No more quiet times in parts of Potter County

I feel like such a loser being the only one who spent a considerable amount of my youth riding dirt bikes with all my friends. I didn’t realize my dad was such a loser for teaching us to ride a Sears mini bike when We were mere youngsters. Damn I was such a bad parent.

Do you guys hear yourselfs? They should have permits allowing old curmudgeons on public land. That’s where the real money is.
 
poopdeck wrote:
I feel like such a loser being the only one who spent a considerable amount of my youth riding dirt bikes with all my friends. I didn’t realize my dad was such a loser for teaching us to ride a Sears mini bike when We were mere youngsters. Damn I was such a bad parent.

Do you guys hear yourselfs? They should have permits allowing old curmudgeons on public land. That’s where the real money is.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say that poop, as parents we all have to make decisions that we feel are best for our kids. I won't let my kids ride atvs or dirt bikes but I won't let them play football either. Doesn't mean I think parents who do are losers just means we have a different opinion on what's safe.
 
The difference in ATV traffic and noise on Cross Forks Road is very noticeable comparing now and twenty years ago. Potter County can be a magical place with the birds chirping and quiet of nature. It is being messed up. If you want to see what it is like go stand around the store in Germania for an hour some Saturday morning and see how you feel about how these ATVs have impacted the experience of these places negatively.
 
For the record 58 deaths in PA from 2015-2017 on atvs. West Virginia leads the nation in that time period with 97. Surprisingly it's not that different from boating deaths per year.......maybe I need to rethink this.
 
larkmark wrote:
The difference in ATV traffic and noise on Cross Forks Road is very noticeable comparing now and twenty years ago. Potter County can be a magical place with the birds chirping and quiet of nature. It is being messed up. If you want to see what it is like go stand around the store in Germania for an hour some Saturday morning and see how you feel about how these ATVs have impacted the experience of these places negatively.
Click to expand...

Yeah, and so is the difference in the amount of people flocking out west to fly fish, so is the amount of pressure you find on the Little J, so is the amount of woods chopped down around Northern Virginia to build 7-Elevens and cookie cutter apartment buildings.

Things change. Thank goodness where I live, things change very slowly, but that's because we don't have jobs where I live and it's poor. I understand the sentiment, I hate seeing things change that I love, too. But the population of planet earth is growing at an alarming rate. our country is blessed to still have a lot of land and places to escape them, but you better start getting used to sharing.

What you perceive as the perfect way to keep something someone else sees as an opportunity and possibilities..sucks, but it is the way of life. I, for one, would love things to stay quiet, fewer people, etc but I am not gonna fret over things changing.
 
People go to the mountains to hunt, fish, shoot guns, ride ATVs. I just accept it as part of what comes w/ going to the mountains. It's like going to the beach and getting pissed that people are swimming everywhere...

I really don't think it'll be too much of an impact. I could be wrong, and I'm sure the next time I'm on Lyman and a ATV goes by, I'll get irritated. But I also happen to live in a state where ATVs are allowed on all the state roads. So pulling into Dollar General with a family pulling in next to me on an ATV is normal.
 
The Game Commission doesn't allow ATVs on the SGLs.

DCNR and the ANF should take the same approach.

Recreational ATV use is contrary to natural resource management. It's a destructive activity. It causes soil loss, siltation of streams, loss of vegetation, spreading invasive plants, and the noise makes the outdoors much less enjoyable for other people.

They are a pestilence, to put it plainly.
 
You know the country people I grew up with were dignified and kind. They had respect for others and the land. They were neighborly in all the best ways. Todays "country" folk are like a parody of some lifestyle seen on TV. The Bubba culture that roars around in big trucks and four wheelers and fires off guns randomly at all hours have an FU attitude. It's all about their rights...That's the "new country" I guess. Of course I am old enough to have hunted with guys who fought in WW2 and wore Woolrich. That's the Potter County I remember. The last time I walked on Cross Fork Rd was a Sunday morning in May. My wife and I were admiring some red trillium and listening and watching birds. The beauty was interrupted by about ten yahoos roaring by , then more kept coming. Dust and noise. The state is simply giving in to the ATV industry and has zero interest in standing for the natural world.
 
Rather have a Jeep CJ than an ATV. If they were regulated with mufflers, yearly state inspections, registrations and gas/road taxes I don't have a problem with them.
:)
 
Allowing atvs to use existing roads in some limited manner seems to be the best possible compromise to allow for expanded use while limiting increased environmental impact associated with building new atv trails and illegal offroad use.

As long as DCNR is will to ramp up their law enforcement presance ti crack down on any off road use, stream and wetland crossings/ destruction etc than I dont see any major impacts on water quality. I will say that I hope PGC never opens gameland roads to atv use.

