Closing of the Upper Tellico OHV (Off Highway Vehicle) Area

The Closing of the Upper Tellico OHV  Area

Dana Koogler 

Sept. 16, 2019

Upper Tellico OHV Map Link

(click link above to see a digital version of the former trail system as it was) 

  Tellico is a common name round these parts.  We hear it and we think of the lake, Tellico Plains the town, or the river.  Cherohala is another common term round here and when we hear it we think of the Skyway.  The term Cherohala is a portmanteau of the Cherokee National Forest and the Nantahala National Forest. The Skyway spans from Tellico Plains in Tennessee to Robbinsville in North Carolina.  The two national forests --Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee and Nantahala National Forest lies in North Carolina have their boundary along the Skyway in the vicinity of Beech Gap.
I know this and have no trouble remembering what state I am in when recreating off the Skyway.
I have more trouble remembering what state I am in when I am far up the Tellico River.   I never thought of  the Upper Tellico OHV area when I heard the name Tellico. It is in the Nantahala National Forest. It is part of the state of North Carolina.   It lies right along the border of the two states like the foot travel trail systems up on the Skyway, but when I'm up there for some reason I tend not to think of that.  My point is that the two forestry service systems have very divergent ideas about how things ought to be run.   I am glad I live in Tennessee.  I greatly appreciate the Cherokee National Forest and its managers.

       Back in late 2002 or early 2003  Kenny and I ventured up the Tellico River exploring.  We went in my jeep taking with us Kevin Adam's Waterfalls of North Carolina guidebook.  We were seeking the Waterfalls on the Upper Tellico River.   We passed by Green Cove which is a little community along Bald River Road.    It is quaint and remote.    We ventured further and passed by a lot of campgrounds finally coming to the last one called State Line.  The primitive campground is the State Line Campground, but the whole area is known as State Line.   We happened to be there the weekend of the Dixie Run.   It was a four wheeling spectacular with ATVs and rock crawlers and four wheeling of all types.    It was very busy and had a party atmosphere.  Everyone was real amped up and having fun.   The isolation and the vibe of the area was not lost on me. Despite the festive, party atmosphere I remembered turning to Kenny and saying "If I were Eric Rudolph this is the kind of place I'd hang around where I could slip back and forth between Tennessee and North Carolina and elude capture. I could change jurisdictions in seconds.   He was still on the wanted list at the time we visited.     The place had a feeling of isolation and wild west anything goes to it, Rock Hales correct me if I'm wrong?!  Am I lying?
 
   
       We parked the jeep at the end of the dirt road and waded the stream which was the Upper Tellico River.  Up here it is not nearly so wide and deep as it is further downstream.  Headwaters are usually tamer than the main body of water.  We passed a guy in bib overalls sitting on his butt with his back against a tree. He was drinking some alcoholic beverage, and was very mellow.  He spoke to us and asked us what in the world we were doing on foot?  He was being considerate and checking on us.  He could not imagine why anyone would come up there walking.    We told him we were hiking or rather bushwhacking to find a couple waterfalls.   He grinned and left us to it.    It was not a long trek and we soon came to the first waterfall and worked our way down to it for a better look.  Neither of these waterfalls was very high or large, but they were remote and it challenged us to find them.  I knew of no one aside from Kevin who had been to see them at that time.  The thing I also remember distinctly about the experience was how murky and gray the water coming over the falls was.  Rock crawlers and four wheelers were grinding up the "trails" such as they were, passing the river on their left.  We looked down the bank at the four wheeling on the adjacent ridge and the murky waters of the stream.  I remember being dismayed at how messed up the stream was.   I told Kenny we'd have to come back to see them when they were clearer.  I felt sure the large number of four wheelers was what led to the amount of sediment in the stream.   We met a ranger and spoke with him. He was very nice and was collecting fees.  He was able to fill us in on the rules and particulars of using the area.  We purchased a map from him.    I mainly purchased it because I love maps and collect and study them.   I paid $5 for the map. 

