The FIGHT is REAL ……And we lost!
For a quick day ride or to test …. this was my backyard trail.
Bunce School Road to Middle Saint Vrain to Coney Flats.
These 3 linked trails can be a short day trip. In and out … home before dark. I love these trails linked together because you have every type of terrain. Long speedy straight aways, rock crawling sections (mild to wild), scenic sections with plenty of spots for a lunch stop.
The caveat to link these three together is Camp Dick Campground…it has to be open to link Bunce School Rd trail to the other two trails by driving through Camp Dick. This is a little-known fact that only locals would know…… we tried to keep it a secret for a long time.
I will be honest with you…. I boycotted these three trails especially Bunce because the rental companies from surrounding areas had taken over the trail. But that’s not really where it started. It started way before this. It started back in about 2003. At least that’s when we old guys were younger, and I was a part of the same kind of fight for our right to use this trail. We even had a t-shirt that said screw Boulder County Ranger District and the Forest Service. It all started with Left Hand Canyon and that’s a totally different story for another blog and another time.
The inexperienced rental drivers made these trails very dangerous. Most of these companies didn’t care about anything but the money (so most of us thought). They didn’t teach their clients trail etiquette and pretty much just let them run amuck! The trails … especially Bunce … were filled with trash…. no pack in pack out being practiced at all. I was so discouraged and disgusted!
I was super angry. And to top it all off…the rental companies took over the parking lot… I was actually told by a rental company employee that I couldn’t park in it because he had customers coming. This is how bad it got up there. So, a bunch of us stopped riding there. Then I heard through the grapevine Bunce was going to be shut down and closed (I bet I’ve heard this same rumor for 13 years) and every time it was because of a single private property owner.
This private property owner, a fulltime resident up there and evidently, he had enough and was angry. I have had a conversation with someone (not sure if it was him?) more than once in the past and this gentleman hated us (this was 11 or 12 years ago). As far as I know these the trail sections never actually closed down.
The reason ….. because of one rental company owner Andy Hitch …. he understood what that meant not only to his business but also to the rest of the OHV community. For the next 9 or 10 years that man and his outfitter company (Backbone Adventures) did everything including kiss this property owner’s ass to keep him happy. The trail remained opened, and we all benefitted greatly. I encourage you to check out Backbone Adventures website and read this story…. what Andy and his Company did was amazing. Here is the link: https://www.backbonecycles.com/post/bunce-school-road-closed-to-atv-s-what-really-happened
Fast forward to 2023 …..Covid took its toll on all of our OHV trails (just like a bunch of us predicted) …. especially Bunce. The same landowner had his fill and had it out with the Forest Service and Boulder County in the legal arena. Not only did Backbone Adventures loose but the whole OHV community lost. Because it’s a very little-known fact that some of the trials up there are actually county roads and its illegal for unlicensed OHV”s (because Colorado doesn’t have a OHV license) to operate on them. Now it was official. No OHV”s signs were posted and are enforced.
This was one of my favorite local riding spots. My son learned to ride up there… my first real purposely built offroad vehicle I built specifically for this trail. My first real four-wheeler ride was on this trail. My wife’s first ever trial ride was on this trail. So, as you can see this trail has been a part of my family and friends for a very long time, over twenty years. Our club …
The Big Thompson 4 Wheelers and The Wagon Masters Four Wheel Drive Club adopted this trail…we spent countless weekends cleaning and maintaining this trail. Both clubs had an enormous amount of recordable volunteer trail hours. I was the first person through the Trail Patrol Program (supported by the Colorado Association of Four-Wheel Drive Clubs and The Boulder County Ranger District) to patrol this trail.
I went to countless Boulder County Ranger District meetings and Seminars. Spent hours and hours with representatives in a fight to keep this trail open….. hell, we even built and donated a Jeep Cherokee to the Ranger District just so they could better access these trails. But just like back then as it is today….. there answer to everything has always been ” just close it”. It truly makes me sick!
I want to thank Andy and his company for all their hard work. This thankless act for 10 years may have gone unnoticed and unappreciated back then but not today. Andy if you read this Andy, I applaud you and respect you… few would have done what you did. Please allow me to recognize you and your company.
And this story my friends is one of the reasons I started this blog ….. no sponsors…no bullshit…… I’m an average Joe OHV enthusiast talking about real things that hurt and help my passion for all things SxS. Will my Blog have an impact? Probably not! Most younger generations don’t give two shits about the rights there loosing until it’s too late. Besides …… I don’t have the fight in me anymore. I’m down to writing about it and sharing my experiences with you on this blog.
