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OFFICIAL Upper Tellico "Virtual Rally" Thread

97K views 956 replies 819 participants last post by  broncomania79 
#1 · (Edited)
This is the offical Upper Tellico Rally thread.

The rally will be on Wednesday May 7th from 4 to 9 pm Eastern Standard Time.

Please make sure to post your comments on that day. Until then, PLEASE spread the word!

Basic Rally Instructions:

1. Please post up your concerns on the Upper Tellico OHV area being closed. You MAY make multiple posts!

2. Tell people how you have enjoyed Tellico in the past! (Tell us stories!)

3. If you have never been to the Upper Tellico OHV area, voice your concern about this closure and tell people how you or your club recreates responsibly in your own area! If you have always wanted to go to Tellico, let us know!

4. Show them what this area means to the entire OHV community!

5. Post pictures! Trail rides, camping with your family, etc.

6. Have fun, but please remember to be professional. Many eyes will be on this thread!

7. MAKE SURE you see what number post your FIRST post in the thread is!

Please put that number somewhere in your sig-line so we know who has posted!



Thank you all!

Nick McCracken
Rally Lead

Kurt Schneider
Pirate4x4.com land-use Editor

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:

Nick McCracken: Rally Lead
E-mail: orangecherokee@yahoo.com

Kurt Schneider: Pirate4x4.com
E-mail: kurtuleas@pirate4x4.com

El Dorado County: April 18th, 2008


VIRTUAL ONLINE RALLY FOR UPPER TELLICO OHV AREA
Pirate4x4.com builds on a successful rally format to protest more route closures

After an extremely successful virtual rally for Johnson Valley and the world renowned Hammers rock crawling trails in California, Pirate4x4.com members are shifting their focus to the east coast and are once again gathering for a massive virtual rally to save the Upper Tellico OHV Park in North Carolina. On Wednesday May7th, 2008, Pirate4x4.com, a leading website for the OHV community, will hold this rally from 4 to 9 pm eastern standard time.

In 2007, the Southern Environmental Law Center, in coalition with Trout Unlimited and P.E.E.R. (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility) filed a notice of intent to sue the Untied Stated Forest Service, claiming it was in violation of the federal water pollution act. This coalition stated that the Upper Tellico OHV area was dumping sediment into nearby streams and destroying the habitat of local brook trout. In turn, the USFS closed a major portion of the Tellico trail system.

There are many arguments against closing this popular OHV area, and many organizations involved in keeping it open. Carla Boucher, the attorney for the United Four Wheel Drive Association states, “United Four Wheel Drive Association (UFWDA), along with its partners Blue Ribbon Coalition and Southern Four Wheel Drive Association, are committed to taking all steps necessary to save our access at Tellico, including legislative, administrative, and legal action!” This rally will bolster the efforts made by these organizations in this battle by showing a large contingent of OHV users who back and support these organizations in their efforts.

Virtual rally participants will be asked to post their experiences, photos and history recreating with their families in the Tellico area along with their feelings and beliefs as to why the trail system should not be closed. Their comments will be posted and tracked in a bulletin board format, with a goal of creating a lasting record of how important this area is to a vast number of people in the OHV community. Tellico is one of the very few public areas on the east coast for OHV recreation. Interested parties are encouraged to participate in the rally and read the thread.

On March 12th 2008, Pirate4x4.com hosted a similar virtual rally for the world renowned OHV trail system in Johnson Valley, CA. That rally had nearly 1,500 posts from OHV enthusiasts all across the world in a four hour time span. Saved in time in order to create a lasting homage to the rally, to date the Hammers rally has been viewed by over 48,000 people.

# # #​
If you would like more information on this topic, or to schedule an interview with Nick McCracken, please e-mail him at orangecherokee@yahoo.com. For Kurt Schneider, Pirate4x4.com land-use Editor, Please e-mail Kurt at kurtuleas@pirate4x4.com
 
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#923 ·
Closing OHV areas to the public and limiting the areas where we can even see nature is UnAmerican.If these type of closures continue,countless businesses and communities will be affected, further hurting the U.S. Economy.Please keep Tellico open.
 
#924 ·
With nearly two thousand miles between me and Tellico, I don't recreate there frequently, but I have heard much of the opportunity available there, and believe that it is one of the crown jewels of motorized recreation -- much like Rubicon Trail, Moab, and Johnson Valley.
No, it is not in my backyard. Rubicon is... but you know what, Moab and Johnson Valley aren't in my backyard, either, and I still write letters, send money, and help where I can, even from miles and miles away... because as a tax-payer, my back-yard extends pretty damn far. My goal is to visit all these places that my taxes help support, and I'd sure like to be able to 'wheel in Tellico when I get there. I mountain-bike, hike, camp, canoe, and climb, but my trusty 4x4 gets me to the staging areas for all of these activities, in addition to the times when I'm just there to wheel and camp.