Someone already brought up the public safety concerns regard accidents and vehicle collisions. Hopefully it is not as bad as I think it could be. Some forestry roads are narrow enough that it can be hard to avoid truck vs truck collisions even while traveling at a modest speed. Add in a atv traveling 45mph+ and it may be a different story. I know in my truck with a steel bumper, I would take my chances with holding my path of travel and hitting a atv vs swerving into a ditch or off the side of the road to avoid collision.

Just this past weekend I was traveling east on rt 6 and had a group of about 10 atvs and side by sides come flying down off a dcnr rd on the north side of rt6 come right onto rt6 and head to Galeton. There were several young operators as well as adults with kid passengers that appeared to be quite young.
 
DCNR and police don't have time or resources to enforce the current laws so I doubt they will in future. Relying on ATV people to do the right thing is also doubtful. Everywhere I go I see these machines and the riders doing more and more damage. It's really the mindset of the people that has changed and coarsened toward beauty and nature. Sad to see it.
 
I have a class A here that has been impacted by mtn. bikes from erosion. I said something to dcnr and they ignored me.
 
larkmark wrote:
Todays "country" folk are like a parody of some lifestyle seen on TV. The Bubba culture that roars around in big trucks and four wheelers and fires off guns randomly at all hours have an FU attitude. It's all about their rights...That's the "new country" I guess.
Click to expand...
It sounds like you're describing the "country folk" that I encountered on the Hammersley three years ago. They were illegally shooting semi-automatic AK style rifles from behind a four wheel drive truck that legally didn't belong where it was. Yeah, good ole country folk who have "rights"...
 
The state really just needs to gate Hammersley at the creek ford and give the handful of camp owners on the west side of the creek keys. I’ve seen it done elsewhere, so why not here? It’s a mess to Beech Bottom Hollow.

ATV’s are one thing, but full size trucks are far worse. I’ve seen full on multiple vehicle camp outfits up above the Dutchmen before, and an abandoned pickup stuck in the mud between the Dutchmen and Beech Bottom.
 
Some of you fellers are crazy. Yes, ATV riding can be destructive. Umm....so can fishing. Ever hear of the brown trout displacing native fish? Or perhaps those non-native smallmouths we love to catch? Oh, and let's not forget how anglers have introduced rusty crayfish, flatheads, snakeheads, and all sorts of other things to places where they shouldn't exist. How many of you have waded Spring Creek and then, without using separate waders, boots, or allowing your gear to properly dry before stepping into another stream? Maybe you possibly spread those pesky NZ mud snails?

Logging can be detrimental to the ecosystem too, but it is necessary. ATV riding is not necessary, it is recreational, just like the flying fishing you do on public lands.

This is an overblown concern. Impact will be minimal. Just my two cents. Everything we do has an impact on the land. IF we stopped doing everything that impacts the land except for the necessary stuff, none of us would be doing much of anything.
 
I don't agree ATV's will have minimal impact but anymore that really doesn't matter.
I am more concerned about how some people view "country folks", "hilljacks" and gun ownership on this board.

#unity

Yeah, right.

 
Susquehanna wrote:
I don't agree ATV's will have minimal impact but anymore that really doesn't matter.
I am more concerned about how some people view "country folks", "hilljacks" and gun ownership on this board.

#unity

Yeah, right.
Click to expand...

Any time that broad, sweeping strokes of opinion lump an entire group together and stereotype it is just a smidge short sighted.
 
jifigz wrote:
Some of you fellers are crazy. Yes, ATV riding can be destructive. Umm....so can fishing. Ever hear of the brown trout displacing native fish? Or perhaps those non-native smallmouths we love to catch? Oh, and let's not forget how anglers have introduced rusty crayfish, flatheads, snakeheads, and all sorts of other things to places where they shouldn't exist. How many of you have waded Spring Creek and then, without using separate waders, boots, or allowing your gear to properly dry before stepping into another stream? Maybe you possibly spread those pesky NZ mud snails?

Logging can be detrimental to the ecosystem too, but it is necessary. ATV riding is not necessary, it is recreational, just like the flying fishing you do on public lands.

This is an overblown concern. Impact will be minimal. Just my two cents. Everything we do has an impact on the land. IF we stopped doing everything that impacts the land except for the necessary stuff, none of us would be doing much of anything.
Click to expand...

Unless you live in a town that will have large numbers of atv's driving down your streets most weekends!
 
Susquehanna wrote:
I am more concerned about how some people view "country folks", "hilljacks" and gun ownership on this board.

#unity

Yeah, right.
Click to expand...
I view them the way they portray themselves. Legal is legal. Period.

Swattie, it was just below Beech Bottom where I had my encounter with those folks. I've seen several 4x4's drive up there in the past.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Montana Angler Fly Fishing
Montana Angler Fly Fishing
Harman's North Fork Cottages


Real Time Data From
the USGS Site

Share this page

Back
Top