BMAN posted this:
Review of the D’Town Snowbird-Tellico Offroad Park
By
Brian “BMan” Gray
10/27/2013
Ride Date: October 25th, 26th & 26th, 2013.
Ride Location: D’Town Snowbird-Tellico Offroad Park, Murphy NC.
Ride Fees: $25 a day, $50 for the weekend and $10 per additional person.
We received our ride invite by Mike DeWild and Mike McCommons (Big Mike) from DurhamTown. We appreciate the invite and their hospitability while there! We attended the ride on Friday the 25th and Saturday the 26th and left late Saturday night. The on hand staff was helpful and courteous! We left the buggy and race rig at home so to experience the trail system and obstacle areas with our mildly built Jeep Wrangler (TJ) on 33’s with 10” of suspension travel, full custom cage/harnesses, a single front locker etc. Myself, my son and his girlfriend participated in the ride.
Below is my 3rd party review of our experiences on this ride. I am not paid DurhamTown staff, a consultant nor a spokesman for them. I broke this review down into three categories; Current Facts, Current Opinions and Current Hopes. Please do not take what I say out of context from within the categories and full context of this review. I have placed the brief statements into categories for clarity and brevity. Since as many know it is very easy to accidentally spread rumors by giving incorrect snippets and sound bits I ask if you choose to spread my review please do so in it’s entirety. Please feel free to quote and/or forward in full this posting to any outdoor sportsman showing interest in this park.
Check back later for future updates. I am hoping to be invited back and be apart of other upcoming rides so I can communicate the progress promised by the DurhamTown Staff but as wheelers utilize the area I’m sure the trail system and obstacles will change! I know development will be an on-going endeavor and the trail system and obstacles will only improve in the way we like them to. I will post pics and vids in this thread as they are uploaded and processed. Stay tuned for them. Feel free to add your content if you participated in this ride.
This place has the potential to be another sportsman Mecca in the Tellico Region!
Current Facts 10/27/13:
1. DurhamTown has an agreement with the landowner of the Snowbird property.
a. They are authorized to arrange rides.
b. They must uphold the wishes of the landowner. These include but are not limited to:
i. Keeping the property clean aka “Tread Lightly”. Take out more trash than you brought in. We took out more trash than what we brought in.
ii. Be respectful of the other sportsman utilizing the property such as but not limited to the hunters and fishermen. Many are local folks that have welcomed us.
iii. Limit the speed in the park.
iv. Limit the wheeling to the currently developed trails and areas.
c. They are authorized to develop the land within the requirements set forth by the landowner and the surrounding regions governing bodies.
d. The property is and will be used for out door recreation including but not limited to hunting, fishing, offroading (4x4, ATV, MotoX, SxS, Quads etc).
2. The location of the property is in the Blue Ridge Mountains, which is apart of the larger Appalachian Mountain Range.
3. The property is near and surrounds some of the location seasoned wheelers knew as the Upper Tellico OHV FS area that the Forestry Service (FS) was closed down to offroaders.
4. The entry point is off of Boiling Springs Rd via Clyde McDonald Road. Those familiar with the Upper Tellico OHV FS area know this is the last paved county road before the ranger station off of Boiling Springs Rd.
5. The ride fees were $50 for the weekend and $10 for each additional person.
6. The park is not designed as a high speed park and 15 mph was suggested as a top speed.
7. Two ponds exist on the property. We observed a fisherman/wheeler and local resident fishing.
8. Not all of the areas can be further developed because of water run-off feeding certain streams and creeks where trout and other species thrive.
9. Silt retaining methods will need to be implemented in certain areas. This process will not be inexpensive.
10. The bowl area has less limiting development factors and requirements due to not being a water run-off area.
11. Google Satellite views show many rock formations not currently apart of the trail system or obstacle areas. Cutting trails would expose these areas.
12. Riding along the current trail system many exposed rocks and rock formations, ridges etc. could be seen outside of the current trail system.
13. The current trail system and obstacle areas have a mix of different sized rocks, ledges and formations.
14. Friday the trails area around the obstacle area known as the Bowl were challenging. By late Saturday they were much harder as the rock formations were becoming more exposed as folks wheeled.
15. A buddy (name withheld) in his CJ buggy on Rockwells and 46’s remodeled several of the larger rock formations and threw up loads of black topsoil in the Bowl area as he rock bounced his way around. He was denied on a few obstacles and made many.
16. A lot of the ledges and rock formations are porous rock and allow for decent gripping of the tires. Some “heating up” of the rubber may be needed to clear harder obstacles.
17. A lot of the dirt around the Bowl obstacle area was dark black topsoil. It gets slippery as peanut butter especially when wet.
18. There are trails and obstacles from mild to wild. More limited on the wild side. Wild was in the Bowl obstacle area.
19. Some trails were narrow with overgrown brush. Expect minor scratches in these areas until cleared further. We had a side vinyl window cut and were pocked many times with brush and branches.
20. Some trail and obstacle areas allow for two-way traffic. Some areas do not and passing is harder. A select few areas like the initial mountain climb to the trail system passing in some spots is impossible.
21. I got a personal tour of some of the different areas by Mike DeWild in his Razor. We found many uncharted Trails. They were mostly mild ones but had plenty of rock exposed.
