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Off-road park near Ozona?

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FatalException0E

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Cibolo, TX
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Jason
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Vanlandingham
I saw a little blurb in the AMA magazine that there's going to be a new off-road park near Ozona. It said it opens 'spring 2008'. Has anyone heard anything of it?
 
Teeds should be able to fill you in on the details as he is very involved with it. I'm not sure when it opens though. Supposed to be around 3000 acres.
 
Eeds is your man when it comes to Escondido Draw. You can get some info at the TMTC site as well.
 
Woops ... been busy trying to get ready to go to Albuquerque for the NOHVCC annual meeting ...

Work is getting in the way of my fun!!!

Escondido Draw Recreational Area (EDRA) will be opening this fall once we have trails constructed.

We are going there weekend after next to flag the trails. We are awaiting final agreement on one issue before the project can be submitted to US Dept of Transportation for final (yea) approval of the master plan.

We have a bird survey scheduled for mid-May and construction cannot begin until after the bird survey and we have received approval by US DOT.

Our goals have changed over the 18 months that we have been working on the plan as we are not constructing fixed amenities until after the park is open and operational.

The park consists of approximately 3,200 acres and can generally be described as desert savanna. Actually the park is along the seam between the Edwards Plateau and the Chihuahuan Desert.

Topography is a series of mesa surrounding a valley or draw. The height of the mesa is about 300 feet, so there will be ample opportunity to construct a trail system that is interesting and challenging.

The initial trail system is something on the order of 100 miles, if I remember my numbers correctly.

As Chris indicated there is much more info available at the TMTC forums.

Check it out and if you are interested in helping out shout out as we will be needing a group of dedicated volunteers during construction.

If you are not a member of TMTC join up! These are exciting times in the organization and we are looking for good volunteers to be part of the growth.
 
That is a long way to go at considerable expense to volunteer. Do helpers at least get a year or three of free use or anything?
 
Tourmeister said:
That is a long way to go at considerable expense to volunteer. Do helpers at least get a year or three of free use or anything?
Click to expand...

Sorry for the delay ...

I'm in Albuquerque at the NOHVCC conference.

I wish I could say that there is something out there but alas it is not my decision ... it is up to the board.

We are having a board meeting in a couple of weeks. I will mention the thought.
 
Here is a link on Google ...

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=30.595735,-101.547146&spn=0.043738,0.080938&t=h&z=14

Look closely and you can almost make out the fence line ...

Straight line across the bottom about an inch above the image edge is the south boundary.

The east line has a panhandle at the top. Can you see it?

The north line is relatively straight from the panhandle to the NW corner.

The west line is the hardest ... you can just see the middle portion of it.

The well site in the upper left of the image at the end of the road coming out of the top of the image is just barely on the property.

The road coming off Hoover Divide Road that has the kink in it on the lower right is our entrance road. Our property starts just beyond the first well head on the road. The next two are on our property.

In any case approximately 3,300 to 3,400 acres ...
 
DaveC said:
Can anyone interput what the differant colors designate?


http://www.texasmotorizedtrails.com/files/EDRA_prelim_trail_map.pdf
Click to expand...

The colors were just for show and tell for the TPWD commission.

The envisioned beginning of the single track is the yellow and the lime green.

Magenta is the rim trail which will be stock jeep friendly.

The blue are the 4x4 climbs that we will likely not be able to run.

The orange is a loop that will be basically a motocross track for buggies and fast bikes / quads.
 
Teeds said:
The blue are the 4x4 climbs that we will likely not be able to run.
Click to expand...

can you elaborate? It would seem the best feature about this property is the hill sides, I surprized I don't see zig zags across the front of them. Are the trails set in stone or are they fluid?
 
DaveC said:
can you elaborate? It would seem the best feature about this property is the hill sides, I surprized I don't see zig zags across the front of them. Are the trails set in stone or are they fluid?
Click to expand...

We had significantly more articulation in the original map, but it just got confusing. The director asked that it be smoothed out for the presentation. Each line is probably 20~30 feet (or more) wide based upon the map scale.

We do have a bit more freedom on the ground to work with the terrain, but we do have to avoid cultural and biological resources that do not and will not show on the map.

We have to initially walk the intended route and rough flag it, all the while recording the route in a GPS. We actually trace the route of the map which is in the GPS. Once that is done, we compare the track on the ground against the resources and if there are no conflicts, we are good to start cutting trail.

It sounds more complicated than it really is.

We (two of us plus one person part of a day), cut 1.73 miles of single track trail in a day and a half. It is fairly open, so we only have to cut through some stuff, while going around other trees etc.
 
I saw the proposed planned miles some where, but that link fails me. How many miles of trails are planned currently?
To ride these trails requires an OHV tag that is avalible at some shops or from TPWD right?Any other requirements?
I have only about 15 more questions available:lol2:
 
DaveC said:
I saw the proposed planned miles some where, but that link fails me. How many miles of trails are planned currently?
To ride these trails requires an OHV tag that is avalible at some shops or from TPWD right?Any other requirements?
Click to expand...

The last time Steve ran a query, it was 138 miles of trail. That is the initial development only.

You will be required to be a member of TMTC (daily or yearly) as well as have a state OHV sticker to use the system. Volunteers will not have to pay to work prior to opening, but you will have to be a TMTC member.

We will have the stickers available at the park once it opens. Steve or I will have stickers in hand prior to opening.

Vehicles cannot exceed 96 dB.

No riding between 10:00PM and 6:00AM.

DaveC said:
I have only about 15 more questions available:lol2:
Click to expand...

:lol2: Keep them coming ... :clap:

Are you a member? If not, you should be!
 
We are moving forward on getting trails on the ground.

At this point we have about 20 miles down.

Check our website and come join the fun.
 
Quick update ...

Last fall we found out that we had to write an environmental assessment, so that became the priority for the fall and winter although trail kept moving forward.

The EA is in the final review stage now with the approval expected any day. We abandoned the area until the heat breaks, which we expect to be around the first of October. At that time we will be back in business cutting trail.

At this point we have two MC loops relatively complete totaling almost 40 miles. One ATV loop is underway and a number of 4x4 climbs are started.
 
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