Excerpts from Field Notes on
Illegal Off-Road Vehicle Use
This field visit was made in response to a report from a member of the Bennington Section of the Green Mountain Club (GMC) who had hiked the Bald Mountain Trail from Harbor Road in Woodford over the summit of Bald Mountain to the Bennington trailhead on Sunday, October 5. He was very upset to find tracks of ATVs and at least one dirt bike on the section of trail from the Bennington trailhead all the way to White Rocks. He said the tracks were only a day or two old, because rain would have washed out detail if they had been older.
On the lower western slopes of the mountain, the trail traverses private land via old woods roads. This has long been a recreation area for off-highway vehicles, the GMC report said, but vehicles had never before entered the Green Mountain National Forest and traveled the foot trail to White Rocks, a favorite destination lookout for hikers for generations.
Since the weather report called for rain the next day, I left immediately for the trail, arriving at the trailhead at 2:55 p.m. Before leaving, I determined as well as I could from the topographic map that the trail crosses onto Forest Service land at a longitude of W 73 degrees 09.830’ (the Forest Service property line runs north-south at this point).
The lower portion of the trail follows badly eroded woods roads with ample evidence of wheeled vehicles. At N 42 degrees 53.710’, W 73 degrees 10.024’ (24 feet limit of GPS receiver accuracy), shortly after leaving a major woods road, I found blue paint on rocks and a red-blazed tree, suggesting this might be a property line. However, it was not the Forest Service property line, if the map and my calculations were correct.
As the trail climbed, it passed through an area where trees had been marked with orange spray paint, apparently for a logging operation.
At N 42 degrees 53.749’, W 73 degrees 09.952’ (24 feet) I came to a line of red-blazed trees. However, the paint was not the shade the Forest Service typically uses for boundary marking, and the longitude did not quite match the Forest Service ownership boundary on the map.
At N 42 degrees 53.925’, W 73 degrees 09.827’ (21 feet) I came to the Forest Service boundary. The GPS indicated longitude was within 18 feet of my computation from the map.
Clearly, the trail into the National Forest had been traversed by several ATVs and a dirt bike. Wherever a fallen tree blocked the trail, the ATVs had made their own detour, putting ruts into the forest floor and bending or breaking saplings on their way through. In some places the drivers had blazed the points of departure of these detours by spray painting trees, apparently to be sure they would not miss them in the downhill direction.
I took photos of tracks, ruts, blazed trees and other evidence of vehicle trespass, but I did not have time to obtain GPS coordinates for all of them.
I did not have time to reach White Rocks. I turned around at 4:26 p.m., at N 42 degrees 54.638’, W 73 degrees 09.635’ (32 feet). The GPS receiver indicated an elevation of 2,050 feet asl.
On the way down the trail, I photographed a spot on bare ledge at N 42 degrees 54.391’, W 73 degrees 09.692’ (29 feet) where an ATV had left a black rubber tire track on the rock.
I returned to the trailhead at 5:20 p.m.
Photo Identifications
426: Blue paint on stones on the Bald Mountain Trail at N 42 degrees 53.710’, W 73 degrees 10.024’ (24 feet)
427: ATV detour around a fallen tree on the Bald Mountain Trail at the Green Mountain National Forest ownership boundary, N 42 degrees 53.925’, W 73 degrees 09.827’ (21 feet).
428: ATV tracks on the Bald Mountain Trail in the Green Mountain National Forest.
429: ATV ruts on the Bald Mountain Trail in the Green Mountain National Forest.
430: ATV ruts at a stream crossing on the Bald Mountain Trail in the Green Mountain National Forest, N 42 degrees 53.965, W 73 degrees 09.764 (21 feet).
431, 432: ATV detour around a windfall across the Bald Mountain Trail in the Green Mountain National Forest.
433: ATV cutoff through the woods avoiding a difficult spot on the Bald Mountain Trail in the Green Mountain National Forest.
434: Orange blazed tree marking the departure of an ATV cutoff through the woods avoiding a difficult spot on the Bald Mountain Trail in the Green Mountain National Forest.
435, 436: Views of an ATV cutoff through the woods avoiding a difficult spot on the Bald Mountain Trail in the Green Mountain National Forest.
437-439: ATV ruts on the Bald Mountain Trail in the Green Mountain National Forest.
440: Point where ATVs turn out of the trail to avoid a windfall tree across the Bald Mountain Trail in the Green Mountain National Forest, at N 42 degrees 54.577’, W 73 degrees 09.648’ (21 feet).
441-444: ATV ruts on the Bald Mountain Trail in the Green Mountain National Forest.
445: Black rubber ATV tire mark on bare ledge on the Bald Mountain Trail in the Green Mountain National Forest at N 42 degrees 54.391’, W 73 degrees 09.692’ (29 feet).
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