OFFICIAL Upper Tellico "Virtual Rally" Thread

[FroggF350]

We talked to the locals that owned the store and businesses at the Tenn. side of telico, and they said that if the park was closed to offroaders, they couldnt survive. We are the biggest financial support for the locals. Please dont close Telico!

[we3jeepers]

I've always wanted to wheel tellico.....Its on my way to vist my parents.
the trip will happen as long as it is kept open. just dont know when
BTW nice pics everyone

[Big1TonSub]

As a resident of Northern California I frequent many trails here. I am a responsible wheeler, repairing trails, collecting trash and donating to efforts that I cannot personally attend. Allthough I have not been to Tellico it is something that I plan to do someday with my family. Please keep Tellico open for all to enjoy.

[Heywood_Jablomy]

I also made Tellico my first big wheeling trip :


And first big trail repair:


Memories that I will have forever. Hopefully one day years from now I'll be able to bring my kids to Tellico. It is a special place that all should be able to visit someday.

Full closures are never the best course of action. Access needs to be maintained for all forest users, not just the ones with the most money or best lawyers.

[GRMhick]

I cherish every trip I take to Tellico OHV. As a professional off road driver, Tellico provides a unique area to work with new and experienced off road drivers. I work hard with every person in my trail rides to teach them about proper offroad ethics in order to keep areas like Tellico Open. Surprisingly, most enthusiasts who visit the Tellico OHV already take time to practice offroad ethics. I have seen countless hours of volunteer work put into making sure the area stays open. In the last 2 years I have seen almost every trail worked on to prevent erosion issues. In fact I even see 4wd enthusiasts working with the fish estuaries making sure the fish are well taken care of. I would say it is safe to say there is no damage greater than a rain storm to the water ways flowing through the area due to their great contributions to the community.

For all those who have worked hard to make sure people like myself can make it back to Tellico for great events such as the Great Smoky Mountain Trail Ride; Thank you.

[4x4fiend]

As a wheeler from up north (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) I havent had the pleasure of 4wheeling Tellico. But We see the same closures up here, most likely due to pretty common reasons, mianly lack of education and enforcement.
Please try and find an alternate route to solving Tellico problems, so other trail systems can learn from you and follow suit.

Shutting down trails is NOT the answer, Education and Responsibility is.

Cheers,
Paul

[UZI 9mm]

Like many others here, I want to look forward to one day be able to make the journey to Tellico and enjoy the adventures of East Coast wheeling, in such a well talked about and obviously loved venue.

It would be an absolute shame to have yet another wonderful off-road recreation area removed from the ever dwindling list of places to visit!

[Kitty Cat]

I will NEVER forget my first time up in Tellico. Meeting Mr. Crawford for the first time, getting gushing rained on which made all our clothes wet, didn't bring any food to eat and going around people cooler to find food at night. But the main reason why we kept coming back to Tellico was because of the trails. Slick Rock had to be the first real trail or real rock crawling I went on. I though it was the coolest thing ever. We all had great times there, great memories and great rides. Please keep it open you are breaking people hearts closing the trails. If this was one of your favorites places to go and you found out it was closing how would you think? Closing Upper Tellico is like shutting down all the fast food joints. People will get upset.



j mo

[silversuper]

i can only hope to wheel tellico some day.

its considered the upper level of trails by many and shutting it down would be a huge blow to the off road community

Rich

[Waffle_Mayo]

I have not been to Tellico yet, due to living so far away in California. It looks like a fantastic place to wheel and is high on my list of trails to ride. However, I happen to be a poor college student at this time, and do not have the money to make the long journey out to Tellico. It will probably be many yeas until I am able to make it out there and I wish that it will not be closed when i am able to make that trip.

[BMFNTOY]

I have never been to Tellico but would love to make it out there in the near future.
I believe the land closures have gone to far already and to take this area away from the OHV community would be a crime. I believe in doing my part to keep areas open whether it be volunteering for official trail cleanups or just doing my part by packing out MORE than I pack in.

Please do not take this land away from us!

[bspencer]

I am president of Mountaineer Off Road Inc. Our club goes on annual rides to Tellico.Tellico is known for being one of the best places for hardcore wheeling on the east coast. Please do not shut any more of our PUBLIC LANDS down!...

[bus4rox]

Always figured I'd make the trek out to the famous 'Tellico' one day, sure hope it's not taken from us.

Paul

[KyYota]

While I've never visited Tellico, I have planned to do so since starting this hobby nearly 4 years ago.

