Private land...just wanted to say that up front :(

OK, here is the deal as I have it second hand:

This weekend there was a group from Dallas FWD-FWD running the "K" trail on the WMA land south-east of town.

They ran into the game warden who was extremely nice, but offered some information on trail closings.

All access through Hurd Creek trail (charcoal plant) has been closed until further notice.

Seems there was a group that mouthed off to the land owners who have let us use this land for years and they pulled the plug.

FWD-FWD has a ton of clout and they have been notified to try to come to an agreement with these land owners.

The trails effected are:

Upper Powerline
3 Stage
Rock Creek
Lost Creek
St Valentine
Hurd Creek
Timberline
Purple Headed Monster

PLEASE! Until this issue has been resolved, STAY OFF THESE AREAS!

This can and will be resolved I am sure. Clayton gets a TON of revenue each year from the 4x4 community and will work with us to make this issue go away.

Please pass this to your club members that use the Clayton area.

I will keep you informed of any developments as I hear them.

DAMN!

:mad3: :mad3: :mad3: :mad3:

Thats almost all of the good trails.

does anyone know who the loadmouth is? :nuke:

Why do people do shit like this, it makes no sence. You are letting me wheel on your land and I bitch about it. WTF were they thinking.

gawddammit! Thanks for the news (well, maybe not).:mad:

Is the adjoining permit land affected? What is the best way to get to the open trails without going in at the Charcoal plant?

This sucks! We have a big run planned for this weekend.

What about the trails that come off of Wildwood? Access to any of those effected? Damn I'd like to know who had to spout off and say something... It was always wierd hearing all the land closure issues out in California and stuff... and thinking... man its nice not to worry about that... and of course....

Anything I can do to help, we've got about 30 wheelers in our club if it would help any! Lemme know!

Matt "Taz" Green

Does anyone have a map of clayton showing where the public and private lands cross? That might show which trails we can go on and which ones for the time being to stay off of? If someone can get me a good map I will edit it and host it on one of my webservers.

To my knowledge, the ones that come off of WildWood are not WMA areas. This still leaves the Powerlines, Jim and Juanitas (sp?), Snake Pit, Rock Creek and a couple others I'm sure.

The best bet may be to run out in Yanush for now.

Not good news.

this frigging sucks. i have had this weekend planned for a while now. damn. damn.

Most of Rock Creek, the best parts anyway are on the private land, At least that is what I have always been told, so it is closed as well.

FAWK:mad3: :mad: there goes my fun, I guess I should sell my fawking Heep afterall this is TX! oh well I guess Ill just go to Disney and crawl, but its a lot hell of a longer drive, For the love of God please some one open Clayton back up ASAP.:skull:

If you enter on Wildwood out by the State Park "this is called K trail"

K trail runs a ridge and ends up in the WMA (permit land) about 5 miles from the blacktop (hwy 43) and goes for 100 miles or so into Arkansas.

All the trails off the south side of K trail are still OK, just don't go North off this trail for now.

appreciate the info wngrog, there is also a private area about 10 miles away I am told that is a pay per vehicle area with some good trails.

i was gonna run 3 stage friday afternoon!!!:(

Originally posted by Hayraker
appreciate the info wngrog, there is also a private area about 10 miles away I am told that is a pay per vehicle area with some good trails.

yeah, it is up on Mr Freilings land north east of Yanush.

Hit my Cruiser website in my signature and check out pictures from there in January.

Fun place for sure.

So does anyone have a digital copy of a map of clayton, or maybe a Mapsourse or MS Map copy of the area? I am heading down this weekend and want to build something that I can use and post to the net for others to use. So we know where to ride and where not to till this blows over.

FWD-FWD is going to jump on this tomorrow night at a special meeting. As Nolen as stated, please stay off the land for now.


As for maps, I have some, but not in a format I can send you. You can enter off of Wildwood and run trails there, but stay off of Rock Creek, as it will dump you right in the middle of the property.

Seems Jess Johnson, the horse guy, is back to stirring up sheet. From the information that I gathered, it's a $200 fine and they are going to enforce this for the forseeable future.

Please, if you come across a Game Warden, be nice. They are only doing their jobs.

Doug
FWD-FWD Event Chairman

yeah and everybody stay away from jess johnsons campground. if he is pitching such a big fit then lets not help line his pockets.:D

Originally posted by high5
yeah and everybody stay away from jess johnsons campground. if he is pitching such a big fit then lets not help line his pockets.:D

Amen to that, Jess is about one thing, the all mighty dollar.

help a newbie out, which trails from k trail besides j&j and that gatekeeper part of powerline? havent ran many trails in clayton.

if you need some help from an oklahoma club feel free to contact the oklahoma trailchasers. we have a website with all sorts of contacts. we will help in anyway possible!!!

Originally posted by basser
help a newbie out, which trails from k trail besides j&j and that gatekeeper part of powerline? havent ran many trails in clayton.

That's about it....all 4-5 trails:

Upper Powerline to the Snake Pit

Jim and Juanita's

If you want a mild run, stay on K trail until you hit blacktop, it will take about 6 hours then hook a left and it will carry you back to 271.