May 31, 2003 Eric Rudolph was arrested in Murphy, North Carolina.  Once they talked to him it was revealed he had indeed been frequenting the State Line area.   I remember a man on some internet message board being highly insulted at my suggestion that he had eluded capture for as long as he did because he was being helped by someone in the Murphy area. This fellow was insistent that not one citizen of the great state of North Carolina would ever dare do such a thing. How dare I insinuate differently!    I'd love to have seen the look on that indignant little man's face when he was caught.   An area resident admitted he had helped him initially not knowing who he was, but once he figured it out he continued to help him out he said as a matter of one human being helping another in need.  I wasn't insinuating anything. I flat out said it and come to find out I was right. 

    Kenny and I talked on the ride back home that despite finding out there was an off road area up there we were not likely to ever return for the purpose of four wheeling.    The trails we saw were far too rocky and ugly for our tastes back then.  We had a Yamaha Grizzly and used it in places like Royal Blue and Wind Rock.    The only other place we checked out with regards to State Line and the trail system was a road that proceeded on past the main ford near the campground.   It went along a ridge and in my mind it went all the way through to Robbinsville, North Carolina.    We found a place to turn around and went back the way we came.      Kenny took us up a side road that lead up a mountain and again turned us around and went back to the river road.    We always believed we'd make it back to the Upper Tellico OHV area. We did, but my how things had changed. 

      We began to hear rumors of trouble with the forestry service.  Talk circulated about the trail system possibly being closed. Maybe all of it. Maybe part of it.   We hated to hear it, but were not surprised.  It is in North Carolina and they are not the most pro four wheeling state.  They certainly are nothing like Tennessee.   Fast forward to October of 2009 and we showed up here knowing the area was closed, but we had no idea what had changed.      The entire area was paved.  Camp site was expanded.    There was no more ford of the stream, but a bridge and a gate or two.   We had thought we'd park and walk up the riverside as before to see the falls.  All the changes had us very confused.
We couldn't make heads or tails of it.  We  saw a vehicle pull up to the gate.  We stopped and spoke to the people going through.  We asked them if it was ok for us to walk up there to find a waterfall and if there was a pair of them up the stream?  The man and a teenaged boy said yes, there were falls up there, but they didn't know if it was ok for us to go or not.  They were not comfortable telling us to go on their word.   I don't blame them.   The teenager really looked uncomfortable.   Finally we turned round and went back to the vehicle. We did find a falls next to the road, but it was a different one.

       Fast forward to 2014-and I learned somehow that a private enterprise, Durhamtown Tellico had opened a four wheeling venture in the place of the former Upper Tellico OHV.   I kept up with it and we talked about going and at least giving it a try.  Before we could make it happen the place was closed down.  September 8, 2015 it was gone for good over resource management issues and logging contentions.   More drama that followed.  The first closure was a debacle and the second one was another, smaller one. Durhamtown pulled up stakes in the midst of that noise and now have a successful and hopefully stress  free venue in Georgia.

      Since that time I have gotten that map out and studied and and watched and learned.
What I finally figured out from listening to others and reading up on government documents is this.
There is a tract of private land up there that is off limits.   That aside the trails that existed before are OPEN to foot traffic.   Closed to four wheeling.  I noticed the forestry service didn't do much to clear up the usage and permissions.  There is a place in the vast sea of online documents that mentions it is open to foot traffic, but you'd have to look long and hard to find it. It seemed to me they'd just as soon have it left alone by one and all. 
I have a buddy who advised me and Kenny that many forest service workers at both the state and federal levels have a mindset that goes something like this:

New Living Translation
Without oxen a stable stays clean, but you need a strong ox for a large harvest.-- Proverbs 14:4

  He paraphrased it "An empty stall is easy to maintain, but you don't have the benefit of the ox".    

  The mentality of prosperity and the accompanying revenue brings with it increased work for the forest service, park service, etc.    I have noticed the park service in the Smokies having that mindset that they'd as soon close down the trails as maintain them for use.  Use means people and people seem to be viewed as adversaries instead of sustainable tourism dollars.   More people using trails means more work for me!  Less use means I can get my work done and it may stay done awhile.  

   

  What Happened?  

