South Fork's Trail Trouble

I was nervous as we drove up to the community center. I’d never been to a town meeting – much less one like this. We went and sat at the back, and I got my notepad and pen ready to jot down any important information that I was sure to find out. At the table in the front of the room sat several police officers, someone representing the national forest, and a couple others not in uniform that I never identified for sure. I was expecting to encounter angry raised voices, people throwing accusations back and forth, and generally an unpleasant atmosphere. Instead, I quickly noticed all the smiling faces, respectful comments, and even occasional laughter from everyone! This wasn’t the conflict I had imagined, but rather what seemed like a group of friends discussing an important town issue – ATV rights.

South Fork, CO, is a beautiful town nestled in the San Juan Valley about 45 minutes west of Great Sand Dunes National Park on Hwy 160. It’s kind of a gateway into the Rocky Mountains, and somewhere my whole family’s really enjoyed the past few weeks. Looking at a map, something you’ll probably notice first is that it’s completely surrounded by thousands and thousands of acres of national forest, with an immense amount of forest roads and trails! Since we bring our ATVs everywhere with us, it was easy to decide that this was where we wanted to come.

We chose the Ute Bluff Lodge located a couple miles east of South Fork on Hwy 160. It has a campground, cabins, hotel, hot tubs, rec room, laundry room, a big tipi to sit in, and a hiking trail that goes up onto the bluff. One of the main reasons we chose it, though, was because there is a trail leading out of the camp that goes into the national forest. Instead of having to load and unload all our ATVs on the trailer, we could just jump on and ride right out of the campground! People would even ride into town to the grocery store and gas station, on a little trail that runs along Hwy 160. But this privilege that riders have in South Fork is what’s at stake right now.

People have ridden along the road to get to the national forest for at least 20-25 years, according to a local resident, without any major problems. All this changed recently when a weird case was brought to the police department. A man had been riding on this trail along the road when he suddenly ran into a cable strung across the trail, and was thrown from his dirt bike. He was not seriously injured, and was actually at the meeting we attended. Initially, the police suspected an angry citizen had put this cable up, and an investigation began. Not long after, it was discovered that this cable was actually one that was being worked on, and was in fact part of South Fork’s utilities. But because of this incident, the right to ride on this trail, and the safety of it, began to be questioned.

This is why the meeting was organized – to discuss the legal issues of riding along this trail. Captain George Dingfelder, of the Colorado State Patrol, explained how it’s currently illegal to ride on the trail because it conflicts with two “right-of-ways” – the railroad and state highway. The trail runs down in a ditch between the railroad and Hwy 160, and it’s necessary to cross the highway a couple times to get to the national forest from where we are. The officers said that it’s not illegal to cross the highway, but it is to ride in its right-of-way. They explained that the State Hwy Dept. is actually liable for any accidents that happen in the right-of-way – including ones involving ATVs.

It was pointed out by several of the board that the only way for anyone to continue riding directly from their resident (including campgrounds) that do not directly access the national forest is to:

1-      Get permission from the county to ride on county roads.

2-      Get permission from the railway to ride in the railroad right-of-way.

3-      Make a new trail that does not enter the Hwy 160 right-of-way.

Another town meeting is organized for September 8^th to discuss these options, and try to get permission from the necessary people.

I found that every citizen in the meeting was supportive of riding, and even everyone on the board expressed willingness to help where they could to reroute the trail or get permission from the county and railroad. The sheriff even said that if he could, he would get ATVs for his deputies to ride while on patrol!

Several of the citizens at the meeting were business owners, and talked about how much the off-road industry helps their businesses, and South Fork’s economy. An interesting point brought up was that many riders from New Mexico are coming up to South Fork, and Colorado in general, to ride now that some of their public riding areas down there are being closed. One local garage owner (the same man who got “clothes lined” by the cable) stated that approximately 95% of his business this Summer has been from ATVs, and if this issue isn’t resolved he’ll likely have to close down.

The meeting ended and everyone kind of mingled and discussed the meeting and what needed to be done next. Everyone seemed sure that some kind of compromise could be worked out with the city, county, and railroad. One of the officers said that there was probably enough support just in that room to get something worked out!

Obviously, what’s going on in South Fork is not an isolated event. Meetings are being held and issues like this addressed all across America! Every single person makes a difference. Don’t leave it up to someone else to make a difference – if everyone has this mindset, it’ll never get done. If you’re not doing it for yourself, do it for all the other riders out there. Do it for future generations that will thank you for helping secure their off-road freedoms!

If possible, though, don’t go solo. Get together with other riders in your area, and work to make your community more off-road friendly. A quick online search of “ATV trail clubs” brought up over 16,000,000 results! Even if only 1% of the results are actually the kind of off-road group you’re looking for, that means you should still have about 160,000 results to check out.

South Fork is a good example to other towns going through something similar. Get together, talk about the issues, be friendly, and work together to find a solution.