ATV Florida Forum

I copied this from thumpertalk.com
      Ocala National Forrest is just too Damn Dangerous

Now that the Forrest Service has corraled everyone onto their little closed circuit trail system it is virtually unridable unless you happen to be riding a tank. It's one blind corner after another and you never know what's coming the other way. It could be another bike or a pickup truck and they could be going 5 or 50.

We've had three collisions in our last 2 trips and numerous near misses or near hits depending on how you look at it. My Honda, which is currently without front forks after an altercation with a speeding quad, has also had the pleasure of trading metal with a dune buggy and another bike.

My Son claims he won't ride there again after spending the last day of our vacation in the Ocala ER (He's ok except for a few stiches thankfully). The bike is another story. On our last trip, we had two collisions within the space of 20 minutes. We even passed a grave marker on one of the trails yesterday. A ten year old kid now dead.

And now that they've closed off the pit at Rodman Resivoir its even worse because all of those people are out on the trail system. The Forrest Service has successfully taken a very big place and made it seem very small and very dangerous. And for what? To protect the stands of toilet paper producing trees from the damaging recreational vehicles? The same stands that are systematically decimated through clear cutting?

Well the Forrest Service can't see the forrest through the trees. It was so much better before they started medling. You could ride all day and not see a soul, at least in the northern sections that we frequent. Now everyone is crammed onto their liitle trails just wide enough for one quad and nowhere to go to avoid a collision except head on into a tree.

There are actual traffic jams on the trail system. For a minute, I thougt I was on I75 heading home. You can't even ride on the right of way any more. Whats up with that? A wide open dirt road where all manner of vehicles have driven for decades and it is vitually unchanged. What damage can a recreational vehicle do to a right of way? Or what about the trail heads where you can't park? What good is a trail head with a no parking sign? What is the problem here? The vehicles may damage the dirt?

I have been riding at Croom for quite some time and have never had a collision. This in spite of the fact that you have many more vehicles crammed into an infinitely smaller space. I can only conclude it is because you have hundres or even thousands of trails instead of 4 or 5.

I don't know what else to say except that if you ride the ONF, be prepared for alot of this om

they are getting what they want..... people to stop going there.

very well written and scrub is exactly right.  they disguised that trail system as doing something for us so they could close it due to their own self created issues.