OHV hobbbies/sports are growing at an amazing rate and unforetunately, the resources that we have available to us are shinking at an amazing rate. Obviously, this is a concern for all that participate in the sport as we find that it's becoming more difficult to enjoy the outdoors with our friends and family.

The Tellico area is an important resource for the public that enjoy this sport and I hope that a loss of use isn't in store for us. I usually travel with about 10 other guys and our familys for our summer vacations. This year, we had planned for Tellico. Please keep Tellico open and work with us to ensure that it will be available to the next generation of outdoor enthusiasts.

[Jamus2]

We need to keep places open for responsible wheeling. Trying to close legal places is not the answer. Those who want to do something for the environment could make better use of their time to stop illegal land use. I've never been to Tellico, but it's close enough that it isn't too far fetched to see me going in a few years. I hope it is still there for myself, and everyone else to enjoy.

[IslanderXJ]

I have never been to Tellico, but would like to be able to go there in the future. The US is losing to many trails, soon enough we wont have any place left to go.

Sincerely,
Jack Cook
Avalon, CA.

[bogof]

I have never been to Tellico, but I would love to make it there one day. OHV use is a great way to experience the outdoors with family and friends. If the Tellico trail system closes there will be so many future memories lost. If there is a problem with the streams I am sure that there are ways to fix them and keep the land open to OHVs. I am disabled from my time in the Army so hiking or mountain biking would be out of the question for me, and many others. Please don't take away my ability to see the outdoors, and enjoy the scenery.

[crafty]

I have noticed that some of the people posting on this thread have been registered with this site for a long time but with a very low post count. That alone shows the support for keeping Tellico open. I have not been an offroad wheeler for several years like some of these other members but, I do now that with the price of gas skyrocketing that I still take my rig out as often as possible. We need as many legal places as possible to enjoy. Many don't want to wheel illegally but do because we have no place left to go. Hopefully our voice is loud enough to save Tellico.

[EarlKann]

I'm an off road enthusiast from California. I have not been to Tellico, but I can assure you that it has a reputation NATION WIDE as a top tier OHV park. We here in Ca have battled many land closures, some successfully, some not. I hope that some sort of compromise can be reached that will allow continued OHV use of the area as I would like the opportunity to wheel at Tellico in the future.

[fred99tj]

Well I have only been to Tellico once but it was an awsome trip. I went in Oct a few years back. Camped at Crawfords and awoke every morning to a nice cool Dew. The Mountain Air was invingerating. The wheeling was everything I expected. Truely a challenge regardless of skill level and vehicle build level.

Closing Tellico would be a catostrophic loss to the off roading comminity. It would also devistate Murphy and the tourism market of the area.

I don't know who all will see this but I am planning a return trip to Tellico this Summer after I return from Iraq. This will be my sons' first trip there and I hope not their last. I hope to one day bring my grand children to Tellico and hope to see the offroading activity live on for ever

[surveyboy]

keep the public lands open for public use.

we as taxpayers have paid for the land. don't take it away and still make us pay for it.

the environmentalist want it all (as in every possible square inch that hasn't been developed) closed, but want to use my money to do it. if the we stop giving them everything just cause they want it and make them pay buy it, then they can close it. until then. its our land to use.

[retardatwork]

Why would you want to close land to the areas most frequent users. I cant wait to visit tellico with my family. If our land is closed off now I cant imagine what our children will have left. Please dont close Tellico!!

Thanks for yout ime

[PUjeeper]

I have been down to Tellico just once and was planning on going this year until the closure of certain trails. Out here in the east we are very limited on public land, with Tellico being vitrually the only public place.
As off road users please understand that we are a responsible group on a whole. We respect the land. I hope to make it back down soon.
PLEASE KEEP IT OPEN!!!

[Maxed Out Off Road]

While I have never visited Tellico, it is on my businesses places to go. We do a fair amount of traveling to see what this great nation has to offer by way of outdoor activities and adventures.

There is a stong brotherhood and sisterhood (very much like family) that keeps those of us together while experiencing the challenge of different aspects of nature.

Please keep it open for our children to enjoy as our parents have kept it open for us.

Wally

[abnormaltoy]

As a born and raised Southerner...I am biased. There are few areas, in a nation full of beauty, more beautiful than the Smokey Mts. Nor are there many areas so rich in the history of the beginnings of our nation.

One of the most wholesome family oriented activities I have ever been involved in is 4 wheeling. The Tellico park is an ideal place for anyone to bring children and get them started young...in our sport and on the road toward a healthy love and respect for the outdoors.

I ask that you keep this resource open to all.

Thank you.