Don't forget to get a WMA pass at the store in town if you take K trail past where Lost Creek comes out.

thanks for info, we will be there this weekend, can anyone go the the frieling place? how to from state park? will someone be at the gate or just sign in, pay, and go?

And Please remember, that this affects only a a small portion of the trails in the Clayton area.

FWD has leased some land north of town that is open to other clubs to run, you do have to pay the owner of the land a usage fee.

There are the trails in Yanush.

There are all the trails south of Wildwood.

There are the trails out on the WMA, like Busline and Surveyline.

And you have all the property (like 250,000 acres) of land on the WMA. This does require a permit, but it is good for a year.

Clayton trails are by no means closed, just a portion of them. It is still the best wheeling spot east of New Mexico. and west of Tellico.

Originally posted by Cowtowner

Clayton trails are by no means closed, just a portion of them. It is still the best wheeling spot east of New Mexico. and west of Tellico.

Shit, beyond Tellico.....Tellico pales in comparison to Clayton.

I have never been to Paragon, so that is the only place I can't speak for to say that Clayton has the best trails east of New Mexico :D

Is there a good website for this place?

Originally posted by Cowtowner
And Please remember, that this affects only a a small portion of the trails in the Clayton area.

And you have all the property (like 250,000 acres) of land on the WMA. This does require a permit, but it is good for a year.

Clayton trails are by no means closed, just a portion of them. It is still the best wheeling spot east of New Mexico. and west of Tellico.

I was there this weekend with the Game warden. Really nice guy who didn't want to write tickets but when the landowner is standing there saying trespassing he's got no choice.

Cowtown is right about there being a ton of places left to wheel. Go explore the survey/seismic trails on the ridges to the south of K trail and when you find some good 4-5's post the GPS lat/longs. The only place off limits in the WMA is new growth areas and they are signed and bermed to prevent access.
We ran K trail from 271 to the Indian Highway. Took about 5-6hrs. From there you can keep going east to Arkansas if you like, all on dirt. South of K is a whole rats nest of trails on the map. You could stay legal, wheel the whole weekend and never get on the same trail. There has to be other hardstuff out there, we just have to find it.

For now, stay away from the area North of K trail until FWD has a chance to find a solution.

BTW, For you Okies there is a map of the Honobia WMA (the one near Clayton) and an atlas of all the OK WMA's that is available only in Oklahoma. Also, most of the trails are also on the "Gazetteer" type of topo atlas' and in the Magellan GPS map software. For every trail on the map there is 2 more that aren't.

Good luck, I hope everything works out. It sucks to loose areas to wheel, even if there is more around.

Please some one work out a deal with this Jess guy if possible, My friends and I love 3 stage and Rockcreek as much as every one else does. If and when you guys from cowtown find out let us know so I can plan a trip to Clayton.:skull: Thanks

Originally posted by Jeepmangled87
Please some one work out a deal with this Jess guy if possible, My friends and I love 3 stage and Rockcreek as much as every one else does. If and when you guys from cowtown find out let us know so I can plan a trip to Clayton.:skull: Thanks

I don't want to sound like a dick, but if you guys like to wheel there so much, why don't you get involved yourselves and find out how you can help....instead of waiting for everyone else to do it for you...


:usa:

Originally posted by Yellowsub1962


I don't want to sound like a dick, but if you guys like to wheel there so much, why don't you get involved yourselves and find out how you can help....instead of waiting for everyone else to do it for you...


:usa:

Some of us are
__________________________________________________ __

I called one of the two game wardens today and he directed me to the biologist who is over the Honubbi(sp). The area around the charcoal plant is owned by Georgia Pacific, but according to the biologist they have made no complaints. Now the game warden that told me to call the biologist said that the Georgia Pacific land had been used Illegaly for several years and it has never been open.

The biologist said he would find out what the real scoop was and call me back in a couple of days. He said he would contact both of the game wardens and the land owners(Georgia Pacific & Jess Johnson) and let us know what the deal is.

Ronny

Jess doesn't own the land, he apparently has a lease for about 80 acres for livestock purposes. He has caused problems in the past, so we will be trying to work something out again.

And Yellowsub, we would rather approach this from the club perspective, as we can speak with one voice, rather than having a bunch of people call up there with 40 different versions of what's going on. That way we can all speak with one voice, and hopefully work something out.

Guys, I know a lot of you are working on this...This was not directed at you.... I agree that "one voice is best", but if everyone does some homework and research, this info can then be relayed to the "chiefs" and they can present it to the proper authorities in a unified manner...

both of the posts I read of jeepmangled87's were telling others to fix the problem so he and his friends could go and play. If I misread the tone of his posts, then I apoligize. The way I read it was that he was whining for someone to do something, but did not offer to help or even show an interest in helping - he just wanted to wheel there without doing any of the "dirtywork"...

Again, If I misread this I apoligize...

and let me know if there's anything I can do on this end :)


:usa:

Daniel,

We would like that lady's name and phone number. I am the Treasurer of FWD-FWD and am working with the other officers and Doug (Cowtowner on this forum) to help resolve this issue. Please email her name and number to the President of FWD - Paul Beidelman at mudpie@airmail.net . Please also keep the number confidential for now so we can not bombard her with too many well intentioned calls and irritate her. We need to have as many allies as possible.

Thanks a million!

Ed Westerbeck