Losing trails ANYWHERE loses us ally OHV-ers who can help defend our local trails WHEREVER THEY MAY BE. We saw how this was a strength when Johnson Valley needed support, and now we need to BOTH:
* repay the Tellico folks who posted on the JV threads by posting in the Tellico Virtual Ralley
* "pay it ahead" for our local trails by posting in the Tellico Virtual Ralley

This is not just Tellico. This is ALL of our backyards, even if it ain't right in my backyard.

Randii
Randy Burleson
Volunteer and Tax-Payer
 
#930 ·
I have not yet been to Tellico. My Jeep is still being built, I love getting on here and looking thru the pictures from previous trips there. Tellico is the closest ORP to me. I will really be disapointed when I get my Jeep finsihed not to be able to run the trails everyone else has made look so much fun.



Thank You
 
#932 ·
Please don't close! About 8 or 10 years ago my wife and I traveled to the Tellico area for a weekend of four wheeling - had a lot of fun and plan of making it back there before long. We (as are the vast majority of OHV users) are responsible users of the trails. Keep in mind that when we drove from a different state we stayed in a motel, ate at local restaruants, and stopped at gas stations. All things that help the local economy. Lets make it so we are all happy!

Ryan
 
#934 ·
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

Pastor Martin Niemöller

speak up or they will come for your trails next
 
#937 · (Edited)
We have wonderful memories of our trips to Tellico. Many are memories that we will never be able to re-create, but want to visit/remember/try again often. My son is 7 and his favorite vacations have been to Tellico. He'll be devastated if he never gets the opportunity to experience the trails for himself.

Tellico Post #937
 
#940 ·
save tellico
its one of the best wheeling spots out there. whats gonna happen when the legal places get shut down. do you think that thousands of expensive orv's are gonna just sit around. no!!!! hello power lines here we come. and anywhere else . so lets keep it responsible and keep the legal places open.
 
#941 ·
With the declining selection of legal wheeling on the East coast, we must do all we can to save what land is available. I have never been to Tellico, and plan to do so in the near future. If it's gone, where else can I go, to see the scenery, the challenges, and yet still be so close to my family.
 
#942 ·
Tellico is alot of things to me. It was where I was first introduced to the sport of "legal" wheeling. Before then all I new was powerlines and private property without permission. Tellico showed me there is good places to go that are managed and maintained for the sport of off-roading. If not for places like this where would all these enthusiasts go?

I have many fond memories but the one that stands out the most of course is Dixie Run 2006. I was there with all my friends which included my girlfriend and her parents. Friday night we were at a fish fry with our friend Steve Crawford. He had been trying to get me to propose for the better part of a year. This time was no different but this time I was ready to listen. I didn't however have a ring or thought of proposing that weekend. By the end of the night Mr. Steve had me ready to pop the question. His only words were, "You go wheeling tomorrow and I will take care of everything". I did what he said and went wheeling the next day. I came back to discover the master plan he had been organizing the whole day. Mr. Steve had already bought a ring, and planned for Sarah's ticket number to be called during the raffle. I was amazed and nervous about the whole thing. Later that night they called her number and I snuck around to the pack of the stage. I came up behind her, they gave me the mike, and I got down on one knee and popped the question. The whole crowd jumped up and started cheering as, to my suprise, Sarah's brother and another friend set off a professional level show of fireworks. Tellico now has another meaning and puts a smile on our face everytime we wheel there. It would be a shame to never be able to head to Murphy year after year and sit in that big field where I asked Sarah to spend the rest of her life with me.

To this day Mr. Steve won't take any of my money for the ring....saying it is our wedding gift. And to top it off, to fufill a favor asked by Sarah, he officiated his first ever wedding for us on April 5th, 2008.

If you read this Mr. Steve I hope you don't mind me mentioning you in our story. I can never thank you enough.:)
 
#943 ·
Please keep Tellico alive.... This is one of the first places I wanted to go when I got into wheeling. Many, many years later and countless miles traveled From PA to Tellico. It would be ashame to loose the memories and friends made from travleing there. This is one of the great spots on the East coast. Help us keep it alive.
 
#944 ·
Please keep Tellico open!

While I live on the West Coast, I am orginally from the East Coast and have many family back there that wish to recreate on public lands, including Upper Tellico.

This area is very important to the OHV community AND their families. It seems that that message is lost to many people.

Do we close all the golf courses in Palm Springs becuase they have lowered the local tempature? We wouldn't think of it beciase golf is important to many people. It's the same thing with tellico.
 
#945 ·
Having never had the opportunity to visit Tellico, I can't share the fun stories everyone else has. And that's exactly why Tellico needs to remain open - so friends and family can share a great time, be responsible users of the trail, and make great memories.

Access does NOT mean destruction. The vast majority of wheelers are responsible people who respect the land and treat it with care - they want it to be beautiful and fun the next time they go, and the next and the next.

Please keep Tellico open.
 
#946 ·
keep Tellico open!!! dont close down and board up our trails and woods, if anything close up our boarders and keep the illegals out.
 
#950 ·
Tellico needs to stay open. It has recreational value for families, and is one of the few places for 4wd vehicles in the East.
I would like to see the area stay open because otherwise there will be thousands of 4WD enthusiasts displaced if the area is closed.
 
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