Changes to Waiporous??

[Coolhand Luke]

I have heard second hand info that maybe some new changes are coming to the Waiporous trail system. Not sure if 4x4's are part of this change, maybe they realized we have nothing left, and the planning is one sided? I was told this by a friend who read it on 4Wheeler.ca. I was out camping on Saturday at Waiporous and drove to Margaret Lake, this trail is one of the trails classified as 4x4, but in all honesty you don't really even need 4WD. Only in a couple places. One annoying thing that I noticed is that with all the trails open to quads and bikes, I still had to pull over all the time to let them pass, kind of annoying that they have so much, we have so little, yet they seem to like to drive on what little we have left. I know that they need to get to where they are going, and I never felt any annoyance before, but this time it kind of bothered me, I felt like saying this is 4x4 trail so I have the right of way, but that does nothing but cause problems. It is really crazy when you go there and see what we are limited to. Just unfair is all. If it was all even then it wouldn't be so bad.

[Spinalguy]

i have to get this off my chest. Where have you been for the last year? The CJA and all other clubs including organizations have been telling everyone about GAMP.
It was implemented May Long and there are 52kms of trail(road) for 4x4's. There is ZERO singletrack trails for bikes and every 4x4 major trail is now quad and bike.
The entire Bar C area is closed to motorized activity with an application in for the Lazy H Trail Company to lease the entire area to set up an RV park for 220 units. This means that ONE stakeholder group gets it all and gets to make money on public land.
Tom

[Spinalguy]

And to clarify....
Bikes got it just as bad as 4x4's, actually worse!
Quads got at least 60% of all trails taken from them too, so no pointing fingers as WE all got it bad.
Tom

[apex]

I think what Luke might be referring to are the recent rumors going around. Rumor has it there is some consideration into re-opening some recently closed trails. I think some complaints have been listened and areas might be reaccessable. I'm thinking the SRD realized they have acted out of  the ingorance of governmental advisors without thoroughly understanding what user groups actually do.

These are only rumors. Don't hold your breath.

On a side note, it would be interesting to see who in the government has friends (or even finicial interests) in the Bar C and the Lazy H. I know these are unfounded accusations, but this is Alberta and that is how things are done. Does the Freedom of Information Act extened to provincial land-lease and business liscences ?

[Spinalguy]

Thanks Greg.
My bad Luke, i absolutely misread your post but i stand behind the bike and quad comments.
Its rumor and more importantly, 4x4's are NOT any part of that rumor. Its the bikes that are rumored to be getting singletrack back. 4x4's are not part of the equation. Fact is that there is a revised map coming out but it is very doubtful that 4x4's are being considered......yet!
Tom

[Coolhand Luke]

Where I've been the last year (ten years for that matter) is going to Waiporous camping and picking up trash along the way. I've been there 6 times this year for overnight stays and the last weekend we hauled out a sofa. As far as pointing fingers, I am not saying us & them, we are all in the same boat, but if I add up the kms of trail access(thats where you can drive) it looks like this, 4x4 50km, quads 500km + 50km of 4x4, bikes 7km +500km of quad +50km of 4x4.
    4x4=50km access.
Quads=550km access.
 Bikes=557km access.
 I don't see how this doesn't look unfair. In no way do I feel any bad feelings against bikes or quads, the whole idea is that this looks like 4x4's are the problem, the evil doers and I just don't see it this way. There are idiots in every group!

[Spinalguy]

i already recognized that i misread your post, so thanks for the clarification of where you have been

Anyways.....i ride bikes and i ride only on SINGLETRACK trails. This is true for most good riders. Therefore, the riding community got ZERO trails, NONE, NOTTA......
What we got is frickin freeways that i used to wheel my jeep on, these are not bike trails. Don't let the government and media fool you into believing their propaganda regarding the 650+ trails that bikes got. We only ever use the freeway system to get to the trails we ride; singletrack. i am sure quad guys feel the same about what they got. Also, there is no connector anywhere from Hunter Valley to Waiporous valley for any OHV user.
Tom