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Lake Somerville

Just a guess but I would say kwads.


The last time I was there they had taken over the place and tore it up, beer bottles and cans everywhere and the assorted trash that goes along with kid's and booze.
 
Wonder if a group could volunteer some trail work and get it back open hate to see riding areas go
 
when were you last there? i was looking at it on google earth and the parking lot was all grassed up.
 
Last time there was about three years ago, we weren't riding just drove by to see if it was still open. Did not appear to be open at that time but it was pretty tore up in the parking area with the above observations.
 
I believe it was a free area and small considering motor vehicle requirements. Not surprising, seems the new age requires adult supervision, that and drunkeness without borders?
 
It closed in 2009. Not the official reason for closing, but I'd be willing to bet that the campground right down the road had many complaints about noise. The 4-wheelers tore the place up. Total disreguard for any rules such as staying on the trails. Part of the blame can be placed on the Corp of Engineers. They never closed the trails for wet conditions so the MUDDERS came out in droves.
 
What a shame I rode there in the late 70s and early 80s. When my daughter started riding dirt bikes 10 years ago we went there .
 
As someone who enjoys ATVs as much as motorcycles, I hate that your typical ATV is a complete "butt-hat".
 
It closed in 2009. Not the official reason for closing, but I'd be willing to bet that the campground right down the road had many complaints about noise. The 4-wheelers tore the place up. Total disreguard for any rules such as staying on the trails. Part of the blame can be placed on the Corp of Engineers. They never closed the trails for wet conditions so the MUDDERS came out in droves.

Thanks. It was around 05 was the last time I was there. But with other places going away and just wanting to check the place out again. Glad I didn't drive out there.
 
I read that the atvs and bikes wouldn't stay in the fenced areas- several times the fences were repaired and then torn down, etc. We went out a few times, and unfortunately the earlier sentiment is right - even the grownups need adult supervision now.
 
Can't believe I missed this thread. Hey JQ, would you mind copy and pasting the link you posted above, link won't work for me. The place in question is called Yegua Creek(pronounced yay-wha). It's just up the road from me and I guess I can honestly say I 'learned how to ride' there back in the '70's. Trail Rider's of Houston (http://www.trh-cycle.org/ ) used to hold hare scrambles and enduros there in the '70's and '80's back when I was a member. Just to show how times have changed, my dad would drive us over in the pickup in the morning, leave us a can of gas and pick us up in the afternoon, we'd ride all day.:rider: :lol2: I was like 12yrs old and my bro was 9. :lol2: :eek2: The weekend before TRH held a race we would camp out in tents and help mark off the course, that was a lotta fun!!:clap: Oh and by the way, the actual RV campground was 1/2 mile through the woods from the offroad area so you couldn't hear us even if you tried.
I may be contradicting the facts here but the way I understood it was that they (whoever "they" might be) put an easement through the park essentially cutting it in half rendering it too small for TRH to continue holding races there so they lost interest. Back in the day we could ride almost to Overlook Marina to buy drinks or use the pay phone...etc., all we had to do was jump a fence and walk a few hundred yds. Man, those were some fun times!!:clap:

Here's a pic of me at a Yegua TRH scramble..... 30 YEARS AGO!! :eek2: :eek2: :rofl: Those truly were the good ol days. :sun:

rich3.jpg


The last time I went by there was about 5yrs ago and I didn't even recognize it.:huh: The 4wheelers had literally raped the place, pathetic, they destroyed it!!:angryfire Sorry Poser but that is a fact! They turned what was left of it into a rutted, unorganized, unridable mudpit. It was sad and embarrassing.:thumbd:
 
I saved it to my PC, so if you still don't get the link to work, PM me. I would attach it here, but it's almost 5mb, and the attachment window says 988k max for PDFs.

It was pretty enlightening.
 
try this one

http://www.swf-wc.usace.army.mil/somerville/Recreation/ORV%20Closure%20Report.pdf

I just tried it - it took forever to open (about a minute), but it finally did.
OK, that worked. Very interesting. The map in Appendix B shows the ORV area after the easement (looks like a road) was put in and after the pipe fence was installed. The road would be just east of the 'E' on the map. It wasn't there back in the day and the ORV area extended about an est. 5 times further east almost to Overlook Marina. The 'A' area on the map was also open to riding all the way to the lake. The area just north of the 'N' was the pit area during races, that's where we would camp out in tents.
The above link should be required reading for the 4wheeler crowd, and don't give me that "Not all 4wheeler riders ..blahblahblah" horse ****, you need to police your own! If you think the exact same scenario can't happen at the Sam then you've got another thing coming, rather We've got another thing coming.
Thanks for nothing!
 
I grew up riding there as well, grew up in Industry and my folks did the same, dropped my and a friend off with a gas can and they would go spend the day in Brenham or at antique shops over in Carmine / Roundtop for the day
 
I grew up riding there as well, grew up in Industry and my folks did the same, dropped my and a friend off with a gas can and they would go spend the day in Brenham or at antique shops over in Carmine / Roundtop for the day
Then I bet we've met before.:wave: I was on an XR75 up till about 1980 when I would've been on a CR125. Rode and raced that until '83 when I bought the XR350. What were you riding back then?
 
I've ridden there a few times and lived in Somerville when the Corps closed it. Word had it that an off-road truck owner used a cutting torch to cut the pipe barrier to gain access.
 
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I was laying out a race course for TRH the weekend they closed it , We worked the course the week befor so all we needed to do was mark it the weekend of the race and I noticed they had cut a path across the property with a dozer . First thing Monday I called the Core I asked about the path , my question was is the construction work anything I need to ba aware of since we do have a permitted event the next weekend that we did pay a fee for the privilege of . The answer was no everything is fine your event can go on as planned. Tha next weekend we went up Saturday to mark the course , they were out there till midnight stringing wire to cut the property to a third the size it had been . That was govt. beauacracy at it best . That was 89 and the end of that place for me. SEYA
 
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