       I have read 100 plus pages of legal documents regarding the lawsuits filed over this matter. I've read page after page of forest service reports. I've studied maps.   I went into this with the hope of coming to a better understanding of what actually went on, but I think all I came away with was a headache!      I will try to condense it down to the best of my understanding which is not much.  It is a long, stressful, ugly mess.   I'd not have wanted to get wrapped up in it no matter what side I was on.
I'm taking a moment here to say I am not on ANY side.  I can only comment on what I have read and what I have seen with my own eyes.   

   
   Sometime in about 2007 they began studying the effects of the Off highway vehicle use on the sedimentation of the streams.   That went on for a couple of years with a period of public comment on the final environmental report.  An independent  environmental assessment was conducted by some other outfit. It was either a four wheeling trail use group or some such.     October 14, 2009 the permanent closure of the trail system was announced here. The Trout fishing organization had their stance that the streams were becoming too polluted with silt to be good for brook trout fishing.   They threatened to bring suit against the forest service if something wasn't done.   The four wheeling organization had a dog in the fight and threatened to sue if the trails were closed to use.   Marisue Hilliard was in charge of the area during the time all this transpired.  I will say this much; Had I been her and been getting threats on two sides to sue if you don't keep the four wheelers out... and on the other side we're going to sue if you kick us out... I'd have unloaded that mother like a hot potato.   I'd have been done with it and closed it to use on general principal just to be done with it.  The mother in me who is accustomed to dealing with bickering kids would have said "Since you two groups want to fight over it I'm kicking all of you out."  But that is not how the real world works. 

      Bottom line... they ended up closing the area to all but foot traffic.   I am not sorry.
The streams went from being gray with sediment from run off to healthy again.   This I say because I saw the difference with my own eyes.     The four wheeling community consists of a variety of users.   No matter how you slice it.. that is a HIGH IMPACT USE!   It probably was never an appropriate place for it in the headwaters of the Tellico River.    There are four wheeling enthusiasts like me and Kenny and some of our friends who just want to putt around on trails or old roads and see stuff. We get off the machine frequently and walk down to waterfalls or out into meadows or hike along trails.
Then there are four wheeling enthusiasts who want to do rock crawling.   I have personally seen the impact that has on trails no matter where you are doing it.   It grinds deep ruts into the ground.
It is REALLY high impact use.   Over and above the regular guy on a trail simply riding along.
Tennessee has areas for all of it.  They have found a way to reclaim formerly mined areas and make them valuable again as trail systems.   The maintenance crews at areas like Royal Blue and Wind Rock have done a bang up job of maintaining trails in my experience.     Even with all their efforts to maintain them,  trails get rutted out.  Here is a link to the photographic evidence gathered that proves the damage to the trail system and the run off to the streams.  Power Point Presentation of Photos

         We ride Tackett Creek and so do some of our buddies.   We all like a little bit of the hairy scary stuff like climbing up over V rock.   Hells Canyon. No Business Holler.   Guess what?  The rock crawlers have found Hells Canyon and it really is Hell now.  I have been informed by a trusted source that it is ruined.  It is rutted out and they are done with it.  They may move on to other trails now to damage them now that they've torn this one up. It is not being maintained by anyone that I am aware of.       The reason I mention it is to illustrate what that type use does to trails and the trail erosion does to streams.     You can see it with your own eyes if you look and are HONEST about what you see.     We are both hikers and four wheeling folks.  Best of all possible worlds in my opinion.

    It is too bad there was not a solution found to move this activity to a better spot.  I imagine one could be found if we all put our thinking caps on. 

The link below toward the bottom of the list has links to all the various proposed maps that would go along with the alternative proposals to fix the problem.

Alternate Maps A thru F

 
  I am sure that there are some who would strongly disagree with me that yes, four wheeling can hurt streams.   Some folks like real well to argue, but the thing spoke for itself in my eyes.   The stream was silted and the trails badly, badly eroded during the time the four wheeling was going on.
The stream is now clear since no four wheeling is taking place. I have talked to folks who are avid trout fishermen and they see the difference as well.  Like it or not.

 Res Ipsa Loquitur  
(The thing speaks for itself)