22. We took waypoints via GPS device for a future improved map that can be better maintained.
23. We shared the park with a range of 4x4 vehicles from stock to buggy along with MotoX, ATV, Quads, SxS etc.
24. Traffic on the trails was shared by all of the types mentioned above.
25. Primitive camping was available next to a stream or in the parking areas. We stayed in town 40-50 minutes away.
26. Parking was limited to a few areas on the street, near the registration building, and in the ad-hoc parking lot behind the registration building and along the main trail and before it started the climb up the mountain.
27. A 4x4 tow rig is recommended when utilizing the parking areas behind the registration building.
28. We parked on the street shoulder after turning around.
29. The street dead ends right near the entry gate. No “cul-d-sac” exists.
30. A turn around area next to check-in for tow rig turn around is available but only when other tow rigs aren’t unloading and/or parked rigs aren’t present.
31. Backing up from the entry to the street is tricky but viable for goose neck and pull behind trailers. This will depend on your driving skills.
32. We backed up our 24’ goose neck with our crew cab, long bed, dually tow rig but it took several tactical manipulations to perform a full turn around.
33. The ride from the bottom of the mountain to the rest of the trail system is 20-30 minutes up the mountain.
34. The ride over to the area of the land nearest to the trails we know as the top trail system of Upper Tellico OHV FS area aka (Trails 6, 7, 8, 9 etc) was a long ride and took about 2 hrs one way. We had about 25 rigs in our group.
35. Riders/wheelers should not try to access the Upper Tellico OHV FS area. This is not permitted from the park .
36. Park private property/boundary lines are clearly posted.
37. Forrest service land/boundary lines were clearly posted.
38. Trail names and numbers were clearly marked.
39. Many land marks were pointed out with markers describing what they were and brief history.
Current Opinions 10/27/13:
1. The park has a similar look and feel to the Upper Tellico OHV FS area recently closed to offroaders.
2. This location with work and traffic has the potential to be another offroad wheeling Mecca in the area but not without further development, such as, cutting new trails and exposing more rock and rock formations, parking development.
3. The scenery was awesome with mountain views everywhere.
4. The initial ride up the mountain can be tricky for two-way traffic. Wider areas for passing should be investigated.
5. The trail called Tellico Rd. that leads to what was known as the Upper Tellico OHV FS area reminded me of a few trails there; trail 1, parts of trail 4 and 5.
6. As the topsoil is cleared I’m sure there will be a bit of a change in the color of soil and more of the rock you see from the surface will be exposed. I could tell many of the rocks on the trails were much larger and this was proven as wheelers wheeled on them and exposed more of their mass.
7. Some trail and obstacle areas allow for two-way traffic, some don’t and some areas it’s impossible. Traffic patterns should be analyzed and addressed accordingly.
8. Traffic on most trails included all of the types of vehicles mentioned above.
9. More permanent trail markers should be developed.
10. The fees were inline with other parks and we enjoyed the current offerings.
11. The return on investment (ROI) for us is much higher than the offerings at the DurhamTown location in Union Point.
12. If the effort promised materializes the trail system and obstacles will continue to improve.
13. As more folks wheel on the trail systems I don’t doubt many more rocks and formations will be uncovered.
14. Parking for tow rigs needs to be further addressed.
15. Anyone who has the opportunity to attend a ride should bring plenty of tools and parts and even better make sure they are easily accessible in your rig or fellow wheelers rigs. It’s a long trip back to the parking area from most areas.
16. I will be back to ride this park again. At this juncture I’m not sure I will bring my buggy since the Bowl is the only area of interest for me with it. I will indeed bring my TJ back and our race rig, which is a Jeep Cherokee XJ highly, modified for Dirt Riot/ECORS baja/"Jeepspeed” style racing.
Current Hopes 10/27/13:
1. I hope what was mentioned about future rides and development continues to happen.
2. The entry fees stay in alignment with other parks.
3. The parking areas is expanded and leveled out a bit
4. The entry road to the parking area will allow 2wd tow rigs easier access.
5. The agreement between the landowner and DurhamTown continues to be a win/win for not only them but our entire wheeling community.
6. Our wheeling community to adhere to the wishes of the landowner and DTown staff to show our support for the cause. This venture will not continue unless we do something different than was done years ago at the Upper Tellico OHV FS areas.
7. Other amenities should be limited to those necessary by the communities utilizing the property to keep overhead to a minimal and expense as low as possible.
8. An a-la-carte approach to available amenities similar to the DTown in Union Point could be utilized. Pay as you go scenario will allow everyone to customize their experience to fit their budget and needs.
9. I would recommend not charging for primitive camping for those purchasing a weekend entry fee.
10. A small “convenient” store with a limited select selection of often forgotten supplies at the registration building. Again minimal to keep overhead and costs down.
Thank you for reading the review. Again feel free to repost, forward or share it in its complete and entire format. Also feel free to contact me directly with questions and/or feel free to post up your experience of the ride, post pics and vids if you took any. Please limit your opinions on the matter unless you have first hand experience wheeling at this park in its current evolution. We don’t want to accidentally spread or create rumors. If you are in the know let it show sort of mind set is what I’m thinking.
Lastly a huge kudos goes out to the entire hard working DTown team that was on sight. Thank you for offering another place to wheel! I wish continued success!
Take care and happy and safe travels to all!
Brian “BMan” Gray
Topic: Tellico/Snowbird inaugural ride 10/26 (Read 4002 times)
