7 wrote:

Here is my grief about WR.... Yearly pass--$88.00
Daily pass---$17.00

$88/365 days $0.24 per day to ride!!!!

I was coming up this summer for the week to ride 4-days. It was going to cost me $275.00 for 4days to ride with my family. I was going to stay in the WR campground for the whole week too at $ 275.

I went to Royal Blue and rode for $67 for the whole week and stay at RideRoyalBlue campground. I saved $208 for the week and had just as much to ride maybe more!!!

WR lost my business not for the trails or campground but for the GREED!!!!

Have you ever thought about what the true difference between Blue Blue and all of the other areas around like Coal Creek, Brimstone, Wheelin in the County, Golden Mtn OHV Park, and other privately owned parks? Blue Blue is STATE owned property. That means NO property taxes, their crews that buy rock, and maintain everything are all STATE paid, and run STATE owne equipemtn. I don't even want to get into cost of insurance. So be slow when you start throwing words around like "greed."

RideRoyalBlue Campground is a private facillity I can't speak for their prices and services. I'm sure they run a top notch business.

flcj7 wrote:

I went to Royal Blue and rode for $67 for the whole week and stay at RideRoyalBlue campground. I saved $208 for the week and had just as much to ride maybe more!!!

WR lost my business not for the trails or campground but for the GREED!!!!

Please tell us how you did this! Royal Blue requires Non Tn. state residents to pay a use fee to ride of 31.25 per day, your location states you live in Fla. So i dont buy the baloney you rode a whole week for 67.00. I would like to ride royal blue but refuse to pay the rip off state fee because i dont live in TN. Windrock has fair fees compared with other like places, and a year pass is a great deal if you go more than two weekends a year, only thing i would like to see is a per vehicle rather than a per person fee be used.

I THINK $17 IS A GOOD NUMBER AT COAL CREEK... ITS ALMOST HALF OF WATT WE PAY AT THE PAY PARKS HERE IN GA.... BROADRIVER, DURHAMTOWM,...ETC.... I CAN SEE WHERE PAYIN THE 33 OR THE NEXT THREE DAY RATE(??) CAN BE A HASSLE WHERE A WHOLE FAMILY HAS TO PAY... BUT A FAMILY RATE PER DAY... OR PER WEEKEND... OR PER WEEK WOULD BE NICE... OR EVEN A FREE PASS IF YOU STAY AT THE
ONE OF THE CAMPGROUNDS..... ... BUT ITS HARD TO MAKE EVERYONE HAPPY..... I THINK THE SIGNAGE IS THE BIGGEST REQUEST AT THE MOMENT.... THANKS FOR GIVIN US WHAT YOU CAN,.... AND ALL YOU DO... WE, AS A WHOLE, REALLY APPRECIATE THIS AREA TO RIDE... ITS JUSY NICE TO HERE.....

Coal_Creek_OHV_ Area wrote:

I have recently taken over the management of the Coal Creek OHV Area. By trade, I am a forester, but more importantly I am an avid OHV user. I grew up riding dirt bikes and 4-wheeing in Jeeps. I then later starting riding ATVs for fun and then using them for work. I have yet to own a UTV, but it is next.

I know many of you have ridden at the Coal Creek OHV Area (also known as Windrock). I am looking for ways to improve the area and its events. Over the next year, I plan to design, layout, and construct some new trails, obstacle areas, etc.

I would love some feedback from you guys on ways you think the area can be improved and what you'd like to see.

One thing I would like to do next year, is to have a UTV or Side X Side only event. Any thoughts?

one more thing to the list.

the trash pick up is the worst.i can t see not emptying the cans none on a holiday or big event.i got there thurs day of this past week end.my can was empty.is was never touched at all.this morning when i left mine and many others were overflowing...bad.the same thing happened last event.and it was everybodies,not just mine.the system doesnt seem to change during real busy times

but as always we had a real good time.and will be back in october ......november....
sorry we missed u .we ll catch u some other time.if u need anything.feel free to call.

When I was down there on Saturday night, I checked the bathhouses to make sure they were still clean. I was very pleasantly surprised.

I didn't go around and look at people'd trash cans. I will make sure people do that on holiday or event weekends. Thanks for the feed back.

Brent

have you talked to lewis ,who i assume you know is running the coal operation in silvey gap on g2

I doubt that there is anyone more glad than me to see the trail patrol gone! That was a serious problem just waiting to happen. What little good they did was well over shadowed by some of their over use of “power”. The club did a good job putting on the events but I am sure Coal Creek can do even better if they try. Coal Creek keeps up the trails better than the club did, but the club did a better job of responding to emergencies such as a tree down blocking a trail. (Personally I like the trails just before they get “fixed” but I understand that most people don’t. So please leave a few difficult places for us. (I don’t see you running a bull dozer up Rattle Rock to make it so every one can get up it. By the way, my jeep won’t go up it.) Fred and ET do a fine job, can't say enough good things about them. They have their hands full keeping the parking lot in some orderly manner although I do see them on the mountain also. Vicky and Howard do a really good job also!

I do like to see someone checking permits at the trail head on the weekends. I gladly buy my yearly pass every December and I think that every one that rides Windrock should help pay to keep this great place we have open. You are missing a lot of money by not cashing in on all the single track motorcycle trails that are on the north side of 116. You wouldn’t believe the number of bikes riding these unmarked trails that Coal Creek let the Knoxville Trail Riders build for the races they put on several years ago. A large portion of these guys don’t buy permits! All these trails should be marked and put on the map and start advertising them to the dirt bike community. Right now, the only way to find them is to ride with some that knows them.

Starting Labor Day and ending in May, I ride Windrock every weekend regardless of the weather. I may be on a dirt bike a 4 wheeler or if the weather is really bad and I can't get anyone to ride, in my jeep. I volunteered and help do a guided ride the last time Coal Creek put on the events and didn’t accept any money. I plan to do the same this year. I for one understand the need for the gravel roads, but I do wish they would just cross the trails and not turn them into roads.

I am glad to see someone that uses the place be in charge, it can only help that you can better understand some of the concerns first hand.

Badride,

Very well put. I think all the input Coal Creek can get will make it even better.

HEY BADRIDE... GOOD JOB.... LOOKING FORWARD TO
SEEIN YUNS NEXT WEEKEND..... TEAM BUBBA Rides.

Badride wrote:

I doubt that there is anyone more glad than me to see the trail patrol gone! That was a serious problem just waiting to happen. What little good they did was well over shadowed by some of their over use of “power”.

Good grief! Those guys and gals quit doing that over a year ago. Its time to stop crying over it and let it go. If he wants to know what kind of job they did he can look back on all of the compliments they received while they were out there.

Greatrigger wrote:

Badride wrote:

I doubt that there is anyone more glad than me to see the trail patrol gone! That was a serious problem just waiting to happen. What little good they did was well over shadowed by some of their over use of “power”.

Good grief! Those guys and gals quit doing that over a year ago. Its time to stop crying over it and let it go. If he wants to know what kind of job they did he can look back on all of the compliments they received while they were out there.

Who is crying? Not me, but there was a young girl that one of jumped on so hard she started crying. Good thing I wasn't there. I just want the guy to know that the trail patrol was a bad mistake and should never be brought back.